NJBIA Chief Government Affairs Officer Christopher Emigholz joined top-rated NJ101.5 morning host Bill Spadea on Tuesday to discuss the top three wants for New Jersey’s small business community from the Sherrill administration.
At the top of the list: Regulatory reform.
“If you're a small business, you don't have lots of people working for you to do compliance and legal stuff,” Emigholz explained. “And you might have the same guy making your product, opening the doors, doing the billing while having to worry about all the HR and all the environment and all the other compliance stuff.
“So, if we make it easier to do business and to get out of the way of businesses, regulatory reform, I think that helps a lot.”
Emigholz told Spadea, who was broadcasting from Darby Road Pub in Scotch Plains to celebrate small business on St. Patrick’s Day, that Gov. Mikie Sherrill has been “very focused on her saving time and money agenda to make it easier to do business in New Jersey.”
“She has used this quote a couple times, that in New Jersey we need a ‘get to yes’ culture instead of just finding ways to say no, which I think in recent years we've been seeing too much in state government.”
Emigholz also explained two ways the Sherrill administration can help small manufacturers in New Jersey.
“Typical manufacturing size business in New Jersey is 30 to 40 employees,” he said. “We have a brand-new manufacturing tax credit, but you have to get a $10 million buy-in to access that program. That’s not going to help small businesses. It's good for big manufacturers, but we’ve got to make that easier to get for the small guys.
“And number two, there was a great manufacturing program called the Manufacturing Voucher Program that allowed small manufacturers to buy capital equipment. And unfortunately, in the last year of the prior administration, they got rid of that program. We would love to see that restored under Governor Sherrill, and it's a priority of ours.”
A replay of Spadea's broadcast can be found here.
