NJBIA Joins New Alliance to Push Lawsuit Reform Initiatives Read
Out-migration Study: NJ is Fourth in People Leaving the State Read
Study Ranks NJ Second to Last For Its Business Tax Climate Read
NJBIA Honors Member Companies at Awards for Excellence Dinner Read
NJBIA Thanks Its Annual Sponsors Read
Ask the Experts: Diesel-Truck Idling Regulations Read
Getting the Full Benefit: NJBIA Employee Benefits Report Read
Join an NJBIA E-mail Issue Network Read

A paid family leave mandate requiring all employers to provide 10 weeks of paid leave is expected to be considered soon by the State Legislature.

NJBIA has been vigorously fighting this legislation.  NJBIA received a tremendous response from its members to an alert asking them to contact their legislators in opposition to this bill.

S-2249 (Sweeney, Buono)/A-3812 (Albano, Panter) is the bill number of the proposed paid leave mandate.  The legislation is expected to see a final vote before the current legislative session ends on January 8.

“It makes no sense to pass a bill that will impose higher costs and further hardship on tens of thousands of businesses across the State,” said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner.  “Our members want the Legislature to stop this madness.”

The bill would provide employees with 10 weeks of paid leave every year to care for a newborn or adopted child or an ill family member.  It applies to all companies, even those with as few as two employees.  The program would be financed with a new tax on employees. 

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.

NJBIA has argued it makes no sense to impose the same one-size-fits-all, paid-leave mandate on every employer, from corner grocery stores to large hospitals and manufacturing plants.  It is better to give employers the flexibility to find solutions that work best for them and their employees.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and Senate President Richard Codey, during a recent briefing with NJBIA members, made it clear they feel the current bill goes too far and would have to be scaled back before a vote could be scheduled.

Roberts said he believes the number of weeks in the current bill is too high and the inclusion of all small businesses is too severe.  Codey said he has spoken directly with State Senator Stephen Sweeney, the bill’s sponsor, about scaling back its scope.  “I think it is too onerous on businesses and several modifications must be made to the bill before I would post it for a vote,” he said.

Although Codey and Roberts have made it clear that businesses can expect a more limited version of this bill, likely with fewer weeks, paid family leave is still very much a threat in any form.   

You can join NJBIA’s campaign to defeat this legislation by contacting your legislators and the Governor immediately.

The business community can expect “tough” new flood hazard rules to be adopted, and revamped site remediation regulations will change the way the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does business, DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson said October 3.

The Commissioner also defended current proposed rules on water buffers, public notification regulations and water quality, making it clear that while working with the business community is a goal, protecting the environment remains her first priority.  Jackson spoke and took questions during NJBIA’s Meet the Decision Makers briefing breakfast.

Issues surrounding land use and site remediation—the process of cleaning up contaminated properties to return them to productive use—commanded the most attention.  Jackson said that new site-remediation regulations could be adopted this fall or winter.

Jackson lamented what she said has become a highly polarized political environment.  Incidents like Kiddie College, built on a former mercury thermometer factory, and the Paramus school, where pesticide contamination was found, are being used by environmentalists to criticize the DEP.

Jackson also defended proposed C-1 stream classification regulations.  C-1 waterways are those determined to be of high environ-mental value.  The proposed regulations would designate 900 additional miles of waterways as C-1s, creating a 300-foot-wide buffer zone on each side where little or no development can take place and where there are severe restrictions on discharges.  Jackson said the standards for designating a waterway would be consistent so they could not be used by individual groups to stop developments they don’t like.

“You can’t just pick a waterway and come in and say it belongs as a C-1 designation because you have 500 signatures on a petition,” Jackson said.  (NJBIA has urged the DEP to compensate property owners for C1 designations.)

Likewise, Jackson defended the new public notification rules that require notice to residents, schools and workplaces within 200 feet of a site-remediation project.  “You are much better off telling people up front what you are doing,” she said. 

Jackson said the department was close to adopting new flood hazard rules.  She reiterated that she did not think development should take place in areas that are prone to flooding, citing New Orleans as an example of the consequences.

“If it seems that (these rules) make it harder to develop in environmentally sensitive areas, that’s the plan. If it feels like a squeeze, it should,” she said.

The DEP also will make recommendations to implement the Global Warming Response Act, which mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.  Because the State has already adopted progressive environmental policies, Jackson said, New Jersey was already on pace to meet its 2020 goals and would be focusing on proposals to reach the 2050 goals.  Whatever is recommended, she promised that the business community would have plenty of opportunities to review and make recommendations.

NJBIA has joined other employers and organizations to reform New Jersey’s civil justice system and reduce lawsuit abuse.

The new organization, NJ Lawsuit Reform Alliance, is headed by Marcus Rayner, former district director for Congressman Mike Ferguson of New Jersey.  The Alliance will be working to reduce the $7.6 billion burden that lawsuits place on the State’s citizens and businesses.

In recent years, lawsuits and civil litigation have reached the point where they are affecting New Jersey’s economic competitiveness.   For more information, contact Christine Stearns at ext. 260.

Recent studies and polls show that more people are leaving New Jersey than coming in, and more than half of those who remain would like to join them.

New Jersey's dramatic outflow was reported in Where Have All the Dollars Gone?, a study produced by Rutgers University professors James Hughes and Joseph Seneca.

The report concluded that in 2006 72,547 more people moved out of New Jersey to other areas of the United States than moved in.  Furthermore, the study showed that those moving into the State were less wealthy than those moving out, reducing New Jersey’s total income by $10 billion since 2002 and shrinking potential State tax revenues by $680 million.

The study predicts that, as a result of the pace of the out-migration, New Jersey may experience a net decline in total population in 2008.

In an unrelated poll conducted in September, the Monmouth University Polling Institute and Gannett found that half of New Jersey’s residents would like to move out.

According to the study, released in the Asbury Park Press as well as other Gannett newspapers last month, more than half of the 801 adults surveyed expressed a desire to leave New Jersey, with half of that group saying they are “very likely” to leave.

Nearly 60 percent of those who indicated their intent to leave cited financial issues such as property taxes, high costs of living and housing costs, providing further evidence that New Jersey’s high costs are a problem for both businesses and residents alike.

This should be a wake-up call to the Governor and legislators that their policies have resulted in businesses and residents voting with their feet.  They must stop pursuing legislation like paid family leave that will make the situation even worse.

The Tax Foundation’s 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index, released last month, ranked New Jersey 49th in the nation in business-friendly tax systems.  New Jersey dropped from 48th last year, leaving the State ahead of only Rhode Island.

The index ranks states according to the taxes that matter most to businesses and business investment:  the corporate tax, individual income tax, sales tax, unemployment tax and property tax.  New Jersey ranked among the worst states in the nation on every tax except the unemployment tax, where it was ranked 24th.

NJBIA believes the Administration and Legislature must work hard to make New Jersey a more affordable State in which to live and operate a business.  Lower taxes, affordable health insurance and lower energy costs should become top policy goals, while costly new mandates like paid family leave should be dropped.

For more information, contact Art Maurice at ext. 247.

Premier
Bank of America
Jersey Central Power & Light,
A FirstEnergy Company
NJM Insurance Group
Verizon

Gold
AT&T
BP
Harrah’s Entertainment
Sills Cummis & Gross, PC
South Jersey Industries
United Water New Jersey

NJBIA honored 10 companies at its annual Awards for Excellence Dinner, which was held on October 16 at the Pines Manor, Edison.  The Awards for Excellence program recognizes employers for creating jobs, protecting the environment, being outstanding employers, and serving their communities.

“Our Awards for Excellence winners have had a very positive impact on the lives of their employees, their communities, the environment, and New Jersey,” NJBIA President Philip Kirschner said.  “They deserve to be recognized for their outstanding work.”

Thank you to the 2007 Awards for Excellence Sponsors

Gold Sponsors
Ferreira Construction/ Live Data Systems
HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospitals of NJ in Tinton Falls and Toms River
HSBC North America
Infineum USA L.P
KPMG LLP
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at New Brunswick
United Healthcare/Oxford
United Water
Verizon
Wachovia

Silver Sponsors
Alcoa Howmet
Apex Technology Group, Inc.
Atlantic City Electric
Constellation NewEnergy
General Magnaplate Corporation
Jersey Central Power & Light Co., A FirstEnergy Co.
Junior Achievement of New Jersey
K. Hovnanian Homes
Lowenstein Sandler PC
MDAdvantage Insurance Company of NJ
Merck & Co. Inc.
MyWireless.org
NJ Economic Development Authority
PSE&G
Sovereign Bank
Tri-State Industrial

Meet our Award Recipients

Job Creation Award winners, recognized for contribution to the State’s economic growth, are:
Apex Technology Group, Inc., Edison
DataPipe, Inc., Jersey City

Outstanding Employer Award winners, recognized for meeting the needs of their employees, are:
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Wayne
INTTRA INC., Parsippany
KPMG LLP, Short Hills

Environmental Quality Award winners, recognized for their environmental protection efforts, are:
Alcoa Howmet - Dover Operations, Dover
Ferreira Construction/Live Data Systems, Branchburg
K. Hovnanian Homes, Edison

Public Service Award winners, recognized for community service, are:
Infineum USA L.P., Linden
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Hamilton

An independent panel of judges reviewed the nominations; the panel included members of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE).  Mercadien P.C., Certified Public Accountants of Princeton, verified the information supplied by the winning applicants.

Q. Is it true the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) can fine me if I leave my company’s diesel trucks idling for longer than three minutes?

A. Yes.  The DEP recently issued new regulations targeting various types of diesel-powered vehicles operating on the roadways of the State.  These include long-haul trucks and short-haul delivery trucks, charter buses and public transportation buses.  These regulations also apply to businesses at which trucks are idling, even if the business owner is not the owner of the truck.  The new regulations took effect July 1, 2007. 

DEP inspectors are targeting convenience stores, bus staging areas, public entertainment venues, retail centers, truck yards, rest stops, warehouse distribution centers and loading/unloading areas to ensure that diesel-powered vehicles are complying with all applicable regulations.  The DEP, with the help of the local environmental health agencies throughout the State, will also respond aggressively to the complaints of local residents.

Failure to comply with the idling requirements will result in violation notices and fines for the property owner AND the vehicle operator.  Even if you do not own the truck, you can still be fined if it is caught idling for over three minutes at your place of business.

Penalties are $200 for the first violation, $400 for the second violation, $1,000 for the third violation, and $3,000 for the fourth and each subsequent violation.

In the past, diesel vehicles were allowed to idle for up to 30 minutes at an operator’s place of business.  Also, diesel vehicles were allowed to idle for 15 minutes when a vehicle had been stopped for three or more hours.  Now the limit for both is three minutes.

For the owner or operator of trucks or buses, there are still some limited exemptions that are based on outside air temperature and whether or not the bus is discharging or picking up passengers.  There are also full exemptions for trucks or buses stopped in traffic, heating or refrigeration trucks, emergency motor vehicles in emergency situations, and motor vehicles being repaired.

In the meantime, I would suggest that you consider doing the following:

Ensure that diesel-powered vehicles do not idle for more than three consecutive minutes, even if they are making deliveries at your location.  Also, post a “No Idling” sign at your place of business and adopt a no-idling policy for your fleet drivers and encourage them to do their part.  Finally, explore alternatives to idling, such as engine block heaters for cold weather starts, in-cabin heaters, the use of electrified bays, or the installation of diesel particulate filters on older vehicles if it is feasible.
           
How to Get More Information
NJBIA’s “Fast Facts” on this new idling rule details more restrictions and provides useful contacts and information on where to obtain a “No Idling” sign for your business.