Bill Text: NJ A660 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Concerns reviews of State's economic development incentives.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-05-18 - Received in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee [A660 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A660-Amended.html
ASSEMBLY, No. 660
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman TIMOTHY J. EUSTACE
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Assemblyman VINCENT MAZZEO
District 2 (Atlantic)
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Caride
SYNOPSIS
Concerns reviews of State's economic development incentives.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee on January 12, 2015, with amendments.
An Act concerning reviews of the State's economic development incentives, supplementing chapter 24 of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The State Auditor shall, on or before July 1 next following the effective date of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill),1 and on or before July 1 of every second year thereafter, publish a report on an audit of every program of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (hereinafter, "authority") that provides a private business with a grant, loan, or tax credit. 1[The] Each biennial1 report and audit shall cover the two-year period ending on December 31 of the year preceding the date of its publication. The purpose of the report and audit shall be to enable an evaluation of the State's return on the economic development incentives provided through the authority to private businesses.
b. The report and audit shall provide detailed information on grants, loans, and tax credits awarded by the authority and on the private businesses that received those grants, loans, or tax credits. The report and audit (hereafter, "report") shall include a description of each authority program that provides 1or provided1 a grant, loan, or tax credit to a private business 1after December 31, 20061. The report shall also include the following information about every grant, loan, or tax credit in excess of $1,000 that the authority shall have awarded after 1December 31,1 2006 to a private business:
(1) the name of the private business that received the grant, loan, or tax credit;
(2) the amount of the grant, loan, or tax credit;
(3) a detailed description of any development project that the private business was required to complete in exchange for the grant, loan, or tax credit and the status of the project;
(4) the amount of any investment, in excess of the funds provided by the State, that the authority required the private business to make in exchange for the grant, loan, or tax credit and the amount invested by the private business;
(5) the number of jobs that the private business promised to create, retain, or relocate within the State in exchange for the grant, loan, or tax credit and the number of those jobs that were to be permanent or temporary;
(6) the actual number of jobs that the private business created, retained, or relocated within the State as the direct or indirect result of the grant, loan, or tax credit, whether those jobs were temporary or are permanent, whether those jobs still existed in this State at the conclusion of the reporting period, or at the conclusion during the reporting period of the term of any contract or agreement between the authority and the business, under which contract or agreement the grant, loan or tax credit was awarded, and the salary and benefits provided during the reporting period to the individuals who have filled those jobs;
(7) the total number of individuals employed by the private business in this State on the day it received the grant, loan, or tax credit, the total number of individuals employed by the private business in this State at the conclusion of the reporting period or at the conclusion during the reporting period of any contract or agreement referred to in paragraph (6) of this subsection, and whether the private business has engaged in any layoffs in this State since its receipt of the grant, loan, or tax credit;
(8) the amount of additional tax revenue, on an annual basis for each year since the grant, loan, or tax credit was issued, attributable to increases in the private business's net income, sales, or workforce as the direct or indirect result of its receipt of the grant, loan, or tax credit, including, but not limited to, additional income tax withholdings from an employee in a job created by the grant, loan, or tax credit; and
(9) the use of a provision of law by the authority to recapture or reduce the benefits of any grant, loan, or tax credit awarded to a private business.
The report shall also include a summary of 1[its] the1 findings 1of the preparers of the report1 and shall detail any trends 1identified by the preparers of the report1, positive or negative, that could be utilized to improve the State's return on the economic development incentives provided through the authority to private businesses.
c. The report shall highlight any information required by this section that the preparers of the report were unable to obtain through the authority and recommend any legislative changes that would allow the authority to collect 1and provide1 that information.
d. (1) The Office of the State Auditor 1[shall not itself] may1 prepare 1[the] a1 report to be published pursuant to this section; 1[rather, the State Auditor shall] or may1 contract with an independent private entity to prepare 1[the] a1 report 1, or a part thereof1. 1[The entity awarded] If the State Auditor decides to contract with an independent private entity to prepare a report, or a part thereof, the State Auditor shall award1 the contract 1[shall have] to an entity which has1 at least 10 years' experience in the preparation of financial and performance audits of governmental units or their agencies and instrumentalities. The contract shall require that the audit portion of the report be conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards used by the federal 1[General] Government1 Accountability Office.
The authority shall provide the 1State Auditor or1 independent private entity 1preparing a report, or part thereof,1 with unfettered access to any authority documents, records and employees. 1[The] An1 independent private entity 1preparing a report, or part thereof,1 shall be required by contract to maintain the confidentiality of any confidential information it obtains through the authority.
(2) 1[The] An1 independent private entity 1preparing a report, or part thereof,1 shall not publish its report or any part thereof to, or discuss its findings with, any person other than the State Auditor and the Executive Director of the authority, to each of whom the independent private entity shall transmit a copy of the report.
1(3)1 Upon 1completion or1 receipt of 1[the] a1 report, the State Auditor shall transmit a copy of the report to 1the President and the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the General Assembly, the "Legislative Task Force on Business Development Incentives,"1 the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.169 (C.52:14-19.1), 1[to]1 the Legislature 1[, and the]. The1 State Auditor and the authority shall make the report available to the public through the Office of the State Auditor's website and the authority's website, respectively.
2. a. There is hereby established the "Legislative Task Force on Business Development Incentives."
b. The task force shall study the effectiveness of the business development and retention incentives 1[offer] offered1 by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
c. The task force shall be comprised of 14 1members of the Legislature1, as follows:
(1) The chairpersons of the 1following committees, or their successors, shall serve ex officio: the1 Senate Economic Growth Committee, the Senate Labor Committee, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee, the Assembly Labor Committee, and 1, at the discretion of the Speaker of the General Assembly, either1 the Assembly Appropriations Committee, or 1[their respective successors] the Assembly Budget Committee. Ex officio members may be represented by designees1;
(2) 1(a)1 A member of 1each of the following committees, or their successors, appointed by the President of the Senate based upon the recommendation of the Senate Minority Leader:1 the Senate Economic Growth Committee, 1[a member of]1 the Senate Labor Committee, and 1[a member of]1 the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee 1[, or of their respective successors, to be appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate]1; and
1(b)1 a member of 1each of the following committees, or their successors, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly based upon the recommendation of the Assembly Minority Leader:1 the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee, 1[a member of]1 the Assembly Labor Committee, and 1, at the discretion of the Speaker of the General Assembly, either1 the Assembly Appropriations Committee, or 1[of their respective successors, to be appointed by the Minority Leader of the General Assembly] the Assembly Budget Committee1; and
(3) The Majority Leader of the Senate and the Majority Leader of the General Assembly.
d. 1[The appointment of] Within 15 days of the Legislature's receipt of a report transmitted pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Senate and Assembly Minority Leaders shall submit to the Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly, respectively, their recommendations for1 members 1[of] to serve on1 the task force 1[under paragraph (2) of subsection c. of this section shall be made within]. Within1 30 days of the Legislature's receipt of 1[the first] a1 report transmitted pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) 1, the Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly shall appoint the members of the minority party1. Vacancies in the appointed membership of the task force shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made.
e. The task force 1shall organize as soon as practicable after the appointment of its members, and1 shall hold at least one public hearing to take testimony regarding the findings of 1[the] a1 report published by the State Auditor pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) within 1[30] 601 days of the 1[appointment of the task force members under paragraph (2) of subsection c. of this section] Legislature's receipt of a report transmitted pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)1.
f. The task force shall submit a report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, within 120 days of the Legislature's receipt of the report published by the State Auditor pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The task force report shall summarize the findings of the State Auditor's report and provide recommendations for revising or discontinuing any existing New Jersey Economic Development Authority program so as to improve the State's return on the economic development incentives provided through the authority to private businesses.
g. The Office of Legislative Services shall provide such technical, stenographic, and secretarial assistance as may be required by the task force. The task force may also request the assistance and services of employees of any other State department, board, bureau, commission, task force, or agency as it may require and as may be available to it for its purposes.
3. This act shall take effect on January 1 next following enactment 1[, and section 2 shall expire upon submission of the task force's report to the Legislature]1.
