Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed an executive order Tuesday that lays out the start of her economic plan for the state, a strategy she’s calling New Jersey Means Business.
The plan is built around four pillars — improving the business climate, growing key sectors, boosting research and innovation and making sure growth reaches every community — all worthy objectives that would sharpen the state’s overall economy.
But the order is more a framework for a plan than the plan itself. Aside from a timeline on deliverables — anywhere from 45 to 150 days — it is light on specifics.
Sherrill said that timeline is the point.
“New Jerseyans know that I like to move fast,” she said. “This isn’t a 10-year study type of administration, so I’ve given my administration just a few months to start putting this plan into practice.”
The newly created New Jersey Means Business Economic Development Council will run the effort. It reports to the Chief Operating Officer Kellie Doucette and is chaired by Todd Fisher, the governor’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Economic Opportunity.
Here’s a look at each pillar: what the state wants, what the order actually does and what stands in the way.
Pillar 1: Business climate
The goal: Make New Jersey among the most business-friendly states in the region. Right now, it’s the least business-friendly state in the country, at least according to CNBC, which ranked New Jersey No. 50 in business friendliness in July.
Sherrill put it plainly: “For too long, Trenton has treated businesses like compliance risks,” she said.
What the order does: Plenty, on paper. Within 90 days, Doucette must deliver recommendations to cut the cost and complexity of doing business, including taxes, fees, energy and licenses, across all levels of government. Also due in 90 days: a site readiness plan, including a public tool for finding available sites; a plan for a dedicated business retention and expansion function; a unified state brand; and a review of the state’s international offices and priority markets. A business and permitting navigation service is due in 150 days.
The challenge: It’s hard to see N.J. being competitive unless it does something about its highest-in-the-nation corporate business tax.
Pillar 2: Key sectors
The goal: Focus the state’s money and muscle on industries where New Jersey can lead and create quality jobs. Sherrill said the state is done with the one-size-fits-all playbook.
What the order does: Within 120 days, the state must recommend a short list of sectors for intensive state support, plus a second tier for lighter help. Also within 120 days, the state must review its incentive programs and recommend changes.
The challenge: No sectors are named. Sherrill mentioned pharma, financial services and film in her remarks, but the picks are months away. The impact of the existing incentive programs — even reworked versions of them — remains to be determined.
Pillar 3: Research and innovation
The goal: Turn the research coming out of the state’s universities into companies, jobs and more research dollars.
What the order does: Within 120 days, the state must deliver a research and commercialization strategy that maps the state’s research assets, picks a limited number of areas to lead in and finds the gaps between the lab and the market. It builds on the $125 million New Jersey Supercomputer Initiative, which Sherrill called a down payment.
The challenge: This is the most aspirational of the four. It continues a key focus of her predecessor, Gov. Murphy, who talked of an ‘innovation’ economy for eight years. Increasing that emphasis would be welcomed by many. It remains to be seen how that will be done.
Pillar 4: Inclusive growth
The goal: Make sure growth reaches small businesses and struggling communities, not just the big players. Small businesses employ nearly half the state’s workforce, Sherrill said.
What the order does: This pillar has the order’s fastest deadline: within 45 days, the governor’s office must convene agencies to align revitalization efforts in Trenton and Atlantic City. Within 90 days, the state must align procurement reform to give small businesses better access to state contracts. Within 120 days, it must set up an advisory group of small and midsize business leaders and deliver a strategy for communities facing persistent economic challenges.
One concrete detail: the state must count how many separate systems and sign-ons a business needs for its most common state transactions and set a target for cutting both.
“We don’t need another study that simply documents the problem,” Sherrill said. “We need policies, partnerships and investments that solve it.”
The challenge: Coming up with a workable plan. Everyone wants an economy that works for everyone. Solve this problem and you’ll go down in history.
