Following a runoff election in Georgia, Senator Warnock (D) will return to the Senate. This brings the Democrats’ majority to 51, an expansion relative to a narrower majority prior to this election. While the majority has expanded in the Senate, the details of Republican leadership in the House will be determined in January. The split control of the Legislature is expected to inhibit the movement of expansive legislation, with greater oversight hearings and investigations likely to occur.

The current Democratic majority still has time to legislate prior to the next Congress being sworn in. As a result, BioNJ will continue to monitor negotiations regarding upcoming must-pass and potential legislation, including the National Defense Authorization Act and potential Omnibus or Continuing Resolution, the inclusion of changes to user fee programs, SBIR/STTR program, accelerated approval and other relevant regulatory changes.

In Trenton, the Assembly and Senate are having hearings through the month. The Assembly has scheduled its final voting session for December 15, while the Senate will convene on December 19 before breaking for the holiday.

One bill worth noting, which will be heard in the Assembly Labor Committee (ALA) on December 8, is A4682, which would implement a variety of requirements regarding service employees during changes in ownership — including a requirement to retain employees for 90 days.

The WTO continues to debate the potential expansion of IP waivers that would add both diagnostics and therapeutics into the initial waivers which applied to vaccines targeting COVID-19. While the U.S. has yet to take an official opinion, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced support for extending the deadline for deciding whether the waiver will be expanded yesterday — potentially indicating waning support for the expansion. Given that the decision of the U.S. is likely to influence those of other WTO members, and the extremely broad reach of these potential waivers, it remains critical that those parties who would be affected by this sacrifice of IP protection continue to express the ramifications of such a decision to policymakers.

In addition to signing on to a letter addressed to President Biden from the Council of State Bioscience Associations, which every member organization signed, BioNJ has engaged members of the New Jersey delegation to convey concerns regarding the implications of such a decision. We will continue to engage entities in the Executive Branch and Legislature to ensure that these concerns are articulated as clearly as possible.

New Jersey Senator Sarlo (D, LD-36), the Chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee (SBA), was quoted in Politico on the topic of the corporate business tax surcharge at an event with the NJBIA: “When the corporate business tax surcharge comes up in 2023, we must allow it to sunset.”

The 2.5% surtax was added to the 9% CBT for companies generating over $1 million in taxable income, with the expectation that it would sunset after four years. In 2020, an extension was implemented to push the sunset until the end of 2023, with the signing of A4721. Assembly Speaker Coughlin has also indicated that the CBT ought to be reexamined as we progress towards the next budget negotiations.

These comments follow the publication of the results of NJBIA’s Annual Business Outlook Survey, finding that a substantial majority of respondents (75%) believe that policymakers have not sufficiently addressed business affordability in the past year.

We look forward to comments on the fate of this surtax from Senate President Scutari, who was temporarily Governor while Governor Murphy and Lt. Governor Oliver were traveling outside of the State.

BioNJ provided oral and written testimony at the Assembly Science, Technology and Innovation Committee Hearing at the New Jersey Bioscience Center on November 30. BioNJ appreciated the opportunity provided by Chairman Tully and members of the committee to highlight our industry’s presence and impact. In his testimony, BioNJ Executive Director of Government Affairs Ian McLaughlin, Ph.D., applauded policymakers for their work to provide economic incentives, while also highlighting the opportunity to positively impact growth through the sunset of the surtax and expansion of incentives like the Angel Investor Credit, NJEDA’s Innovation Evergreen Fund and programs administered by the Council on Science, Innovation and Technology that support the establishment and growth of start-ups throughout the State.

BioNJ is the voice of New Jersey’s life sciences sector in Trenton and Washington. BioNJ’s Public Policy Support Series sponsorship opportunities are now available for 2023. Help ensure BioNJ continues to deliver our message of improved Patient access and enhanced innovation through a Public Policy Support Series Sponsorship.  

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