Bill > S126

Introduced Session

This bill directs the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), in consultation with the Secretary of Higher Education (secretary), to establish and administer the "Startup Businesses in Business Incubators Development Program" (program) to provide financial assistance and support services to an accelerator business or incubator business located within a business accelerator or incubator. To qualify, a business accelerator or incubator is required to be located within an urban transit hub or within one mile of a research institution campus. The EDA is to provide financial assistance to a business accelerator or incubator in an amount that matches 20 percent of the amount of funding provided by a research institution up to a total of $200,000, which may be applied to any aspect of an accelerator or incubator business operating within the accelerator or incubator. The bill requires that, in order to be eligible for financial assistance from the EDA, an accelerator or incubator business at the time of jointly submitting an application for program eligibility, operates in one of several specified fields. The bill requires the EDA and the secretary to promote and facilitate public-private partnerships between businesses, accelerators and incubators, and New Jersey research institutions through the adoption of rules and regulations promoting and facilitating public-private partnerships and to establish the parameters of public-private partnership agreements. An accelerator or incubator business seeking to participate in the program is to submit an application jointly with an accelerator or incubator in a form and manner as the EDA requires. The EDA is to provide financial assistance to an accelerator or incubator pursuant to an agreement. An applicant that fails to comply with the agreement made as a condition of receiving financial assistance is to repay any financial assistance received and, if determined by the EDA, is to pay a penalty not in excess of 10 percent of the amount of financial assistance. The EDA is to establish and maintain the program with the following sources of funds: (1) funds as may be available to the EDA from other business development programs administered by the EDA or other State agencies or authorities, and which the EDA determines to be necessary in light of the volume of applications from accelerator and incubator businesses for eligibility under the program as necessary to implement the bill; and (2) other monies as may be made available to the EDA from public or private sources. The bill also requires the EDA to administer and establish a "Business Accelerator and Business Incubator Network Grant Program" to provide 10 grants annually, for seven years, to business accelerators or business incubators, based upon a competitive application and evaluation process. The grants provided under the program are required to equal $100,000 each. In order to be eligible for a grant, a business accelerator or business incubator is required to qualify to receive financial assistance under the "Startup Businesses in Business Incubators Development Program." The bill requires the EDA to evaluate applications for the grant program and make award decisions upon evaluating the business accelerator's or business incubator's partnerships with innovative businesses, partnerships with a research institution, provision of support services and technology extension services, and partnerships with minority businesses and women's businesses. The EDA is required to fund the grant program through monies as may be available to the EDA from other business development and from other monies available to the EDA from public or private sources. The bill provides corporation business tax credits and gross income tax credits, for seven tax periods, for accelerator and incubator businesses participating in the development program. The credits are equal to 15 percent of the cost of accelerator or incubator business operating expenses during the business's participation in the program. The taxpayer may carry unused tax credits forward, if necessary, for seven tax periods or may file a petition for a refund equal to 50 percent of the amount of an unused tax credit. The bill also requires the Executive Director of the EDA to provide at least $5,000,000 in tax credits available under the "New Jersey Angel Investor Tax Credit Act" to taxpayers for qualified investments in New Jersey emerging technology businesses located in business accelerators and business incubators over the period of the five fiscal years next following the effective date of the bill. The bill requires the EDA to prepare an annual report on the program, deliver the report to the Governor and the Legislature, and make the report available to the public on the authority's website. The sixth annual report is required to recommend to the Governor and the Legislature, whether the grant program, business tax credits, and gross income tax credits should be renewed or discontinued.

Committee Categories

Kristin Corrado (R)*,  Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document