By Matt Rooney
Governor Mikie Sherrill wants New Jersey to mean business. Apparently, that means more government meetings, more government studies, and potentially less government transparency.
On Tuesday, Sherrill signed Executive Order No. 28, launching a purportedly sweeping economic development initiative dubbed “New Jersey Means Business.” The 24-page directive promises to improve the Garden State’s business climate, attract investment, retain employers, and reduce the cost of doing business.
What it doesn’t do? Actually cut a single tax, eliminate a specific regulation, or reduce a single government fee.
Instead, the order establishes a new New Jersey Means Business Economic Development Council, reporting to the Governor’s chief operating officer and populated by representatives from several state departments and authorities.
The council will oversee subcommittees, which can establish additional workstreams, which will produce recommendations, performance measures, and progress reports.
You get the idea.
Within 90 days, officials are supposed to recommend ways to reduce business costs, potentially including changes to taxes, fees, licensing requirements, and energy expenses. Another initiative will help qualifying development projects navigate the state’s notoriously complicated permitting process.
Of course, there’s a considerable difference between recognizing that New Jersey is an expensive, overregulated place to do business and actually doing something about it.
For now, Sherrill is ordering the bureaucracy to study how to make the bureaucracy less burdensome.
Then there’s the transparency problem.
Buried near the end of the executive order is Section 24, which declares that reports, records, recommendations, and other materials generated through the initiative — including communications with outside experts, organizations, and private companies — shall be considered confidential, nonpublic deliberative materials exempt from the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), except where the order expressly requires public disclosure.
That’s a remarkably broad assertion for an economic development initiative that could influence government incentives, public financing, regulatory decisions, and relationships with major private employers.
Whether an executive order can lawfully shield every document covered by that language from OPRA is another question entirely. New Jersey’s public-records exemptions are governed by statute and judicial precedent, not simply by gubernatorial preference.
Nevertheless, the administration is attempting to place a substantial portion of its economic development deliberations beyond ordinary public scrutiny.
Sherrill’s order also calls for reviewing existing corporate incentives, developing a statewide marketing strategy, identifying priority industries for government support, and establishing yet another advisory group focused on small and midsized businesses.
New Jersey businesses don’t need another glossy slogan to understand their problems. They already know what their tax bills look like. They know what electricity costs. They know how long it takes to secure approvals, hire employees, and navigate Trenton’s regulatory maze.
The real test won’t be how many committees Sherrill assembles or how many reports they produce. It will be whether her administration is willing to make the difficult decisions necessary to lower the cost of operating in New Jersey.
Until then, “New Jersey Means Business” looks an awful lot like business as usual.
