ASSEMBLY, No. 1871

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MAY 2, 1996

 

 

By Assemblyman CARABALLO

 

 

An Act requiring the Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development to report on job retention and creation activities and supplementing P.L.1985, c.160 (C.52:27H-22.1 et seq.).

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Job Retention and Creation Reporting Act."

 

    2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

    a. Numerous bills have been enacted into law in recent years to promote the retention and expansion of existing businesses in this State and the attraction of new businesses to this State;

    b. These recently enacted laws are intended to establish an effective strategy for long-term and permanent job retention and creation in this State;

    c. The Department of Commerce and Economic Development is the lead agency responsible for implementing many of the programs established by law to retain and expand existing businesses and to attract new businesses to the State; and

    d. In order for the Legislature to determine whether or not the programs to promote business retention, expansion and attraction are achieving the purposes for which they were enacted, it is in the public interest to require the Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development to report on a regular basis to the Legislature concerning the results of the department's efforts to implement the State's business retention and attraction strategy.

 

    3. As used in this act:

    "Authority" means the New Jersey Economic Development Authority established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1974, c.80 (C.34:1B-4).

    "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development.

    "Department" means the Department of Commerce and Economic Development.

    4. The commissioner shall report on a monthly basis to the Speaker of the General Assembly and to the President of the Senate by furnishing written reports describing the specific actions taken by the department during the prior month to implement programs to retain and expand existing businesses and to attract new businesses to this State. The monthly report required by this section shall include, but not be limited to:

    a. The number and identity of businesses in this State which the department has contacted or with which the department has negotiated in the prior month for the purpose of either expanding or retaining employment in this State;

    b. The number and identity of businesses outside of this State which the department has contacted or with which the department has negotiated in the prior month for the purpose of creating jobs in this State; and

    c. The results of each contact or negotiation with each business and of each follow-up contact or negotiation, if any, during the prior month, including the number and type of jobs which were under negotiation or which were the subject of the contact or negotiation in each case.

 

    5. Upon receipt of the monthly report required by section 4 of this act, the Speaker of the General Assembly shall make copies of the report available to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the General Assembly, and the President of the Senate shall make copies of the report available to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate.

 

    6. Within 90 days of the effective date of this act, the department shall provide a cumulative report for fiscal year 1994 and for fiscal year 1995 to the Speaker of the General Assembly, to the President of the Senate, and to the authority, containing a summary of the information required pursuant to section 4 of this act in order to provide the baseline data needed for comparison with reports to be filed subsequent to the effective date of this act.

 

    7. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill requires the Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development to report on a monthly basis to the Speaker of the General Assembly and the President of the Senate. The report shall include a listing of all the contacts and negotiations which the Department of Commerce and Economic Development has had with in-State or out-of-State businesses during the previous month for the purpose of retaining, expanding or attracting employment to this State.

    The bill also requires the department, within 90 days of the effective date of the bill, to provide the Speaker of the General Assembly, the Senate President and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority with a baseline description of the department's job creation activities during fiscal year 1994 and fiscal year 1995.

    The bill requires the Speaker of the General Assembly and the President of the Senate to furnish copies of the department's monthly report to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the General Assembly, and to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, respectively.

 

 

                             

 

Requires Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development to provide monthly reports to the Legislature.