New Jersey Food Council
30 West Lafayette St., Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone: 609/392-8899
Fax: 609/396-6571
Email: njfc@njfoodcouncil.com

U.S. House and Senate Pass Minimum Wage; Bush Expected to Sign Soon

Thursday, Congress approved a $2.10 increase in the federal minimum hourly wage as part of the supplemental Iraqi war funding bill. President Bush was expected to sign the bill quickly. As written, the increase would take place in three steps over a 26-month period. The initial increase from $5.15 to $5.85 would be effective 60 days after signage and the second increase to $6.55 would go into effect a year later. The third and final increase would take effect 12 months later.

Final approval of a Minimum Wage increase at the federal level would have a harmful impact on business in New Jersey, which is still reeling from a State imposed Minimum Wage hike to $7.15 per hour that took effect in October of 2006. The federal proposal would increase the wage ten cents higher then the State minimum, thus raising the cost of doing business in New Jersey. In addition, NJFC is concerned that legislators in New Jersey may revisit the State Minimum Wage and increase it above the federal standard due to the high cost of living in New Jersey.

Paid Family Leave Released from Senate Budget Committee

On Thursday, the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee approved S-2249 with amendments, which extends Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to provide paid family leave benefits to workers caring for sick family members, newborns and newly adopted children with a narrow vote of 8 to 6. Votes were mostly along party lines with the Republicanπs voting ≥No≤ and the Democratπs voting ≥Yes≤ with the exception of Senator Asselta (R) voting with the majority and Senator Turner (D) voting with the minority albeit for different reasons.

The amendments do the following:

1. Reduce the maximum duration of family leave benefits from 12 to 10 weeks;
2. Have the program go into effect in calendar year 2009, instead of CY 2008;
3. Change the tax base from the Social Security tax base of the first $97,000 of a workerπs wages, to the TDI tax base of the first $26,600 of a workerπs wages;
4. Raise the tax rate from 0.1% of covered wages in the first year to 0.14% of covered wages in 2009 and 0.18% of covered wages in 2010 and subsequent years.

NJFC joined a panel of the Stateπs leading business trade associations, NJBIA, NJ Chamber of Commerce and The South Jersey Chamber of Commerce, to testify in strong and united opposition to S-2249. In addition to our testimony, NJFC and members have met with key legislative leadership and bill sponsors in both houses and voiced our objections to Paid Family Leave. Also, NJFC has activated a grass roots member letter writing campaign to express the industryπs opposition to Paid Leave initiatives.

With New Jersey businesses already facing rising interest rates, skyrocketing fuel prices, healthcare costs and a stagnant economy, this bill will further reinforce New Jerseyπs reputation as being anti-business. The Food Council will continue to advocate against this legislation and protect the membership against this anti-business public policy.

NJFC Meets with Assembly Majority Leader

The New Jersey Food Council met with Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson-Coleman at the State House this week to discuss the industryπs concern with her legislation to regulate Radio Frequency ID (RFID) technology.

A-3996 would require any business using a Radio Frequency ID system to post notices at the point of sale that informs customers that a RFID system is in use; attach labels to merchandise which contain RFID tags stating that completion of a purchase for the item will result in the collection of information about the customer; and disable, detach or destroy RFID tags upon completion of a purchase.

NJFC informed Majority Leader Watson-Coleman that this bill could hamper future advancement of RFID as a consumer service technology regarding product recalls, consumer safety, product fraud detection and the creation of an ≥intelligent kitchen.≤ In addition, the bill misrepresents the use of RFID as a loss prevention technology that will create panic among consumers.

NJFC believes that this bill would place significant burdens on the retail industry because it would require additional posting of notices in retail locations, which are already saturated with State and federally mandated signage requirements.

Assembly Majority Leader Watson-Coleman indicated that she is only concerned with information gathering at this point and will continue to reach out to NJFC for information regarding this issue.

Legislature Holds Multiple Hearings on Food Industry Issues

This week, the New Jersey Legislature conducted hearings on several issues that are directly related to the food industry.

The Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee considered two bills important to the membership. A-4217 which would authorize civil action for certain damages when a pet becomes ill, injured or dies from adulterated pet food. The bill was approved by the committee. NJFC and the Department of Health already work very closely to ensure that product recalls are addressed in a timely, efficient and effective manner and will continue this partnership to protect consumers in New Jersey.

The committee also released A-4238 which prohibits the mislabeling and misbranding of farm products. The bill is designed to stop retailers from knowingly co-mingling non-Jersey Fresh branded produce with Jersey Fresh products. NJFC and its members will continue to work with the Department of Agriculture to promote quality Jersey Fresh products to consumers in New Jersey.

The Assembly Regulatory Oversight Committee discussed the increasing rate of childhood obesity. At the hearing, witnesses testified that although food bans have been instituted in schools, the rate of childhood obesity continues to climb. This is not a surprise to NJFC or our members who have consistently advocated that food bans are not the solution to the obesity epidemic in New Jersey and that the best solution is a comprehensive community based approach as outlined in the Stateπs Obesity Prevention Task Force report.

In addition, State health officials announced earlier this week that they are establishing a new Office of Nutrition and Fitness to help lead the fight against obesity. The office will oversee fitness and nutrition programs and coordinate the Departmentπs existing obesity prevention programs. The Department will also work to implement the New Jersey Obesity Prevention Task Forceπs recommendations. NJFC applauds the Stateπs effort to realize the merits of this report.

NJFC Energy Working Group Meeting Scheduled

The NJFC Energy Working Group will conduct its first strategy session with our energy consultants on Friday, June 1, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. at the Board of Public Utilities in Newark, NJ.

Energy Procurement Partners (EPP) has been contracted to advise NJFC on regulatory and market aspects of the NJ retail electricity market, to monitor the market for opportunities to contract with third party suppliers and to create a buying group aggregation if the opportunity arises.

During the Working Group meeting, representatives of the Office of the Business Energy Ombudsperson (OBEO) will present the mission of this newly created government program.

NJFC strongly suggests member companies attend this important meeting. If you have any questions, or require additional information, please contact NJFC at (609) 392-8899.

Photos Galore

Don't forget to check out our library page to view photographs from our events.