The reopening of indoor dining, movie theaters and indoor entertainment venues is a positive step for the New Jersey economy and the employees in these industries. While we believe it would have been desirable to reopen these businesses sooner, it is time to move forward. Everyone should continue to comply with the medical guidelines outlined by Gov. Murphy and health officials so more businesses can reopen or ramp up to their pre-COVID levels, thus achieving full Phase 3 implementation, and putting more of our citizens back to work.
Now that more and more businesses are opening, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce urges all businesses and consumers in this state to “Buy NJ” and patronize New Jersey businesses when and where possible.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday morning on Twitter that New Jersey restaurants can resume indoor dining this Friday, Sept. 4, at 25% capacity.
The Governor’s budget address this morning was both confusing and disappointing. We have a severe economic crisis and the Governor’s proposed budget would make it worse.
In the new reality of the COVID-19 economic shutdown, most businesses in this state have had to rethink their futures and make difficult and sometimes painful decisions. This is an opportune time for state government to do the same thing and rethink what it does.
A powerful Senate committee on Monday unanimously paved the way to seat the first Black woman on New Jersey’s highest court.
Tom Bracken loves the New Jersey Department of Health’s guidelines for reopening schools, the ones that use risk levels within six regions in the state to determine where — and how — it’s safe to reopen.
Bracken — and others — would love to see them used for the business community.
Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, and Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, issued the following statement today regarding a regional approach to reopening New Jersey businesses.
“It appears that deferring to industry experts and local officials for COVID-19 reopening decisions is the proper process, except when it comes to the reopening of our businesses.
The N.J. Chamber of Commerce was one of 100 business and nonprofit groups – the New Jersey Business Coalition – that signed a letter to Gov. Murphy calling for the state to accelerate the pace of the state's economic 'reopening' and break New Jersey out of its “unnecessary and extenuated pause mode.” The letter, sent to the governor this morning, states: “Our current data, compared to most states, justifies a much stronger pace of reopening, but we are lagging, due mainly to a reliance on spiking numbers in other states, as well as a brief spike in New Jersey’s numbers resulting from social gatherings.” For full letter, click here.
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is proud to recognize our current Board Chair Linda Bowden’s impending induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. We congratulate her on this huge and well deserved honor.
The newest inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame include actress Anne Hathaway, former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Charles Addams, the cartoonist who created The Addams Family.
This week, the New Jersey Legislature is considering legislation that would require certain entities authorized to issue health benefit plans to pay an annual assessment.
Of course, “assessment” is just another way of saying “tax” — which is what this is, a tax on health insurance. Worse, if this bill becomes law, it will actually create a second tax on health insurance in New Jersey.