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Environmental regulations that could delay many commercial development projects across the State for years and strip property owners of their development rights altogether have been proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The proposed DEP rule would mandate the update of local and regional Water Quality Management Plans (WQMP’s).  Every kind of project from commercial projects to affordable housing would be affected.

The rule requires counties and planning agencies to update the plans within nine months.  Once a plan has been adopted, any project in that planning area that will impact water supply or quality would have to receive a “consistency determination” from the DEP before the agency would issue required permits.

If a project is deemed “inconsistent,” the plan would have to be changed before permits could be issued.  If the DEP denies a county plan or plan amendment, all permits would be withheld until a new plan is approved.  Thus, companies located in counties that are unable to  get their plans approved would be left in limbo.

“These plans can take the department up to two years to approve, which could create costly delays for developers and municipalities seeking project approvals,” said NJBIA Vice President David Brogan, writing on behalf of the Association in a recent statement to the DEP.

The Water Quality Management Plans take into consideration municipal planning as well as the availability of potable water and wastewater-treatment capacity within a specific area. 

NJBIA requested that the rule proposal be withdrawn for further review.  NJBIA recommended at the very least that a waiver mechanism be included to allow permits for environmentally sound projects to move forward.

Brogan has also written to the DEP on NJBIA’s behalf about new environmental rules that would prohibit development within 300 feet of more than 900 miles of streams, rivers, tributaries and reservoirs that are being newly designated as Category 1 waterways.  The DEP rule proposal makes no mention of compensation for property owners and would appear to eliminate the development rights of property owners in the designated C-1 areas.

“While the State is advocating that municipalities and other local government units provide adequate compensation and appropriate protections for property owners in condemnation proceedings, the DEP would be allowed to effectively take thousands of acres of land with no compensation and no protections for property owners whatsoever,” Brogan said in his letter, written on behalf of NJBIA.

For more information, contact David Brogan at ext. 236. 

If your business has a State or local government contract worth at least $50,000, you must comply with a new law requiring disclosure of political contributions — or risk paying large fines and penalties.

The first annual disclosure report must be filed by September 28 with New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).  Failure to comply with the law could also put your company at risk of losing its government contracts.

The 2006 annual disclosure report must be filed electronically by September 28 on ELEC’s Web site.

This disclosure requirement is one of the broadest government reporting requirements ever adopted in New Jersey.  It covers not just contributions the business owner makes, but also all of the business’s principals, partners, officers, and directors, as well as their spouses.

The rules apply whether or not the contracts were competitively bid or negotiated.  Nonprofit organizations must also comply.  Disclosures must be filed even if there are no campaign contributions to report.

For more information, contact John Rogers at ext. 209.

The Governor has signed legislation getting rid of the problem-plagued School Construction Corporation (SCC) and replacing it with a new School Development Authority (SDA).

The newly created authority will oversee school construction projects in the 31 low-income Abbott school districts.  School construction in all other districts will be managed by the NJ Economic Development Authority.

State investigators found that waste and mismanagement had hobbled the efforts of the SCC, which ran out of money before completing a large part of its school construction program.  The new law is intended to fix the program and keep it moving forward.

Under the new system, the State education commissioner will create a priority ranking system for the construction of new schools based on need.  Scott Weiner will head the new authority.

NJBIA members who have a personal relationship with a State legislator can make the difference between the passage or defeat of antibusiness legislation.

That is why we want you to become part of NJBIA’s Key-Person Rapid Response Team, a group of NJBIA members who reach out to legislators whom they know personally when a critical issue arises.  NJBIA will alert you to the issue and provide you with background on the issue and arguments bolstering the business community’s point of view.  We know your time is valuable, so we will ask for your help only when it is essential. 

To sign up, please fill out the confidential online form.  You may also contact Frank Robinson at ext. 225.

More than 330 NJBIA member companies are now working with the county colleges to get basic skills training for their employees through a new workforce training program initiated by NJBIA in partnership with the State and the colleges.

The county college consortium that is organizing the training classes said the response from NJBIA members has been tremendous since the program, which ends next summer, got underway in July.

“To say they are enthusiastic is an understatement,” said Bob Rosa, chief operating officer with the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development. “They are extremely appreciative of the grant program.”

The Basic Skills Workforce Training Program provides training to employees in computer applications (Windows, Word, Excel and Outlook), communications (written and verbal), English as a second language, and mathematics and measurement.

Employers are not charged for the training, but they have to pay their employees at their regular hourly rate while they are being trained.  The program is a partnership between NJBIA, the consortium, and the NJ Department of Labor & Workforce Development, which has provided $1.88 million in funding.

To get started, contact the consortium’s Bob Rosa at 609-393-9009 or visit www.njbia.org/resources/train.

On Tuesday, November 6, voters will choose who will represent them in the New Jersey Legislature.  While property taxes and public corruption are top issues in the election campaigns, a proposal giving all employees paid family leave could see action when the Legislature returns in November.  The legislation would make New Jersey only the second state in the nation to impose a one-size-fits-all, paid-leave policy on all employers.

Prior to its summer recess, the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee narrowly voted to release S-2249, sponsored by Senators Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex).  The bill would provide every employee with 10 weeks of paid leave annually to care for a newborn or adopted child or an ill family member.   Financing for this program would come from a new employee payroll tax.  The tax would be used to establish a fund that is similar to New Jersey’s existing Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) fund.

However, unlike existing unpaid-leave laws (state and federal) which apply only to employers with 50 or more employees, this bill would apply to all businesses.

“Hundreds of thousands of small businesses that have never had to cope with unpaid-leave laws suddenly will get hit with a paid-leave mandate,” said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner.  “This will be a heavy burden for all New Jersey employers.”

Under the proposed mandate, businesses would face the prospect of having key workers out for nearly three months at a time.  The mandate would force all businesses to shoulder increased costs related to temporary workers, overtime, and lost productivity.  Many employers that rely on skilled workers may not even be able to find qualified replacements.

Larger employers will face not only increased costs, but also considerable confusion over how the legislation will impact the current unpaid-leave laws.  S-2249 conflicts with the current federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) in several areas.

For example, the bill prohibits employers from requiring employees to exhaust paid time off (such as vacation and sick time) before becoming eligible for paid leave.  The existing unpaid leave laws expressly permit employers to require the use of paid time off for leaves.  Why should an employee be allowed to take that time off in addition to the 10 weeks of paid leave?  This is why employers provide their employees with time off in the first place.  In conflicting with existing unpaid-leave laws, S-2249 would create enormous confusion for employers. 

While the bill does not currently provide for a direct increase in employer payroll taxes, businesses should be very concerned about the financing of this new mandate.  New Jersey has a history of diverting dedicated funds to pay for the State’s general operating expenses.  Since 1993, over $4 billion dollars has been diverted from the Unemployment Insurance Paid-Leave Trust Fund alone. 

Additionally, last year’s State budget diverted $50 million from the Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) fund, and this year’s budget diverted another $75 million.  In fact, over the past 13 years the State Legislature has diverted nearly $600 million dollars from the TDI fund for general operating expenses!  All employers should be skeptical when the Legislature wants to create a new fund to support a paid-leave mandate with one hand while still taking money from existing funds with the other.  Businesses could be stuck with the bill if the money runs out.

Businesses already provide many programs that allow employees to balance the responsibilities of work and family, such as sick days and vacation, flexible scheduling and work-from-home arrangements.  Those policies vary from company to company because each company has different needs.  Paid family leave would put an end to such common-sense policies. 

A paid-leave mandate would also do further damage to New Jersey’s already poor reputation as a place for business expansion.  Job growth in New Jersey has slowed to half the rate of growth seen in the nation as a whole.  New Jersey also continues to fare poorly in most national surveys comparing state business climates. The cost of operating a business in New Jersey continues to increase; yet, elected officials continue to push for more costly employer mandates.

As election day approaches, we encourage you to reach out to your local legislative candidates.  Tell them to oppose the paid-leave measure.  Go to our Membership Alert to tell your legislator to oppose paid family leave.

New Jersey would become the first state in the nation to require private businesses to provide 90 days notice prior to any business closing, transfer of operations or mass layoff, under a bill awaiting action by the Governor.

A-1044 (Van Drew, Johnson and Egan) requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide pre-notification to their employees, local municipalities and labor unions if they are planning any closings, transfers or terminations affecting 50 or more people.

NJBIA remains strongly opposed to both the severance and notification provisions of the bill and has asked Governor Corzine to veto the measure.  Both the notification and severance provisions go far beyond the requirements of the federal Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and the requirements of laws in other states.

For most businesses, decisions to layoff employees or close operations are a last resort.  These decisions are often necessitated by economic downturns, loss of a major supplier or customer, or other factors that require an employer to cut its expenses or consolidate operations.

If a business is already in a financial bind, requiring it to provide 90 days advance notice of any potential layoffs would only worsen its situation.  Suppliers will demand cash payment for goods or services and customers will go elsewhere if a business has to broadly publicize its plans.

These factors could prevent a business from ever recovering, and this would lead to a loss of even more jobs.  This is why Congress utilized a 60-day notice provision when it enacted the WARN Act.  Additionally, every state that has adopted its own mandatory business closing law utilizes a 60-day notification provision.  Consistency in the notification provisions is critical, especially for multi-state employers.

Employers who fail to provide 90 days notice under the proposed law would get hit with severance penalties equal to one week of wages for each year an affected employee has worked. Missing even a single day’s notice could cost an employer hundreds of thousands of dollars and lead to further layoffs.  A less punitive penalty scheme would ensure that the businesses comply with the law without risking the loss of even more jobs.

New Jersey will never be able to improve its business reputation with these types of “Jersey Only” mandates.  It is imperative that the Governor veto this measure. 

Criminal penalties will be imposed on employers in construction who knowingly misclassify employees as “independent contractors,”  under a new State law enacted this summer.

The law (P.L. 2007, c. 114) presumes that work relationships in the construction industry are employer-employee — unless employers can prove otherwise.

In addition to imposing civil penalties, this law makes any “employer, officer, agent, superintendent, foreman, or employee of the employer” guilty of a disorderly persons offense with a mandatory sentence of between 10 and 90 days for improperly misclassifying an employee.

“Even an unintentional misclassification could result in serious penalties,” said NJBIA Vice President John Rogers.

Additionally, the law increases the penalty for “knowing” violations to a crime of the second degree if the amount of the contract exceeds $75,000; a crime of the third degree if the contract is between $2,500 but less than $75,000; or a crime of the fourth degree if the amount of the contract is less than $2,500.

Although the new law applies only to the construction trades, all businesses that utilize the services of independent contractors need to be aware of the regulatory problems that arise from misclassification.

Businesses frequently rely on outside help from individuals who have expertise in accounting, consulting, computer, IT and other services.   Unfortunately, the process used to determine whether someone is your employee or is truly an independent contractor is murky and difficult to navigate.  Yet, misclassifying employees in any industry can be a very expensive mistake.

The new law makes the pitfalls of misclassification even greater for businesses engaged in the construction industry.

NJBIA agrees that intentionally misclassifying workers hurts both reputable employers and employees alike.  However, imposing the same criminal penalties as are imposed for violent crimes goes too far.  The Association is also very concerned that a lack of clear guidance from the State about how to comply puts employers at risk for regulatory and criminal penalties.

For more information, contact John Rogers at ext. 209.