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The Grow New Jersey Assistance Program, which will provide tax credits to businesses that make capital investments, was advanced by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
The bill launching the program, S-3033 and A-4306, would allow tax credits for businesses that make $20 million in capital investments and add or maintain 100 jobs in certain designated areas.
It would be funded through at least $200 million from the Urban Transit Hub tax credit program, with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority being given the ability to spend more of the $1.5 billion in transit hub money on the program.
The program would affect developments at suburban, urban and regional sites targeted for development by the state; former military bases; large vacant industrial and commercial sites; and sites targeted for development in the Meadowlands, Highlands and Pinelands.
The bill also would expand the areas covered by transit hub program from within a half-mile of a train station to a full mile for hospital properties and areas targeted for U.S. Housing and Urban Development-backed projects.
Chris Sturm, of New Jersey Future, a nonprofit that promotes smart growth, said without changes, the bill poses a risk to the Urban Transit Hub program, and asked the committee to amend the bill. She asked the transit hub program deadline be extended to the same July 1, 2014, deadline as Grow New Jersey; in addition, she asked that Grow New Jersey be limited to $200 million, without giving EDA authority to divert more transit hub money.
“We’ve been delighted to see the Urban Transit Hub projects moving forward” in several cities, Sturm said.
Jersey City Housing Authority officials supported the bill, particularly the piece that expands transit hub credits to HUD-targeted areas.
The New Jersey Business & Industry Association, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey Food Council supported the bill.
The bill passed with bipartisan support, although Assemblyman John F. McKeon expressed concern that the state must ensure the program provides enough “bang for our buck.”
The committee also advanced a bill that would provide loans to small businesses and Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver’s Back to Work NJ bill, which Republicans oppose.
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