May 30, 2008 - Tracking Legislation Important to the New Jersey Business Community

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee
Providing Affordable Housing – A-500 (Roberts/D-5; Watson Coleman/D-15; Green/D-22; Giblin/D-34; Coutinho/D-29; Jasey/D-27): Committee passed with amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Makes changes to the way New Jersey tackles the issue of affordable housing. The bill would require a 2.5% fee on the assessed value of any new commercial development or re-construction project. This fee structure would supersede pending regulations by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) that guide municipalities on how to generate funds to solve their affordable housing obligation. Under this bill, the fees collected would be used to build affordable housing throughout the state. Contact: Jim Leonard 

Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee
Eminent Domain – S-757 (Rice/D-28) and S-559 (Sweeney/D-3; Buono/D-18): Committee received testimony only. Supplements various parts of statutory law to provide greater accountability and transparency in the use of eminent domain by government entities in New Jersey. Current amendments address the concerns of home and business owners through an enhanced notification process and fair and equitable compensation. The State Chamber believes eminent domain must remain an option in the economic development process, but there must be reform. Contact: Jim Leonard 

ENERGY

Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
Energy Exemptions – S-241/394/710/1098 (Adler/D-6; Bateman/R-16; Smith/D-17; Sweeney/D-3; Haines/R-8): Committee passed. Establishes a property tax exemption for renewable energy systems that are part of a residential, commercial, industrial or mixed use building. The systems must also produce renewable energy onsite to provide all or a portion of the electrical, heating, cooling, or general energy needs of that building. Renewable energy is defined as electric energy produced from solar technologies, wind energy, fuel cells, geothermal technologies, wave or tidal action, methane gas from landfills, a resource recovery facility, a hydropower facility or a biomass facility, or energy produced from solar thermal or geothermal technologies. The bill also provides tax exemptions attributable to energy cost saving measures that reduce consumption of water and energy. The State Chamber supports tax exemptions that create incentives for businesses and residents to save energy and consider alternative energy sources. Contact: Michael Egenton

ENVIRONMENT

Senate Environment Committee
NJDEP Looking to Fix Site Remediation Program – The NJ Department of Environmental Protection, looking to improve the state's site remediation program, heard testimony recently about a Massachusetts program that relies on outside contractors to assist with and expedite clean-ups. 

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Assistant Commissioner for Site Remediation Janine Commerford and Kerry Tull, senior principal of MACTEC Engineering, testified on the Massachusetts Licensed Site Professional (LSP) program. Since the inception of the 15-year Massachusetts program, over 30,000 sites have been cleaned-up. The Massachusetts program has about 6,000 active sites at any given time, with about 1,000 entering into the program each year. Commerford and Tull said contracting out the work resulted in faster clean-ups than previous efforts. They also confirmed that there was no significant loss of state employee jobs as a result of instituting the program.

The NJDEP is proposing to borrow aspects of the Massachusetts program to allow certified professionals to proceed through the investigation and remediation of selected sites with a minimum of NJDEP oversight. Sites involving critical "at risk" receptors or those involving recalcitrant responsible parties would still require significant NJDEP oversight. NJDEP would determine when all cases were satisfactorily cleaned up and only NJDEP could issue a No Further Action determination. The State Chamber is working closely with NJDEP and members of the Senate Environment Committee on draft legislation that will improve the site remediation program. Contact: Michael Egenton

Click here to view the Chamber’s Site Remediation Study.

Click here to read more about the issue. 

HEALTH

Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
Expanding Family Care – S-1557 (Vitale/D-19; Singer/R-30): Committee passed. The purpose of this bill is to ensure that more residents in the state have access to affordable health care coverage by expanding the NJ FamilyCare Program to more low income parents, mandating that all children in the state have health care coverage either through public programs or private coverage, and adopting various reform measures to the individual and small employer insurance markets to increase the affordability of health benefits plans for individuals and small businesses.  The provisions of this bill represent the first phase of a comprehensive reform of the health care system which, when fully implemented, will provide universal health care coverage for all residents of New Jersey. Health care is one of the largest costs for business today. The overall goal of the State Chamber’s Health Care Coalition is to work to create a health care system that is accessible, accountable and affordable. Contact: Jim Leonard 

Click here to read the chamber's testimony on S-1557.

LABOR

Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
Protecting the UI Fund – S-562 (Sweeney/D-3; Sarlo/D-36): Committee passed; Senate passed 39-0. Provides a new, reduced unemployment insurance (UI) tax schedule when the reserves in the state’s UI Fund are greater than needed for claims. Aside from the direct employer benefit of reduced UI taxes, this will help prevent an excessive build-up in the UI Fund balance during periods of growth and high employment, thus reducing the likelihood of the redirection of UI tax revenues to other purposes. Contact: Jim Leonard 

Keeping the UI Fund Solvent – S-1698 (Buono/D-18; Kean, S./R-11): Committee passed and Senate passed 39-0. Provides a supplemental appropriation of $260 million from the state’s fiscal 2008 budget surplus for the purpose of preventing an automatic tax increase on New Jersey employers caused by depleted balances in the unemployment compensation fund.  The fund, which pays weekly benefits to workers who have been separated from employment, is funded by payroll taxes on employers and workers. Contact: Jim Leonard 

Assembly Labor Committee
Backdoor Unionization – A-2074 (Watson Coleman/D-15): Committee passed. Requires a contractor or subcontractor engaged in a public works contract subject to prevailing wage requirements to keep wage records showing the name, address, craft or trade and the actual wages, hours and overtime of each worker under the contract. The bill also requires making those wage records available to the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, certain interested parties, and any member of the public. The Chamber opposes needless paperwork requirements and making wage and other sensitive information available to the public. Contact: Jim Leonard 

Trenton Watch is a publication of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. Thumbs up and down indicates the chamber’s support or opposition to issues. Questions? Call the State Chamber Government Relations Department at (609) 989-7888. Comments are always welcome.