SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3136

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 26, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3136.

      As reported, this bill creates a State contract set-aside program for union business enterprises.  Under the bill, "union business enterprise" means any business enterprise, including a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation, that has a union workforce, has its principal place of business in the State, hires apprentices, and makes a good faith effort to hire and maintain a diverse workforce, with documentation of such effort.  "Union" means any organization which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining, or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment.

      The Department of the Treasury will administer the program.  The department will require proof that the business meets the requirements of a union business enterprise.

      The bill establishes the goals that contracting agencies award at least three percent of their contracts to union business enterprises.  Each contracting agency will annually develop, in consultation with the department, a plan for achieving its union business enterprise goals.

      The department will establish reasonable regulations appropriate for controlling the designation of prospective union business enterprise bidders and will maintain lists of designated businesses.  The department will also establish a procedure whereby businesses may request inclusion on appropriate lists for union business enterprises, and a procedure for annually reviewing the lists and determining whether the businesses on the lists should continue to be designated as union business enterprises.

      The department will assess penalties if it determines that a business has been classified as a union business enterprise on the basis of false information knowingly supplied by the business, and been awarded a contract to which it would not otherwise have been entitled.  Any assessed penalties will be deposited in the General Fund.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill has not been certified as requiring a fiscal note.