newjerseynewsroom.com

Upper house to consider 18 measures, Assembly 7

The Democratic majority in the state Senate and Assembly Thursday is prepared to approve legislation designed to help create jobs and spark economic development in New Jersey.

Senate will vote on 18 "Back to Work NJ" bills and the Assembly will act on seven. The upper house will move on additional bills in the package on Monday.

"Working class New Jerseyans and businesses struggling to make ends meet are looking for innovative and credible ideas to jumpstart our economy, and we're ready to make those ideas reality," Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) said Wednesday. "Our residents and businesses need to start the new year with a renewed confidence in the state's economy. This bill package will provide that momentum."

"With unemployment stubbornly stuck above 9 percent, we have been aggressive in our efforts to retool and reposition our economy," Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said. "This package is about creating new economic opportunities not only for business, but for working families across the state. For their sake, we can't act fast enough."

In the Assembly, the jobs package includes

two corporate tax reform bills (A-1676 and A-3535) to make the businesses that employ New Jerseyans more competitive, a plan (A-3353) to create a special fund to stimulate economic activity by encouraging businesses to stay, expand and move to the state, and a measure (A-3513) to encourage students to seek work in areas that have labor shortages.

The package also includes the so-called "Back to Work NJ" program (A-3584) to provide on-the-job training for unemployed residents, a bill (A-3389) to improve a program that encourages businesses to stay or relocate to New Jersey, and a bill (A-3592) to provide targeted tax credits for investments in new, emerging biotech businesses.

In the Senate, the jobs and economic growth measures include bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sweeney and Sen. Steven Oroho (R-Sussex) to remove a disparity in state business tax law that favors out-of-state companies (S-1646), and a bill sponsored by Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) and Oroho to reform the way some small business owners file their taxes to provide them with a significant cut (S-1540).

Another measure (S-2496) would create the "Back to Work New Jersey" program, which would allow companies looking to hire new employees to take on an unemployed state resident for up to six weeks of on-the-job training.

The "New Jersey Angel Investor Tax Credit Act" (S-2454) would incentivize start-up investments in state-based high-tech and biotechnology companies by so-called "angel investors" — entrepreneurs who provide the massive capital investments that start-up technology businesses need to get up and running.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM