NEWARK MAYOR CORY BOOKER TO BE FEATURED AT ESSEX ALLIANCE MEETING
Newark’s new Mayor Cory Booker will present his “Agenda for Newark’s Future” at a meeting of the Essex County Alliance for Action on Friday, July 28. The other featured speaker will be Commissioner Susan Bass Levin of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m., following registration at 8:15 a.m., in the Newark Club, One Newark Center, 22nd floor. A large audience of business, labor and government leaders is expected to attend one of Mayor Booker’s initial public addresses since his inauguration on July 1.

Co-chairs of the Essex Alliance, one of 13 county affiliates of the New Jersey Alliance for Action, are Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVencenzo, Thomas Giblin, Business Manager of Local 68, International Union of Operating Engineers, and Ciro A. Scalera, Director-Public Affairs, Verizon New Jersey and a member of the Alliance’s state Board of Directors.
To register for this meeting Go Here.

MORGAN STANLEY REPORTEDLY PLANNING FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP FACILITY
There are strong reports that financial services giant Morgan Stanley is purchasing a 17-acre site in Franklin Township (Somerset County) to build a two-story 330,000 square foot building. Known as a “disaster recovery facility,” Morgan Stanley reportedly will use the building to house computers and related technology for the computer-related support of its operations.

According to a resolution approved by the Franklin Township Planning Board last month, the facility will have about 30 employees working seven days a week. Although Morgan Stanley has declined detailed comment, it is reported that the entire project, including land and construction, would be about $50 million.

CONSTRUCTION & LABORERS LEADER DiANTONIO LEADS MS CAMPAIGN
Construction & General Laborers Local 172 President Frank DiAntonio is leading the 1st Annual Race for the Cure at the Bridgeport Speedway on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society on July 26th. Tax deductible donations and sponsorships are available to assist MS in providing client services/programs. For more information, call Frank DiAntonio at (609) 291-9100.

PORT AUTHORITY SITE RECEIVES FOREIGN TRADE ZONE STATUS
A 407-acre site in South Kearny administered by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has been granted Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) status. The site consisted of buildings totaling 5.5 million square feet, with potential expansion that would include additional buildings totaling 500,000 square feet.

Companies in the Zone could benefit from lower insurance costs, shorter transit time for deliveries by removing delays from Customs clearances and the ability to either defer duty rates or eliminate them entirely if the goods are reshipped out of the country.

HILL INTERNATIONAL GAINS NASDAQ LISTING
The construction-consulting firm, Hill International, became a Nasdaq-listed company upon completing its merger with Arpeggio Acquisition of New York City.

Based in Marlton, Hill International- a member of the Alliance for Action- started off 30 years ago as a claims-management consulting firm. In recent years, it has landed large construction-management consulting jobs in China, Dubai, Iraq and elsewhere in the Gulf Region.

GREEN BROOK FLOOD CONTROL PROGRESS IS COMMENDED
Progress of the Green Brook Flood Control Project has been commended by the federal official who supervises civil works projects for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

John Paul Woodley, Assistant Secretary of the Army for civil works, toured some of the work already completed, including a bridge that has been rebuilt to raise it an additional 10 feet over the Green Brook and a pumping station and levees at the east end of Bound Brook.

“Based on what I’ve seen, I hope to be able to continue to advocate for this project,” Woodley stated.

MONMOUTH ALLIANCE MEETING PRESENTS FORT MONMOUTH REUSE CHALLENGES
Mayor Gerald J. Tarantola of Eatontown, outlined challenges facing the newly created Fort Monmouth Revitalization Authority before nearly 100 members of the Monmouth County Alliance for Action on July 7 in Holmdel. Fort Monmouth is scheduled to close September 2011, at a cost of 5,500 military jobs with a payroll of $300 million and 22,000 ancillary jobs.

Noting that the 10-member Fort Monmouth Revitalization Authority is scheduled to hold its organization meeting on Friday, July 14, Mayor Tarantola said the challenges it faces include balancing open space, transportation and development; producing a plan consistent with local master plans and state planning guidelines; affordable housing; and getting all interests to support the plan.

GOVERNOR CORZINE ACTS ON BILLS RELATING TO FY 07 APPROPRIATIONS ACT (BUDGET ACT)
Governor Corzine acted on the following bills relating to the FS 2007 Appropriations Act:
BILL SIGNINGS:
S-1989/A-4708 (Bryant/Schaer) – Authorizes the State Treasurer to enter a reciprocal debt collection agreement with the federal government, enables the implementation of the agreement, and the sharing of certain State taxpayer information with the U.S. Treasury thereunder.

ACS for A-4701/S-1982 (McKeon/Bryant) – Imposes a 1% fee, or 1% tax, on certain purchasers of certain commercial property for over $1 million.

ACS for A-4702/SCS for S-1983 (Caraballo/Buono) – Concerns sales tax exemptions for goods and materials purchased by qualified businesses in and operations of urban enterprise zones.

A-4703/S-1984 (Cohen, Quigley/Bryant) – Clarifies fees under “The Radiation Accident Response Act” are assessments against facilities, not operators; assesses nuclear facility operators for costs of State provided supplemental security.

A-4704/S-1985 (Gordon/Bryant) – Concerns electronic methods for filing tax returns and paying State taxes; establishes additional penalty for failure to use required methods and requires certain tax preparers to file gross income tax returns and payments electronically.

A-4705/S-1990 (Gusciora/Lesniak, Weinberg) – Raises cigarette tax rate 17½ cents per pack, changes tobacco products wholesale sales tax on moist snuff to weight-based tax and increases revenue dedication for Health Care Subsidy Fund.

ACS for A-4706/SCS for S-1987 (Roberts, Watson-Coleman/Kenny) – Imposes 4% surcharge on liability and increases minimum tax under corporation business tax.

A-4707/S-1988 (Greenwald/Lesniak) – Establishes one-time supplemental titling fee on new luxury and fuel inefficient passenger automobiles.

A-4709/S-1991 (Caraballo/B.Smith) – Alters phase-out schedule of transitional energy facility assessment unit rate surcharges.

A-4714/S-1997 (Caraballo/Vitale) – Imposes gross receipts tax on retail sales of fur clothing in this State and use tax on use of certain fur clothing in this State for which tax has not been paid.

A-4715/S-1999 (Burzichelli/Bryant) – Increases rental motor vehicle surcharge from $2 per day to $5 per day.

A-4716/S-2000 (Pou/Kenny) – Increases annual assessment on net written premiums of HMOs to support charity care from 1% to 2%.

A-4901/S-1996 (Cruz-Perez, Payne/Kenny) – Increases sales and use tax from 6% to 7% on July 15, 2006 and expands base of sales and use tax on October 1, 2006.

S-2007/A-4900 (Bryant/Greenwald) with LINE ITEM VETO – Appropriates $30.9 billion State funds and $10.3 billion federal funds for the State budget for fiscal year 2006-2007.

BILL VETOED:
A-4712/S-1986 (Pou/Kenny) – ABSOLUTE VETO – Transfers $50 million from State disability benefits fund to General Fund without increasing employer taxes.

ALLIANCE IN ACTION
The Foundation of the New Jersey Alliance for Action will hold its 3rd Annual Golf Classic on Monday, August 7 at the prestigious Plainfield Country Club, recognized as one of the top 100 golf courses in the country by Golf Digest. Lunch will be served at 11:00 am, with a shotgun start at 12:30 pm and cocktails and dinner at the end of the day. To reserve your foursome or showcase your company in front of NJ’s business and labor leaders with a tee or green sponsorship Go Here.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
George Schoener became the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s new Executive Director on May 1. He replaces John Baniak.

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