22 Manufacturers Exhibit Products to Gov, Legislators at Made in New Jersey Day Read
Paid Family Leave and Health Insurance Costs Highlight ‘Meet the Legislative Leaders’ Read
Ask the Experts: Workforce Training Read

NJBIA manufacturers lined the halls of the State House on March 15, showing Governor Jon Corzine, former Governor Richard Codey and dozens of legislators what they make, how they make it, and what New Jersey should do to help manufacturing  succeed.

It was all part of NJBIA’s Made in New Jersey Day, designed to highlight the products and innovations of New Jersey manufacturers, said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner.

“Our manufacturers are amazing,” Kirschner said.  “Year in and year out they stand up to fierce global competition while operating in one of the highest cost states in the nation.  They provide quality jobs and good benefits.  Manufacturing in New Jersey has a great story to tell and Made in New Jersey Day is our chance to tell it.” 

The exhibits ran the gamut from handmade porcelain figurines and building materials made entirely out of recycled paper to traditional Italian ice cream, safety restraints used in NASCAR race cars, and upscale leather briefcases.

Corzine toured the exhibits, stopping at each display and talking with the exhibitors about their products and their businesses.  Codey, who is the Senate President, also stopped at many exhibits, as did numerous members of the State Senate and Assembly.  Seventeen manufacturers contributed products to a New Jersey Product Sample bag, which was distributed to show off many other New Jersey-made products.  

Speaking to the press following the tour, Corzine said New Jersey manufacturers face serious competition from across the world, but expressed optimism that the lower business taxes, innovative ideas, and improvements in productivity his administration has championed will help keep manufacturing viable in the State.

The event is part of NJBIA’s award-winning Manufacturing Counts! Campaign for Manufacturing Renewal in New Jersey.  To learn more about what NJBIA does for manufacturing, visit the Manufacturing Counts! Campaign Web site at www.njbia.org/manufacturing.

Sponsors
Accurate Box Company, Inc.
Almetek Industries, Inc.
ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery
Employers Association of New Jersey
Hermitage Press Inc.
L’Oreal USA 
Lambda Americas High Power Division, Inc.
Lockheed Martin
Medallion Business Credit
NJM Insurance Group
Phelps Dodge Specialty Copper Products

Exhibitors
Almetek Industries, Inc. of Hackettstown
Boehm Porcelain of Trenton
Brutus Roller/Firehawk Industries of Trenton
Byram Laboratories Inc. of Branchburg
Ciao Bella Gelato Company of Irvington
ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery of Linden
Friedrich and Dimmock, Inc. of Millville
Garden State Precast of Farmingdale
Homasote Company of West Trenton
Jack Georges, Inc. of Passaic
Lambda Americas High Power Division, Inc. of Neptune
Lockheed Martin of Moorestown
M + R Products of Vineland
New Jersey Food Processors Association of Mays Landing
New Jersey Tooling & Manufacturing Association of Fairfield
Phelps Dodge Specialty Copper Products of Elizabeth
Salon Interiors of South Hackensack
Trane, a division of American Standard, of Hamilton Twp.
W & E Baum Designers and Manufacturers of Freehold
Water Out® Drying Corp. of Jackson
WingIt Innovations, LLC of Bradley Beach
ZEB Manufacturing, Inc. of West Orange

New Jersey Sample Bag Contributors
ADM Corporation   •   Almetek Industries, Inc.   •   Annin & Co.   •   Brioschi, Inc.   •   General Mills/Progresso   •   Homa-sote Company   •   JRM Industries, Inc.   •   Lamonica Fine Foods   •   L’Oreal USA   •   Marcal Paper Mills, Inc.   •   New Jersey American Water   •   Sea Breeze Fruit Flavors, Inc.   •   Stahl Soap   •   Trenton Printing   •   Violet Packing, LLC   •   WingIt Innovations, LLC

The Assembly Commerce and Economic Growth Committee recently released NJBIA-backed legislation that would restore the full sales tax exemption for purchases by any eligible Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) business, provided it has no business locations outside of a zone.  If A-3938 (Burzichelli, Fisher)/S-2491 (Sweeney) is enacted, these businesses would no longer have to pay the full sales tax and later file for a tax rebate with the NJ Division of Taxation.  The bill also would restore the use tax exemption for out-of-State goods purchased by all UEZ-based businesses.  Presently, these businesses must pay the tax and file later for a use tax rebate.

For those businesses that must continue to seek rebates, the bill would make the rebate process easier by stipulating a one-year rebate claim filing period, reducing the period that the Division of Taxation has to audit a business’s rebate claim from four years to one year, and requiring the Division of Taxation to pay interest on unpaid rebates.

Created to encourage business growth in urban areas, the UEZ program exempts eligible businesses from paying sales tax on materials and equipment.  The rebate program was instituted last year after the State became concerned that some businesses were getting tax-free purchases and using them at non-UEZ business locations.  Obviously, businesses that only have UEZ locations cannot violate this law and should be exempt from it.  For more information, contact Art Maurice at ext. 247.

Many more employers would be eligible for tax credits under the Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Act of 2004 under NJBIA-backed legislation recently released by the Assembly Commerce and Economic Growth Committee.

The bill, A-1696 (Fisher, Van Drew)/ S-80 (T. Kean), would extend program eligibility to businesses relocating and retaining at least 50 full-time jobs within New Jersey, instead of the current 250-jobs threshold.

Under the program, businesses are eligible for a one-time business tax credit of up to $1,500 per job retained in or moved within New Jersey.  The credits are applied to the corporation business tax and insurance tax.  Applicants must provide evidence that the business or its predecessor has been operating, in whole or in part, in the State for at least 10 years and had plans to relocate.  Businesses must commit in writing to maintain 95 percent of the jobs for at least the first two years and 90 percent for the duration of the commitment.

NJBIA supports this bill.  The current 250-jobs requirement is much too high, excluding 97 percent of the State’s employers.  Smaller businesses contribute a great deal to the economy and should be included in this program.  The measure now heads to the Assembly Budget Committee.  For more information, contact Art Maurice at ext. 247.

Despite potentially serious economic impacts, the Assembly Environment Committee recently released legislation to limit emissions of greenhouse gases by roughly 20 percent by 2020.  The bill, A-3301 (Stender, Vainieri Huttle), is awaiting action in the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.

Regulating greenhouse gas emissions is expected to increase the cost of electricity as energy generation is one of the leading sources of those emissions.  New Jersey commercial and industrial users already pay among the highest rates in the nation. Attempts to regulate greenhouse gases would likely put limits on how much energy businesses can use, mandate use of more expensive building materials and techniques in construction, and increase taxes on the use of energy, without having any significant impact on global warming.  For more information, contact Sara Bluhm at ext. 204.

The Senate recently approved A-1044 (Van Drew, Johnson)/S-472 (Sweeney, Doria), which would impose greater notification requirements and penalties on companies that are closing or undergoing layoffs.  The measure would require employers with 100 or more employees to provide 90 days public notice before closing a business or laying off 50 or more employees within a 30-day period.  If employers miss the notice requirements by even a single day, the bill would require them to pay employees the equivalent of one week’s wages for each year of employment.  The measure has been sent back to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments.

NJBIA opposes this bill.  Federal law requires only 60 days notice and does not penalize businesses with huge severance payments that could cost an employer hundreds of thousands of dollars and jeopardize its ability to reorganize.  For more information, contact John Rogers at ext. 209.

A resolution that would prevent the State Legislature from raiding the State unemployment and temporary disability funds to help balance the State budget has been approved by the Senate Labor Committee.  SCR-58 (Sweeney) would amend the State Constitution to prevent future diversions of payroll tax revenues from these funds.  This reform is long overdue.  The resolution would constitutionally dedicate payroll taxes to be used exclusively for the purposes they are collected, such as employee unemployment benefits.

Since 1993, $4.7 billion in unemployment tax revenues have been diverted from the UI fund to help balance the State budget.  These diversions have drained the balance from more than $3 billion in 2001 to around $600 million today.  Governor Jon Corzine has made good on his pledge to not raid the UI fund, thereby avoiding a potential $350 million payroll tax hike to replenish it.  However, $50 million in Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) taxes were diverted from the current budget and another $75 million in TDI diversions has been proposed for next year’s budget.  NJBIA strongly believes that both employer and employee taxes paid to these funds should be used exclusively for their stated purpose, not used for general State spending.  For more information, contact John Rogers at ext. 209.

Construction contractors would be presumed to have an employer relationship with subcontractors that work for them unless they can prove otherwise to the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD), under legislation that has passed the Senate and Assembly Labor Committees.

The bills also would criminalize the misclassification of employees as independent contractors by making a “knowing” violation a second-degree crime if it involves a contract valued at more than $75,000, a third degree crime for contracts involving between $2,500 and $75,000, and a fourth-degree crime for contracts under $2,500.

A-4009 (Caraballo, Egan) was released February 26 by the Assembly Labor Committee and S-2579 (Karcher, Codey) was released March 15 by the Senate Labor Committee.

NJBIA believes that intentionally misclassifying workers hurts both reputable employers and employees alike and should be punished with civil penalties.  However, this legislation goes too far in hitting contractors with huge criminal penalties.  Some of the penalties would be the same as those for armed robbery and other violent crimes.  Another problem is that these penalties would apply not only to the employer, but also to any “officer, agent, superintendent, foreman or employee of the employer.”

Finally, the bill provides unprecedented authorization to the State Labor Commissioner to shut down all job sites of a contractor who violates the act.  This provision would put people out of work for long periods of time for the actions of a single individual.  For more information, contact John Rogers at ext. 209, or jrogers@njbia.org.

Four legislative leaders debated paid family leave and shared their ideas on the complex issue of health insurance reform at the Meet the Legislative Leaders briefing, hosted by NJBIA and the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey.

Senate Republican Conference Chair Martha Bark, Senate Labor Committee Chairman Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Deputy Speaker John Burzichelli and Assembly Republican Policy Chairman Steve Corodemus shared their ideas with and answered questions from 75 business leaders at the March 28 event.

Speaking on paid family leave, Sweeney, the sponsor of legislation that would mandate up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers at all businesses, defended the initiative.  “There are some issues I feel strongly about and paid family leave is one of those issues,” Sweeney said, arguing that in the end, it would cost business nothing because it would be funded through a new tax on employees.

Bark, however, strongly disagreed.  Finding replacement or temporary workers at all would be difficult and even if a business could find someone, she pointed out that it would still be a very expensive proposition.  “If you have to hire someone, with training and so forth, that is a big cost to business,” she said, adding that it would be very disruptive to businesses.  Burzichelli said the paid leave mandate should not be opposed simply because New Jersey would be only the second State in the nation to impose such a mandate.  “If New Jersey is a better place for employees, that would help everybody,” Burzichelli said.

On the issue of health insurance, Corodemus said the State needs to do a better job of accounting for how healthcare dollars are being spent, because everyone in the system says they are getting shortchanged.  “I visit with hospitals; they’re not making money,” he said.  “I visit with insurance companies; they’re not making money.  I visit with businesses; they’re paying too much.  I visit with families; they can’t afford what they are getting... Someone is making money somewhere.”

Sweeney added that New Jersey’s system of reimbursing hospitals for charity care (the healthcare they provide to people who are not covered by insurance or cannot afford to pay) is completely arbitrary.  He argued that reimbursement rates in general do not follow any logical formula.  “We need to tie the reimbursement rate to some sort of formula...,” Sweeney said.  “Then you’ll find out the real number” being spent on healthcare.

Bark said that New Jersey should not create a government-run universal healthcare system because government is not equipped to run it.  “It has not done well in Canada,” she said.  “It has not done well in England.  Why would we want it here?”

Burzichelli, meanwhile, argued that healthcare reform was not something that could be done effectively on the State level, but had to be done at the federal level to be effective.  Whatever the State does on its own may work for a little while, but is really just a Band-Aid, he said.

NJBIA has been working on the following bills in the current session of the State Legislature.  The Assembly and Senate are currently on break to review the Governor’s proposed State budget.

A-2 (Watson Coleman, Burzichelli)/S-15 (Kenny)
Establishes an independent Office of State Comptroller to audit State and local government operations.
Status:  Signed into law (P.L. 2007, c.52)
NJBIA Position:  Support

A-4 (Roberts, Wisniewski)/S-10 (Smith)
Eases the ability of local governments to merge and share services.  Also gives county school superintendents greater oversight over local school spending.
Status:  Passed both houses/Pending Governor’s Signature
NJBIA Position:  Support

A-1696 (Fisher, Van Drew, Burzichelli, Manzo)
Provides NJ business-retention tax credits to manufacturers relocating within the State and retaining at least 50 full-time jobs. 
Status:  Pending Action in Assembly Budget Committee
NJBIA Position:  Support
 
A-3301 (Stender, Vainieri Huttle, Gusciora, Greenstein)
Mandates a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020.
Status:  Pending Action in Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee
NJBIA Position:  Oppose

A-4009 (Caraballo, Egan)
Criminalizes the misclassification of employees as independent contractors by making a “knowing” violation a second-degree crime.
Status:  Pending Assembly Action
NJBIA Position:  Oppose

S-2384 (Sweeney, Sarlo)
Reduces employers’ unemployment insurance (UI) taxes when the balance of the UI fund reaches a specified surplus. 
Status:  Pending Action in Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
NJBIA Position:  Support

A-15 (Wisniewski, Gordon)/S-12 (Sweeney, Smith)
Establishes “Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization, and Consolidation Commission” to recommend mergers and shared services in order to cut the cost of government in New Jersey.
Status:  Signed into law (P.L. 2007, c.54)
NJBIA Position:  Support