“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.

“There were announcements of programs made, but we don’t have transparency to where that money is out on the street yet,” Michele Siekerka, who heads the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, told NJBIZ following a Nov. 16 panel at the annual New Jersey League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City.

The honorees will be celebrated during a Nov. 10 gala at the Pines Manor in Edison.

The annual trek to D.C. was cancelled for the second year in a row amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Each has been proactive in their support for employers and employees, particularly in a time when there is no blueprint for action,” President and CEO Tom Bracken said of the organization's Legislative and Business Awards honorees, who were recognized at Bell Works in Holmdel on Oct. 20.

The organization's “Business Advocate of the Year” will go to New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli and WithumSmith+Brown CEO William Hagaman, while the “Legislator of the Year” award will be bestowed on two Republicans and three Democrats.

The organization has urged businesses in the state to push workers to get the vaccine and its move comes the same day the Food and Drug Administration issued a full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, now known as Comirnaty, for individuals age 16 and older.