Democratic Candidate for governor Mikie Sherrill said she wants to eliminate the new business registration fee, cut business and professional license approval times in half —even make appointments at the Motor Vehicle Commission more efficient.
The Congresswoman, announcing her ‘Save You Time and Money’ proposal Thursday afternoon at Llewellyn Parq Bar and Grill in West Orange, offered many of the age-old campaign promises of increased efficiencies. In fact, her proposals had many thinking of the Red Tape Commission of former Gov. Chris Christie.
The difference, however, may have been Sherrill’s willingness to criticize Trenton, which has long been controlled by her party.
Sherrill said she is going to hold Trenton “accountable.”
“I’m going to be the governor who lowers costs, creates jobs, helps businesses grow, supports workers, and ensures that state government is transparent and accountable to New Jerseyans,” she said. “For too long, Trenton has been plagued by a culture of settling on no, rather than getting to yes, and it’s holding us back.
“On Day One of my administration, we’re going to change that.”
Sherrill’s Save You Time and Money plan comes with three pillars:
1: Establish a customer service focus at state agencies and put residents’ convenience and accountability first;
2: Make it easier to start a business;
3: Make it easier to grow your business, create jobs, and lower costs.
(More details on all three below)
It’s all part of a bigger need, Sherrill said.
“We need to aggressively build out our energy infrastructure and generation capacity to lower utility costs, make housing and rent more affordable for families and young people, maintain green and open spaces throughout the state, make public transportation work, and develop a startup and small business environment that can rival any other state,” she said on the Save You Time and Money website.
Sherrill said government should work for its residents.
“I will ensure that state agencies are squarely focused on working for residents and businesses, and they will be accountable to me in driving this culture shift.”
Sherrill, referring to her time in the Navy, said she is on a mission.
“I’ll establish a focus on customer service and accountability at all of our state agencies, cut licensing wait times and fees that make it more expensive to open a business, and enforce publicly available deadlines for agencies to hit in the permitting process,” she said.
“I come from the United States Navy, where we were given a mission, and we got it done. I’ll bring that same ‘Get to Yes’ mentality to New Jersey, because as governor, the buck stops with me.”
Dale Caldwell, Sherrill’s pick for Lt. Governor, echoed her thoughts.
Caldwell, the current president at Centenary University and the former head of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said his background makes him intimately familiar with the challenges businesses face.
“I have worked with businesses of all sizes, and across the board,” he said. “It’s just too hard to navigate state government, especially with permitting, and it’s driving local and family businesses out of the Garden State.
“That’s going to change in a Sherrill-Caldwell Administration. The Save You Time and Money Agenda is going to be key to lowering the barriers to doing business here, and to bringing good jobs to our state.”
Here’s a deeper look at the three pillars in Sherrill’s ‘Save You Time and Money’ plan.
Pillar 1: Establish a customer service focus at state agencies, putting residents’ convenience and accountability first
- Drive a culture shift to make state agencies focused on customer service, convenience, and accountability.
- Make agencies accessible and convenient by directing them to expand the use of online services and cut card and convenience fees for online services.
- Innovate and modernize New Jersey’s outdated operating systems to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Pillar 2: Make it easier to start a business
- Slash business and professional license wait times significantly and eliminate business registration fees.
- Provide businesses and residents with online step-by-step guidance on how to navigate the licensing and regulatory process.
- Turbocharge the Business Action Center to drive small business success.
Pillar 3: Make it easier to grow your business, create jobs and lower costs
- Bring together a cross-agency Fast-Track Team within the governor’s office to expedite project approvals.
- Create a project dashboard to track your permits and simplify the approval process, reducing the cost of everything from homes to energy projects.
- Make project approval timelines transparent, predictable, and enforceable.
Through this plan, Sherrill said she is committed to achieving real cost and time savings for New Jersey residents and businesses, including:
- The elimination of the new business registration fee.
- A 50% reduction in average business & professional license approval times.
- A 25% reduction in the average wait time between booking an online MVC appointment and the date of the appointment.
- A 25% reduction in the average permitting wait time for a business project.
