TO: Members of the New Jersey Senate 

FROM: Hilary Chebra, Manager, Government Affairs, CCSNJ

RE:                            S-3600 (Sacco/Singleton)

The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey (CCSNJ) would like to share our support for S-3600 (Sacco), which restores and revises the Urban Enterprise Zone program.

New Jersey’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) Program, enacted in 1983, was created to foster an economic climate that revitalizes urban communities and stimulates their growth by encouraging businesses to develop and create private sector jobs. On May 30, 2018, Governor Murphy signed S-846/A-3549 (Turner, Cruz-Perez/Pintor Marin/Mukherji/Gusciora/Jones/Sumter) which reinstated five expired Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZs), Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield, and Trenton and extended the duration of all UEZs expiring before December 31, 2023. The expiration date for an additional 12 UEZs is also December 31, 2023. This includes South Jersey affected UEZs in Millville, North Wildwood, Vineland, West Wildwood, Wildwood City, Wildwood Crest.

The success of the UEZ program can be seen in Camden, which is now experiencing a rebirth.  Between 1984 and 2011, Camden City saw 4,425 total full-time jobs and 483 total part time jobs created within the UEZ businesses.  Since 2011, the program had continued to produce successful results until its designation ended and should be recognized as one of the several important tools used in Camden that helped drive the city’s ongoing recovery.

Additionally, the UEZ program is crucial to towns such as Vineland, Millville, and Bridgeton – all of which are located in Cumberland County – and are home to some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. Extending the UEZ designation in these communities will send a strong message that the Legislature is focused on businesses remaining and growing in areas that are economically challenged.

The CCSNJ has long advocated for changes to the UEZ program, and we welcome the expansion of the criteria for becoming a UEZ. This expansion will enable more municipalities to be eligible for UEZs, while allowing currently designated UEZs and UEZ-businesses that would not qualify under the new criteria to continue in the UEZ program for a limited period of time. The CCSNJ also applauds the enhanced eligibility for designation of a UEZ in a county that does not have a UEZ. The CCSNJ has long been supportive of designating Atlantic City an UEZ and is hopeful that this new criterion will allow for its designation. Given the success the UEZ program has already demonstrated in South Jersey, the CCSNJ looks forward to the expansion of the program to additional parts of the state.

The reform of the UEZ Program is a large undertaking and the CCSNJ will remain an active part of the conversation while we continue to vet this legislation’s impact as it moves through the legislative process.

Thank you for allowing the CCSNJ to share our support of S-3600 (Sacco/Singleton).