Gov. Phil Murphy and Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli hold a coronavirus briefing at the New Jersey Regional Operations & Intelligence Center in Ewing on March 13, 2020. – EDWIN J. TORRES/GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
The Murphy administration, the state Senate and the state Assembly, are looking at how to blunt the economic impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on businesses small and large across the state.
Meanwhile, a bill, which President Donald Trump is likely to sign, is moving through the United States Congress calling for similar relief measures; among them are tax credits for paid sick leave, family time off, and medical leave.
These federal and state-level proposals come as the outbreak has led New Jersey residents to self-quarantine and work from home, and as any event with more than 250 attendees is canceled, a statewide curfew becomes more likely and towns across the state enact more stringent measures.
Tedesco
Over the weekend, Hoboken enacted a curfew of 10 p.m. and shuttered many daycares, gyms, bars and restaurants. Teaneck, one of the towns most heavily hit by the coronavirus, ordered its 40,000 residents to self-quarantine, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco ordered the closure of all any movie theaters in the state’s most populous county, and Asbury Park enacted a 10 p.m. curfew for its nightlife businesses.
As of Sunday afternoon, the virus had infected 98 people across 13 counties in New Jersey and claimed two lives.
“We should … take what actions we can to minimize the economic impact on individuals, families and businesses in New Jersey,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, said in a Saturday afternoon statement outlining 13 recommendations to achieve such an end. “The financial consequences can have a real and lasting impact on people and businesses across the state.
A study put out last week by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which interviewed 300 companies with up to 120 employees, found that 23 percent of them were experiencing a negative impact from the virus, mainly supply chain disruptions and slower sales.
Coughlin
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-19th District, meanwhile said 25 COVID-19-relief bills are scheduled for an Assembly committee vote on Monday morning followed by a full-floor vote in the afternoon. Murphy, at a coronavirus press conference on Saturday, did not say whether he would support any of those specific bills.
None of the measures appear to have Senate sponsors, while it is not clear if Sweeney’s proposals have been formally introduced in the Legislature.
One bill would expand the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s small business loan program to help employers who have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, something that Murphy on Friday indicated would be a necessary move.
Another bill would require Medicaid and private health insurance to waive costs of testing and cover the treatment of coronavirus. The state’s Department of Banking and Insurance said on Sunday that it would require insurers to waive any costs for testing.
One of Sweeney’s proposals calls for a holiday on the payroll tax – and two months for the sales tax – meaning that businesses would have a short-term break where they would not need to pay those taxes.
More people would be encouraged to spend money if those taxes are taken off the table, proponents argue, which according to Sweeney would need the approval of the Legislature and Murphy.
Gov. Phil Murphy speaks at a coronavirus briefing at the New Jersey Regional Operations & Intelligence Center in Ewing on March 13, 2020. – EDWIN J. TORRES/GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
“I don’t think any of the ideas Sweeney raised are bad ones,” Murphy said Sunday.
But he countered that “sales tax holiday for a month is about $1 billion … we’ve got to make sure we keep the state moving forward responsibly as a fiscal matter as well.”
Another proposal calls for relaxing rules requiring certain professions to do their work in person, enacting a tax credit for businesses that have to pay their workers while in quarantine, and extending how long a person can claim unemployment benefits, all of which can be done via legislation.
A bill on the Assembly side, slated for a Monday vote, creates a temporary lost wage unemployment program to allow people to claim lost wages stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S. Department of Labor, on Thursday, said it would expand its unemployment program so that states could pay benefits to people who are prevented by the coronavirus from coming to work.
Siekerka
Another of Sweeney’s proposals calls for extending the deadline that businesses have for filing taxes, likely past the April 15 deadline. One bill being considered in the Assembly on Monday calls for extending both the income and the corporate business tax filing deadlines by one month, and Murphy indicated on March 13 that such a move was increasingly likely.
Michele Siekerka, who heads the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, said Saturday afternoon that Sweeney’s proposals were “a start.”
“In no uncertain terms, many of our members are telling us both directly and through our polling that they have serious concerns about the stability and solvency of their operations,” she said.
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Lawmakers, Murphy admin eye ways to curtail COVID-19 impact on business - NJBIZ
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