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Candidates for NJ Governor Lack Specifics in Jobs Plans

October 10, 2013

In contrast to last week's coverage of the Virginia gubernatorial candidates on issues that affect jobs and the economy, there are little specifics on the topic provided by either New Jersey candidate. Incumbent Gov. Chris Christie has a significant lead in the polls over Democratic challenger and New Jersey State Senator Barbara Buono, but he has offered little in the way of new ideas for economic growth in the next term, instead relying heavily on past accomplishments. Sen. Buono has put forth a jobs and economic security plan outlining support for increased investment in R&D, tax credits targeted to life sciences companies, and encouraging STEM jobs and workers. However, the plan lacks concrete proposals.

Since taking office in 2010, Gov. Christie has shaken up the state's economic development efforts by discontinuing a decades-old program and re-organizing existing initiatives. The New Jersey Partnership for Action was established during his first year in office in partnership with a privately funded nonprofit organization and touted as a way to help promote the state's incentives and resources and assist businesses in navigating government programs.

Early on, Gov. Christie discontinued the InvestNJ program and vetoed an angel tax credit bill. Recent actions have proved friendlier toward TBED, however. The FY12 budget restored full funding for the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer program, which allows biotech and technology companies to sell unused net operating losses and R&D tax credits to unrelated profitable corporations. He also championed a bill passed by the legislature to increase the state's R&D tax credit to 100 percent. In January 2012, Gov. Christie backed a reform bill to overhaul the higher education system in New Jersey — a measure aimed at elevating Rutgers University to a top-tier medical and biomedical research institution. Although the bill underwent several provisions, a final version was passed and signed into law.

This year, the governor signed into law a $25 million angel investor tax credit program that provides tax credits for up to 10 percent of a qualified investment in businesses that conduct research, manufacturing or technology commercialization. His campaign website touts these and other accomplishments with little mention of new ideas for the next four years.

Sen. Buono has served in the New Jersey state Senate since 2001, and in 2010 she was the first woman to hold the position of Senate majority leader. Her jobs plan promotes strategic investments and cooperative partnerships between emerging markets and institutions of higher education to attract high-quality businesses. She wants to increase investments in R&D, although no specifics are provided. Her plan calls for targeted tax credits for businesses in biotechnology, life sciences and other advanced fields. To help entrepreneurs access startup capital, Sen. Buono proposes to launch an urban investment bank described as a self-sustaining public-private investment bank.

A large part of Sen. Buono's workforce development plan centers on support for the STEM fields. She calls for recruiting more qualified science and math teachers in K-12 schools and encouraging more women to enter STEM fields through a statewide initiative.

Read more about Sen. Buono's jobs plan at: http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/266/4b/d/666/BuonoEconomicPlan.pdf.

New Jerseyworkforce, elections