Measure Will Create Incentives to Spark Job Creation & Economic Development
Legislation sponsored by Assemblymen Troy Singleton and Herb Conaway, Jr., M.D. to boost New Jersey’s job creation efforts by revamping and streamlining the state’s economic development tax incentives has been signed into law.
After a lengthy legislative process to shape the comprehensive measure, the final product – known as the New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act of 2013 – merges five state tax-incentive programs into two, with one focused on job creation and the other on economic development, both of which are administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
Under the new law (A-3680), the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program will be the state’s premiere business attraction and retention incentive and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant Program (ERG) will help encourage businesses to embark on redevelopment projects.
“At the end of the day, this law is designed to better match or surpass the financial incentive packages being offered by neighboring and other competing states, while also providing bonuses to drive development to smart growth areas in the state,” said Singleton (D-Burlington). “This is vital for job creation in a state where we’ve seen an unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, which commands us to do better. The reconfiguration of these programs takes into account areas of our state that may have traditionally been neglected under the previous incentive programs, as well as localized needs where employment and business retention may be threatened.”
“We are by no means out of the woods when it comes to rebounding from the recession so we must bolster our job creation and economic development efforts. This law will allow us to increase the ability of existing New Jersey businesses, including small and mid-size companies, to use these economic development tools to expand their business and create and retain New Jersey jobs,” said Conaway (D-Burlington). “Ultimately, our goal is for companies and small businesses to survey the surrounding landscape and see, definitively, that New Jersey is the best place to expand or set up shop.”
The bipartisan legislation was also sponsored on the democratic side by Assembly members Bonnie Watson Coleman, Ruben Ramos, Jr., Jerry Green, Benji Wimberly and Paul Moriarty.