State Senate President Stephen Sweeney said at a Friday business conference that he plans to introduce a bill next week targeted at solving the unemployment insurance fund shortage “without slapping businesses with higher taxes.”

Sweeney (Christina Mazza/NJBIZ photo)

Sweeney (D-West Deptford) addressed about 120 business owners and others at the Somerset County Business Partnership’s “Make New Jersey Affordable” business forum, held at Verizon New Jersey’s headquarters in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards.

Sweeney seemed to almost, but not quite, put his Supreme Court battle with Gov. Chris Christie aside to talk tax cuts and partnership at the conference.

“We have to make New Jersey competitive again,” Sweeney said. “The issue about the Supreme Court won’t keep me from working with the governor on solving other issues.”

Sweeney and Christie are in the midst of a high-profile fight over the latter’s decision to not reappoint state Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, instead nominating a partner with Morristown-based Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP to the court.

Sweeney said “there will be no confirmation vote” on Anne M. Patterson, but reaffirmed his plans to work with the governor on passing “pro-business tax bills” to make New Jersey friendlier to business.

He also called for making the state’s business environment “predictable, instead of using scattershot legislation.”

Two of the most pressing issues “are the state’s tax structure and the state’s slow permitting process,” Sweeney added.

“New Jersey’s slow review process meant that we lost out on getting a new refinery to locate here. Instead, it went to California, of all places,” he said.

E-mail Martin C. Daks at mdaks@njbiz.com