Platform for Progress – Helping New Jersey Regain Its Competitive Edge

Groups Will Work Collaboratively to Drive Change to Improve Economic Opportunity

A group of concerned business, chamber of commerce, and association leaders gathered Oct. 11 at the Statehouse to announce the formation of the Platform for Progress coalition and launch a long-term campaign designed to offer solutions in six key issue areas designed to help New Jersey reach its economic potential.  The coalition will work collaboratively on issues that are too big for one group to tackle alone. 

The six Platform for Progress areas of focus are Economic Development, Education, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, and Transportation.  The campaign will educate state officials, business owners, employees, and the general public on challenges facing New Jersey and ways to reverse negative trends affecting economic growth.

Prompting the formation of this coalition is data citing that New Jersey ranks poorly in many areas when compared to the rest of the nation.  Reports that New Jersey has fallen from 26^th to 44^th in the annual Beacon Hill Institute State Competitive Index, and the fact that economy.com concludes that our state has the third highest cost of doing business have sparked concern.  In addition, New Jersey’s property taxes are the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that our combined federal, state, and local tax burden is the third highest in the nation.  These, along with many other alarming factors, need to be addressed if New Jersey plans to attract, retain, and grow companies that will create quality jobs for the residents of the state.   

In order to educate New Jerseyans on these important issues, the Platform for Progress coalition launched a premier Web site, www.platformforprogress.com, which openly displays unbiased, fact-based information on where New Jersey ranks nationally in more than 60 key categories.  New Jersey’s rankings, along with a wealth of other valuable information, are available for the first time in one central location on this site.  The site also features the results of a candidate survey where users can view both Senator Corzine’s and Doug Forrester’s stance on each issue area.

Each of the six issue areas were identified as a major area of importance through a strategic planning process and a survey of diverse state stakeholders.  The representative chairing each issue initiative was selected as a result of their knowledge, commitment to driving change, and ability to lead in this area.  Each of these issues have a long-term goal and action plan.  The issue leaders and areas of concern include:   

• Government Reform (Chair - Peter Cocoziello, President and CEO, Advance Realty Group):  It is the goal of this initiative to achieve ethical reform at all levels of New Jersey government. Business leaders are seriously concerned about the negative image of state government as corrupt, because it makes it more difficult to get in-state and out-of-state executives to invest in New Jersey, especially when we are already a high-cost state ranking poorly in most tax, healthcare, energy, and other key categories.   According to a July 2005 Farleigh Dickinson PublicMind public opinion poll, 46% of New Jersey residents believe New Jersey has more dishonest politicians when compared to other states. That figure was 12.3% in 2001.
  
• Transportation (Chair - Hazel Gluck, Senior Partner, MBI GluckShaw):  The goal of the Transportation initiative is to identify and promote stable, long-term transportation funding programs that best serve residents, target construction projects that will relieve congestion, and develop a state and regional master transportation plan.  New Jersey’s transportation funding crisis is at a critical point, especially with 36.6% of the state’s bridges being structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and 23% of our roads having poor surface condition.  If a new transportation-funding plan is not implemented, New Jersey will not be able to fix these problems and will also forfeit $5.6 billion in federal aid. 
  
• Economic Development (Chair - Dennis Bone, President, Verizon NJ, Inc.):  The New Jersey state budget has grown from $16.4 billion in 1998 to $27.9 billion in fiscal 2006. New Jersey has the third highest per capita corporation income tax in the nation, our property taxes are the highest, and the state and local business taxes paid by companies per employee is ranked sixth.  The Economic Development initiative seeks to make New Jersey a pro-investment state by advocating for policies that will encourage organizations already based here to further their investment, while at the same time attract companies from the outside to settle all or part of their companies in our state.  Developing a more business-friendly environment by reducing taxes and government spending will help make New Jersey more appealing to current and potential job providers. 
  
• Education (Chair - Arthur Ryan, Chairman and CEO, Prudential Financial, Inc.):  The Education initiative seeks to improve the overall quality of education New Jersey’s students receive in order to ensure that all students achieve at high levels, become productive citizens, and are well prepared to succeed in the workplace.  By 2020, more than 84% of available jobs will require a college degree.  Because of the high demand for employees with the appropriate workforce readiness skills, it is becoming increasingly important that we ensure our children receive a solid education that prepares them for the future.
  
• Healthcare (Chair - Jeff Scheininger, President, Flexline/U.S. Brass & Copper Corporation): The main goal of the Healthcare initiative is to improve New Jersey’s system to ensure that it is accessible, accountable, and affordable. A little over 50 percent of New Jersey’s smaller companies offer health insurance to employees, as opposed to over 95 percent of larger companies. Still, larger companies are passing more costs on to employees due to astronomical rises in rates. The Platform for Progress will work to develop legislative solutions to the healthcare problem by advocating for fixes that will make insurance more accessible to smaller employers and by pushing for policies that assure more accountability on the part of doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. Medical errors increase the cost of healthcare. If these errors were reduced, those providing insurance to employees would realize savings. The Institute of Medicine reports that preventable injury resulting from medical mistakes costs the U.S. economy from $17 billion to $29 billion annually. If investments are made in medical technology infrastructure we can dramatically reduce unnecessary deaths and in return reduce costs. According to the Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, more than 1,000 New Jersey residents die each year as a result of medical errors. 
  
• Environment (Chair - Sharon Schulman, President, Aqua New Jersey, Inc.): The Environment initiative’s goal is for the state Department of Environmental Protection to institute seven fundamental guiding principles that will transcend administrations.  These principles ask that New Jersey government base environmental laws on sound science and policies that are feasible for the business community.  Currently, the time it takes to get a permit deters those interested in expanding economic activity; the cost of site remediation causes New Jersey to lose its competitive edge; and excessive regulatory hurdles frustrate employers.

 “The goal of this campaign is not only to raise public awareness of the issues that affect the growth and prosperity of New Jersey’s business community,” says Joan Verplanck, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, “but to also ensure that those elected into office this November promise to make these issues as important to them as they are to us.  By working together we can achieve the common goal of helping New Jersey prosper.” About the Platform for Progress

The Platform for Progress is a coalition of New Jersey businesses and organizations working in partnership with the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.  The coalition is dedicated to bringing solutions to long-term challenges our state is facing in six key areas, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, and Transportation.  The purpose of the Platform for Progress is to address “the big picture.”  We have identified over-arching challenges requiring long-term solutions.  If successfully addressed through positive change, however, these solutions would have an enormous impact on state residents and employers.  Each of the issue areas is a plank in a grassroots program we have launched to help employers communicate with employees and legislators regarding public policies that impact business.  The campaign will help increase public awareness of the challenges faced, roadblocks to success, and the positive outcome to be enjoyed by all of our citizens through lower cost/higher quality healthcare, superior educational outcomes, a cleaner environment, improved transportation network, increased investment, and a reputation to be proud of.  For more information, please visit www.platformforprogress.com.

October 2005