Increasing Costs, And Jeopardizing New Jobs
The General Assembly today passed S-2247, requiring companies that take advantage of BEIP grants to pay the prevailing union wage on certain projects.
Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) grants work to entice companies to expand or locate within New Jersey by paying a portion of the company's income taxes provided they generate at least 25 new jobs. To date, the program has helped create 70,000 new jobs and nearly $12 billion in new investment.
It's the state's most successful job creation program ever, built on the principle of reducing costs in order to get companies to expand or locate in New Jersey.
Prevailing wage requirements increase construction costs by 10-25%.
So now, a string attached to accepting a grant which reduces the cost of doing business will be to increase your cost of doing business. The bill also requires a landlord to pay the prevailing wage if a BEIP recipient occupies at least 55% of their building - even for work done elsewhere on the property.
Now, a quasi-related third party would be able to jeopardize your incentive grant. As we said in our committee testimony, it would border on irresponsibility for a company to accept a grant under those circumstances.
The final tally in the Assembly it was 53-24. We'll post the votes of the Assembly when they become available on-line The votes of individual legislators are pasted below. The legislation appears to be headed for the Governor's desk. A "NO" vote is consistent with the CIANJ's position.
| Albano, Nelson T. - Yes | Barnes, Peter J., III - Yes | Baroni, Bill - Yes | |
| Bateman, Christopher - No | Beck, Jennifer - No | Biondi, Peter J. - No | |
| Blee, Francis J. - Yes | Bodine, Francis L. - Not Voting | Bramnick, Jon M. - No | |
| Burzichelli, John J. - Yes | Caraballo, Wilfredo - Yes | Carroll, Michael Patrick - No | |
| Chatzidakis, Larry - Not Voting | Chivukula, Upendra J. - Yes | Cohen, Neil M. - Yes | |
| Conaway, Herb, M.D. - Yes | Conners, Jack - Yes | Connors, Christopher J. - No | |
| Corodemus, Steve - No | Cruz-Perez, Nilsa - Yes | Cryan, Joseph - Yes | |
| Dancer, Ronald S. - Yes | DeCroce, Alex - No | Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr. - Yes | |
| Doherty, Michael J. - No | Egan, Joseph V. - Yes | Epps, Charles T., Jr. - Yes | |
| Evans, Elease - Yes | Fisher, Douglas H. - Yes | Giblin, Thomas P. - Yes | |
| Gordon, Robert M. - Yes | Green, Jerry - Yes | Greenstein, Linda R. - Yes | |
| Greenwald, Louis D. - Yes | Gregg, Guy R. - No | Gusciora, Reed - Yes | |
| Handlin, Amy H. - No | Holzapfel, James W. - No | Jasey, Mila M. - Yes | |
| Johnson, Gordon M. - Yes | Karrow, Marcia A. - No | Kean, Sean T. - Yes | |
| Lampitt, Pamela R. - Yes | Malone, Joseph R., III - Yes | Manzo, Louis M. - Yes | |
| Mayer, David R. - Yes | McHose, Alison Littell - No | McKeon, John F. - Yes | |
| Merkt, Richard A. - No | Moriarty, Paul D. - Yes | Munoz, Eric - No | |
| O'Toole, Kevin J. - No | Oliver, Sheila Y. - Yes | Panter, Michael J. - Yes | |
| Payne, William D. - Yes | Pennacchio, Joseph - No | Pou, Nellie - Yes | |
| Prieto, Vincent - Yes | Quigley, Joan M. - Yes | Roberts, Joseph J., Jr. - Yes | |
| Rooney, John E. - No | Rumpf, Brian E. - No | Russo, David C. - No | |
| Scalera, Frederick - Yes | Schaer, Gary S. - Yes | Stack, Brian P. - Yes | |
| Stanley, Craig A. - Yes | Stender, Linda - Yes | Thompson, Samuel D. - No | |
| Truitt, Oadline D. - Yes | Vainieri Huttle, Valerie - Yes | Van Drew, Jeff - Yes | |
| Vandervalk, Charlotte - No | Vas, Joseph - Not Voting | Vega, Silverio A. - Yes | |
| Voss, Joan M. - Yes | Watson Coleman, Bonnie - Yes | Whelan, Jim - Yes | |
| Wisniewski, John S. - Yes | Wolfe, David W. - No |
