“Let’s not forget that on Election Day, there was a strong message given to everybody that affordability was a big issue for New Jersey,” Tom Bracken, who heads the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said during a press conference hosted by his organization, the New Jersey Business & Industry Association and the New Jersey chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses on Dec. 14.

Despite the state's recent good fortune with its public worker fund, Garden State Initiative found in a recent dispatch that the system is still vastly underfunded and cannot hope to dig itself out of its current financial circumstances without steep cuts to future benefits and adjustments to its investments and contributions.

The past four spending plans have included a variety of increases, including a millionaire’s levy on those earning above $1 million a year, and higher contributions for the state’s most profitable businesses.

The governor said the numbers represented "a good start and it’s going to get better, it needs to get better.”

Similar proposals gained traction over the summer, after the Department of Labor and Workforce Development revealed that New Jersey businesses would have to pay $252 million starting in October to replenish the state’s unemployment fund - the first of three such increases.

“By taking these steps to exclude farmland from being classified as a redevelopment area or rehabilitation area, we are ensuring the protection of these vital spaces and preventing further warehouse sprawl, which will help keep New Jersey green for decades to come,” said outgoing Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a sponsor of the legislation.

The state Labor Department is offering several return-to-work assistance programs, such as help with job searches, resume-writing, interviewing skills, and education and training.

The latest proposal would provide credits for wages that certain small businesses paid to employees to keep them on board over the course of the public health emergency.

By participating in online survey, community members will help inform projects designed to revitalize and rejuvenate the area located in and around the capitol's State, Broad, Front and Warren corridors.

Philip Sellinger is currently co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Florham Park office, a position he's held since 2002 after spending 18 years at Sills Cummis & Gross in Newark.

In February 2019, an F&A school bus driver transporting 12 special-needs children in Newark crashed the vehicle into the wall of a building, and had allegedly overdosed on heroin at the time. Police had to revive the driver using Narcan.

Seven awards were doled out for the program at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's last board meeting of 2021. The initiative has picked up some of the tab for 30 productions in the state since its reintroduction in 2018.