NJSpotlight published the following article on November 15, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT II COMES HARD ON HEELS OF ITS PROGENITOR
TARA NURIN | NOVEMBER 15, 2013
A Senate committee has unanimously passed a revised version of the Economic Opportunity Act, just two months after Gov. Chris Christie signed into law the sweeping overhaul of the state’s system of awarding business subsidies.
The original sponsor of the bill, Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), introduced the revision in part to correct several provisions he disagreed with in the final version of the New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act of 2013. After hearing testimony from approximately a half-dozen speakers, the Senate Economic Growth Committee signed off on the reworked legislation, which the senator is calling “Economic Opportunity Act II.”
The bill revisits and revises the affordable housing component included in the original, and does the same with the hospital subsidy, which offers tax incentives to companies and organizations that reopen shuttered healthcare facilities that left a void in their communities when they closed.
New this time out: The measure increases and extends the incentives available to film, TV and digital media production outfits, hoping to attract or keep them in the Garden State. It also caps the amount corporate defendants must allocate to appeal a court verdict. This so-called appeal-bond provision chiefly aims to keep the state’s pharmaceutical industry flourishing.