Highlightsof NJBIA's Weekly Newsletter
Issue Date: August 1, 2003NJ to Establish Small Business Set-Aside ProgramReplacing Current Race and Gender-Based System
A legal challenge has forced New Jersey to abandon its system of setting aside a portion of state contracts for women-owned and minority businesses. To replace the existing system, the state has proposed setting aside 15 percent of state government contracts for small businesses, including women and minority-owned businesses.
In a consent decree with the federal government, the state has agreed to no longer use race or gender as the basis for set-aside contracts or goals. During the transition to the new system, however, the state has proposed that all minority and women-owned businesses currently registered with the state's set-aside program automatically be designated as small business enterprises. But this designation would be temporary, and these companies, in order to be certified as small businesses under the new set-aside rules, would need to complete forms sent to them by the NJ Commerce and Economic Growth Commission.
In another significant change to the state's set-aside program, participating businesses, in addition to meeting the old rule of having one to 99 employees, will have to meet a maximum revenue test. Companies whose annual revenues exceed certain thresholds will not qualify for set-aside contracts.
For "goods and services" contracts, new annual gross revenue limits are proposed in three categories: no greater than $500,000, no greater than $5 million and no greater than $15 million. For construction and construction services contracts, gross revenues limits are in two categories: no greater than $1 million and no greater than the annual industry revenue standard established by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Commerce Commission also has the authority to deny contracts to small businesses whose individual owners have a net worth exceeding $750,000.
The official comment period for the new rules ends on September 3. To review the proposed rules, visit www.newjerseycommerce.org and click on "Proposed Rules and Amendments" under "Look for Contract Opportunities" in the left column. Then go to the proposed rules dated July 9. For a summary of the rules, you may also contact NJBIA's Arthur Maurice at 609-393-7707, ext. 247, or Libby Vinson at ext. 201.
Removal of Rate Caps Will Hike Cost of Electricity-On August 1, New Jersey removed electricity rate limits imposed in 1999, exposing businesses to rate hikes after four years of level or declining rates.Companies that stay with their existing public utilities can expect to see their rates rise by approximately 5-15 percent over the next year.
The NJ Board of Public Utilities imposed rate caps four years ago and mandated rate cuts averaging 11 percent by the state's four public utilities: Public Service Electric & Gas, Jersey Central Power & Light, Conectiv, and Rockland Energy. The lifting of the rate caps will enable the utilities to recoup some of their losses. For more information, contact Arthur Maurice at 609-393-7707, ext. 247.
Site Visit: Menu Foods in Pennsauken is a Dog's Best Friend-Nestled behind a series of industrial parks in Pennsauken sits an impressively large pet-food manufacturing plant, Menu Foods Inc. On a recent morning in July, the plant hosted an NJBIA Site Visit, showing visitors that real manufacturing does still occur in New Jersey. Democratic Assemblyman Jack Conners from the state's 7th Legislative District and Frank Robinson and Christopher Emigholz from NJBIA were among those who experienced the world of wet pet food in a guided tour of the facility. Leading the tour were company Senior Vice President Don Green and a few of his staff. The tour participants were impressed with the volume of pet food being cooked, packaged, labeled and tested and that whizzed overhead throughout the tour.
Menu Foods, a publicly held company since May of 2000, is the leading maker of dog and cat food in cans or pouches in Canada and the United States. Menu makes private-label or store brand pet food that is sold by some of the nation's largest retailers such as Wal-Mart, Safeway, Pet Valu, Wegmans, Kroger and Petsmart. The company has three plants that together produce about 1 billion cans per year. The Pennsauken plant opened in 1991. It employs 300 people, and its annual payroll exceeds $10 million.
Since 1997, more than 130 NJBIA member companies representing every industry across the state have opened their doors to visits by state legislators and other public officials as part of NJBIA's Site Visit Program. For more information about the program, contact Libby Vinson at 609-393-7707, ext. 201.
Enough is Enough! Time for Business to Fight Back!
Support NJ's Probusiness Legislators on Sept. 24-Billion-dollar business tax hikes. Nonunion companies shut out of government contracts. Rising healthcare costs. Business owners across New Jersey are fed up with state policies that are raising their costs and making it difficult to create new jobs. Join the New Jersey Organization for a Better State (NEW JOBS), the state's largest and most powerful political action committee for business, on Wednesday, September 24, for its annual Meadowlands reception to support probusiness legislators in the upcoming fall elections. "A Tribute to Friends of Business" will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel and Conference Center. Your purchase of a single ticket or a block of ten will help raise money needed to support probusiness legislators and defeat antibusiness politicians in the fall elections. The price is $200 per person. Sponsorships are available for $2,000. To register, call Sherry Esteves at 609-393-7707, ext. 219. For more information about NEW JOBS, or Go Here.
Highlightsof NJBIA's Weekly Newsletter