Senate OKs bill for disabled veterans' contracts

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May 26, 2022 View in browser   By Jonathan Custodio The state Senate passed a bill aimed at increasing contract approvals for disabled veteran business owners today. Sponsored by Sens. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) and Steve Oroho (R-Sussex), the bill, NJ S2249 (22R), would revise the number of qualified disabled veterans' businesses required to designate set-aside contracts from three to two. Because of the low number of disabled veteran-owned businesses, the law's requirement of at least three qualified bidders in any one category has been an obstacle to doling out contracts. Treasury Department spokesperson Danielle Currie told POLITICO earlier this month that the department cited the low volume of registered vendors as "a major barrier to utilizing set-asides" to meet the goal. Reducing that number to two bidders serves as a step forward, Jeff Cantor, founder and CEO of the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce, told POLITICO. "There will always be low numbers of disabled veteran-owned businesses that are out there. This, at least, provides a way forward for disabled veteran businesses to compete for prime contracts in the state; so, we're very happy," Cantor said, adding that further legislation allowing disabled veteran business owners a price preference when competing in the open bid process would be the "best way forward" and "the defining factor." "While veterans were away serving their country, the non-veteran community were here starting their businesses, growing their businesses," Cantor noted. Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth) introduced a price preference law during last year's session, but it didn't move in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The legislation's advancement follows a report released earlier this month by the Garden State Initiative and the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce that the state was failing to meet a 2015 law mandating that 3 percent of state contracting agencies' budget be set aside for businesses owned and operated by disabled veterans. The bill now awaits action from the Assembly. HAPPY THURSDAY AFTERNOON — Hi there, I'm Jonathan Custodio, your Playbook PM author. We're adding New Jersey political trivia to this newsletter and will shout out one person who correctly answers the question in the following day's edition. Shout out to William Harla for correctly answering that former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman eliminated the Department of Higher Education and the Office of the Public Advocate.Today's question: By how many percentage points did Chris Christie defeat Jon Corzine in the 2009 gubernatorial race? Send answers and tips to jcustodio@politico.com. We're here with the latest from Trenton and elsewhere as New Jersey moves ahead in the budget process and the Legislature conducts hearings on Gov. Phil Murphy's spending plan. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY IS THE MONEY EN ROUTE? — Board materials published ahead of NJ Transit committee meetings on Friday show that Gov. Phil Murphy's administration owes $41.5 million to NJ Transit, reports The Record's Colleen Wilson . The governor's administration is five months late on payments while leaning on tax collection revenues that are $7 billion higher than anticipated. A spokesperson for the administration did not explain to The Record why payments from the state general fund ceased but wrote in an email that they remain "engaged in ongoing conversations with NJ Transit regarding timing for the remainder of the subsidy payment." COVID NUMBERS — New Jersey reported 4,503 confirmed positive Covid-19 tests and 14 deaths from the virus. The state's seven-day case average was down 4 percent from last week and up 108 percent from a month ago. ON THE BEATS HUNGER — Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin's 10-bill package to address food insecurity passed the full Assembly today. The package would require schools to provide breakfasts and lunches to more students and would expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, among other measures. Addressing hunger has been Coughlin's priority issue this session, he said, and with his support the measures moved easily through the committee process. The bills now await action by the Senate Budget and Appropriations committee. POLITICO reported in November that more than 200 New Jersey school districts and charter schools opted out of the National School Lunch Program, effectively cutting off their communities from some expanded services during the pandemic to help struggling families. — Carly Sitrin Around New Jersey GILMORE STILL OWES NEARLY $5M IN UNPAID JUDGMENTS — New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein: "George Gilmore, who is seeking to regain his post as Ocean County Republican Chairman in June, owes $4,755,008 in unpaid judgments, mostly to the Internal Revenue Service, with an additional $609,000 on pending litigation, court records show. Gilmore served as county chairman from 1996 to 2019, when he resigned following his conviction on tax-related charges. The conviction was upheld on appeal, but Gilmore had not yet begun a one-year prison sentence when President Donald Trump pardoned him on his final day in office. But in April, a U.S. Tax Court ruled that Gilmore still has to pay $3,200,000 in federal tax liens filed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The 73-year-old former party boss also owed $1,397,238 to Ocean First Bank after he defaulted on a loan." BILL TO OK EARLY VOTE COUNTING STALLS — New Jersey Monitor's Nikita Biryukov: " A measure that would have allowed election officials to count early votes before the polls close on Election Day failed to advance Thursday after opposition from Republicans and a single Democrat. The bill stalled after a 20-16 vote in the upper chamber but was pulled from the agenda without the voting period being closed, a move that allows the bill to return at a future session without being reintroduced. Bills need yes votes from a majority of a chamber's members — in this case, 21 — to succeed. The measure would allow election officials to begin tallying early in-person votes the day before an election and cleared officials to canvass mail-in ballots up to 10 days before an election. Supporters say it would allow election officials to finalize races sooner. It was waylaid after Republicans — including Sen. James Holzapfel (R-Ocean), who backed the bill in committee — and State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) moved to oppose it on the floor." SENATE GOP RELEASES TAX RELIEF PROPOSAL — New Jersey Globe's Joey Fox: "With New Jersey flush with surplus money as the state's Fiscal Year 2023 Budget is hammered out, the Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee released a proposal today pushing for $8 billion in tax relief as well as other amendments to Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed budget. 'Senate Republicans have offered a detailed budget plan to make responsible use of an unprecedented $11 billion windfall of state and federal taxpayer funds to support struggling families, solve long-term problems, and ensure that New Jersey is well prepared for the next recession,' State Sen. Declan O'Scanlon (R-Little Silver), the lead Republican on the committee, said in a statement. More specifically, the Republican proposal would allocate $4.5 billion for a pair of tax rebates, $2 billion for halting planned tax and toll hikes, $1 billion for property tax relief by increasing state aid to schools, and $790 million for structural tax reductions." Odds and ends — Evelyn Padin, a Jersey City attorney, has won confirmation as a federal judge. — Newark native Ray Liotta, who starred in "Goodfellas," has died at age 67.  — Hudson County's huge new court complex is on track for completion in 2024. — OSHA has fined Refresco for "serious violations" that may endanger the safety of workers at the company's plant in Wharton.   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  California Playbook PM  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  New York Playbook PM View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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