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The basics:

• Author criticizes NJBIA and NJ Chamber leadership
• Lawmaker says business groups fail to oppose mandates and taxes
• Calls for stronger advocacy for New Jersey employers

New Jersey’s business community is in crisis, and not just because of what is coming out of Trenton. Increasingly, the biggest failure is coming from within. The very organizations that claim to represent and defend our employers, the New Jersey Business & Industry Association and the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, have become weak, ineffective, and completely out of touch with the people they claim to represent.

Let’s stop pretending otherwise.

For years, these groups have branded themselves as the “voice of business.” But when it actually matters, when bad policy is moving, when costs are rising, when mandates are expanding, they fold. They hedge. They go neutral. In a state already suffocating under taxes and regulation, neutrality isn’t caution. It’s cowardice.

Just this week, the NJBIA testified on legislation expanding family leave mandates, and chose to take no position. Neutral. On yet another mandate that drives up costs and makes it harder to hire, harder to grow, and harder to stay in New Jersey. That is not leadership. That is a complete failure to do the one job they exist to do.

And it gets worse.

At a recent Assembly Budget Committee hearing, the NJBIA actually commended Gov. Mikie Sherrill for “curbing spending” in the Fiscal Year 2027 state budget. Curbing spending? This is a budget that is nearly $2 billion larger than last year. Calling that restraint isn’t just wrong, it’s absurd. It’s the kind of spin that insults every employer in this state who is being asked to do more with less while Trenton continues to do the exact opposite.

Invitations

The Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, is rolling out the red carpet for that same governor as a keynote speaker at the exact moment her administration is pushing new taxes on businesses to fund expanded Medicaid obligations. Think about that. While businesses are being handed the bill, the so-called “advocates” are handing out applause.

It would be laughable if it weren’t so damaging.

So, who are these organizations actually working for? Because it certainly doesn’t look like it’s New Jersey’s employers.

This is what happens when theory replaces experience and when access replaces accountability.

Because make no mistake: access is exactly what these organizations are protecting.

So, who are these organizations actually working for? Because it certainly doesn’t look like it’s New Jersey’s employers.

When business groups hand out awards, heap praise, and provide platforms to the very politicians pushing anti-business policies, they send a clear message: there is no consequence for making New Jersey less competitive. In fact, there’s a reward for it.

So why would anything change?

Why would leaders like Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald or Speaker Craig Coughlin think twice about advancing costly mandates and new taxes, when the organizations that are supposed to oppose them are too busy playing nice?

Let’s be honest about the reality: New Jersey’s business climate is not deteriorating because policymakers don’t know better. It’s deteriorating because the people who are supposed to push back have chosen not to.

They’ve chosen access over advocacy. Optics over outcomes. Comfort over courage.

And businesses are paying the price.

That must end.

‘Real advocacy’

Here’s what real advocacy looks like: clear opposition to bad policy, not “neutral” testimony. Publicly calling out tax increases, not complimenting them, or mentioning their “concerns” about them in a five-minute speech praising the sponsor or the administration. Refusing to legitimize harmful agendas with awards, stages, and photo opportunities. Drawing a line and sticking to it.

If these organizations want to regain even a shred of credibility, they need to fundamentally change how they operate. That means speaking plainly, acting decisively, and being willing to say “no” loudly and often. It means representing businesses, not currying favor with politicians.

The NJBIA and the Chamber of Commerce have lost their way. Completely. If they are going to have any credibility moving forward, it starts with a fundamental change in leadership and direction. The current leadership has proven they are unwilling to stand up for the business community.

New Jersey employers don’t need another networking group. They don’t need another panel discussion. And they certainly don’t need organizations that are afraid to take a stand.

They need fighters.

Right now, they don’t have them.

And until that changes, New Jersey will continue to lose jobs, lose investment, and lose ground to states that actually take business seriously.

Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen is a West Point graduate, former U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot, Rutgers MBA, and business owner who represents New Jersey’s 26th Legislative District.