“Our State Has Been Brought To Its Knees And We Are On The Brink Of Insolvency"

Opening Statement of Senator Anthony Bucco

Budget Hearing, April 8, 2010

“Our State has been brought to its knees and we are on the brink of insolvency.

“A recession was a major factor. But the policies of Democrat governors and past Democrat Leaders of the Legislature made things worse. The problem is spending, Even a former Democratic Treasurer acknowledged that this state has a ’spending problem’ not a revenue problem.

“More than 100 taxes were imposed or increased over the last 8 years. These taxes made New Jersey uncompetitive and killed jobs. They helped drive our unemployment rate higher than our neighbors — to 10%.

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EFCA Will Be Straw That Breaks the Back of Job Creation

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Releases New Ad: EFCA Will Be Straw That Breaks the Back of Job Creation

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) today released a new print ad that reinforces the negative effect that the mis-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will have on creating the jobs that Americans are demanding from the President and the Congress. The ad depicts EFCA as the last straw to break an already overly burdened back of a camel, or metaphorically speaking, America’s job creators.

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New Jersey Solar Rebates On Hold

Due to revisions to the state's budget, the state’s Clean Energy Rebate Program will not accept new applications Solar Rebates for the month of April, and all applications currently in queue will be frozen until the program is scheduled to reopen in May.

When the state ran out of funding for its solar rebate a couple years ago, all solar activity ground to a halt for months. And then the state rolled out the market-based SREC Program, revitalizing the commercial and industrial solar sectors. The residential market, however, didn’t pick back up until the state reinstated a modest rebate. Combined with the revenue stream provided by SRECs, the solar rebates have been enough to make projects feasible for the average homeowner.

Relatively predictable income from SRECS make securing bank financing much easier, but without the rebate to reduce up-front costs, the solar price tag becomes prohibitive for most home and business owners. The excellent Federal Tax Credit, equal to 30 percent of solar costs, has a direct and positive impact on cash flow but does not help with out of pocket expenses.

Health Care Law Will Hurt Small Businesses

"If you talk to actual small-business owners, they'll tell you that the new health care law is going to hurt their businesses, their employees and their families," writes J.J. Darby, NFIB/South Carolina.

Some people say that the health-care bill passed by Congress and signed by the president is going to help small business. Problem is, the people saying that aren’t really small business owners themselves.

If you talk to actual small business owners, they’ll tell you that the new health-care law is going to hurt their businesses, their employees and their families.

In his commentary, J.J. Darby outlines the many problems he foresees for small busineses under the new law. Read More

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO COSPONSOR THE GREEN JOBS IMPROVEMENT ACT

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included $500 million in funding for the Green Jobs Act, which requires any training entity applying for new green jobs funding to partner with organized labor, effectively barring nearly 80% of Contractors in New Jersey from applying for Green Job training funds for their members.

To receive federal funding, this Act forces organizations to partner with labor unions. The problem: Nationally, organized labor only makes up 7.8 percent of the private sector workforce.

Representative John Kline (R-Minn.) introduced the Green Job Improvement Act which would amend the Green Jobs Act to make any accredited training program, regardless of labor affiliation, eligible to receive Green Job training grants.

Click Here to Read More about the Green Jobs Act

Please click on "Take Action" to contact your Representatives and urge them to cosponsor H.R. 2026, The Green Jobs Improvement Act.

If the Green Jobs Act is not fixed, over 90 percent of the private sector workforce will not be able to compete in one of the largest growing fields of construction.

Chamber Plans Strategy to Blunt Health Overhaul

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is planning a broad effort to blunt the recently signed health care reform law by attempting to shape its regulatory language and spending heavily to unseat vulnerable Democrats who voted for it.

The effort is the latest example of escalating tensions between proponents of the health overhaul and big businesses, which have become more specific in their criticisms of the new law.

Large companies have begun reporting large increases in costs because the law eliminates a tax deduction for firms that offer prescription-drug coverage to retirees.

Chamber president and chief executive Thomas J. Donohue said the business lobby will seek changes to regulations to "minimize the potentially harmful impacts of this bill on our members and the country." If regulators "exceed legislative mandates or try for end-runs around the lawful rule-making process," the chamber "will take legal action."

The Chamber plans to spend $50 million to ensure that the voters in pivotal House and Senate races know where lawmakers stand on health and other big issues.

Many Trade Organizations including ABC and IEC have partnered in various coalitions with the Chamber on important issues affecting NJECPAC members