New Jersey legislators are hoping to set aside $1.5 million a year for the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, a not-for-profit that trains and connects the workforce within the state’s manufacturing sector.
Under proposed Senate Bill 1957, the funds would come out of a federal pot of money within the state’s labor department. NJMEP said it plans to use the funds to scale up operations at a South Jersey facility.
The bill was approved in a 34-0 Senate vote and a 72-0 Assembly vote, both on Thursday.
“The New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program has always been a significant piece in assisting manufacturers across the state,” one of the bill’s sponsors and-chair of Legislature’s Manufacturing Caucus, Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-14th District, said in an August statement.
“With a permanent source of funding, they will be able to be consistent and effective with their work.”
As the pandemic swept across the Northeast in March and April, the governors of New Jersey and five neighboring states wanted to coordinate the purchase of personal protective equipment, at a time when the federal government became something of an unreliable partner to get that equipment.
Kennedy – NJMEP
Easier still, Murphy said, would be to have those products – face masks, gloves and face shields – be produced in New Jersey. That would be a massive overhaul, and a reversal of decades-long trends that have plagued the nation’s manufacturing sector, according to John Kennedy, NJMEP’s chief executive officer.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is hoping to at least push businesses in the direction of buying New Jersey-made PPE, by subsidizing purchases from Garden State manufacturers.
“New Jersey’s economy was built on the strength of our manufacturing industry and this bill gives NJMEP a targeted boost to help accelerate job growth, drive business, and help manufacturers compete in the global economy,” Kennedy said in a Friday statement.
The measure, Kennedy said, “will help ensure that products and critical Industry innovation will continue to be made right here in New Jersey and that we can continue providing professional development programs to New Jersey residents.”
