NJBIA Chief Government Affairs Officer Christopher Emigholz provided the following testimony tonight to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee regarding FY26 State Budget Bill S-2026. 

“NJBIA thanks Chairman Sarlo and members of the budget committee for affording NJBIA the opportunity to speak on behalf of the New Jersey business community about the FY26 budget bill that truly is a hodgepodge patchwork of good and bad policy for our business climate.

“Despite the fiscal responsibility features of the budget, such as another full pension payment and a healthy surplus, we still have a budget with a structural deficit. Absent meaningful structural reforms, significant spending cuts or tax increases, our next Governor will run through that surplus quickly.

“We thank the committee for preserving and restoring the proposed cuts for manufacturing and higher education, which were NJBIA priorities. Despite that, we still see some cuts to programs that businesses rely on. We also see too much new spending in areas outside of broad investments in workforce development, innovation and infrastructure. These are areas that should be prioritized.

“Despite some important tax relief for manufacturing, innovation and start-up investments and elimination or moderation of some of the proposed taxes, there are still hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes for a state that is already among the highest taxed in the nation.

“With those mixed messages to the taxpayers and businesses who want to invest in New Jersey, NJBIA cannot support this budget bill. But NJBIA does appreciate the improvements made to the budget that was provided to the committee back in February. We thank the budget committee for those modifications and for listening to our perspective.”