STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4208

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Senator RUIZ)

ADOPTED: JUNE 29, 2022

      These Senate floor amendments require supermarkets and grocery stores located within urban enterprise zones, but outside of food desert communities, to receive an annual certification of eligibility from the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) in order to qualify for the unlimited sales and use tax exemption. 

      To qualify for the certification, the amendments require the supermarket or grocery store to demonstrate to the DCA that during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of application: (1) not less than 30 percent of the employees hired by the supermarket or grocery store were comprised of persons who were unemployed for not less than three months or persons with a disability; or (2) not less than 35 percent of the employees hired by the supermarket or grocery store are residents of a municipality in which the urban enterprise zone has been established, and the supermarket or grocery store actively participated with one or more One Stop Career Centers in the recruitment of unemployed persons and persons with a disability, except that the One Stop Career Centers would also be required to provide written documentation to the DCA attesting to the actions of the supermarket or grocery store. 

      The amendments also require the DCA, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, to provide annual written notice to supermarkets and grocery stores and One Stop Career Centers concerning the provisions of the bill. 

      The amendments also clarify that the existing limitation for the sales and use tax exemption for businesses in an enterprise zone, and for erecting structures or buildings on or improving, altering or repairing certain real property of a qualified business, applies annually to the first $100,000 of annual qualifying purchases.