New Governor, New Agenda

Report to Members

By Michele N. Siekerka, NJBIA President and CEO On Dec 30, 2025

NJBIA congratulates New Jersey’s 57th Governor, Mikie Sherrill, who takes office on Jan. 20. The positive conversations I have had with her directly, and the service of NJBIA leaders and board members in the transition process, are encouraging signs that job creators’ concerns matter to this administration.

The new governor’s stated top-line priorities are lowering energy costs, creating affordable housing, and making government work more efficiently. These New Jersey affordability issues, if addressed correctly, dovetail with NJBIA’s pro-business agenda for economic growth.

Business owners are burdened by high energy costs and must be part of the administration’s plans for immediate relief on utility bills. However, any short-term measure must work in tandem with a long-term plan to expand New Jersey’s power generation capacity because the imbalance between supply and rising energy consumption is at the root of rate increases.

New Jersey’s long-range energy plan must prioritize siting and approval of additional in-state power generation to meet increasing energy demand that will continue due to population growth, new industries (e.g. power-hungry AI data centers), and the increasing electrification of homes and transportation (e.g. EVs) that put pressure on the power grid. We need an integrated approach to generation that includes solar, energy storage, modernizing existing gas-fired generation sites, and nuclear facilities.

The governor-elect is also prioritizing affordable housing. We hope this also extends to the tens of thousands of people in the workforce who are ineligible for low-income housing programs but still cannot afford to buy market-rate homes in New Jersey. Our economy and our businesses suffer when New Jersey loses workers to states where housing costs are lower.

We are excited that the new governor is prioritizing government efficiency and accountability. New Jersey’s notoriously difficult regulatory environment contributes to its many challenges – and that includes energy generation and affordable housing construction. For example, the state’s pending land use rules, if adopted, would actually undermine affordable housing expansion and redevelopment, particularly in urban/coastal areas. 

NJBIA’s Blueprint for a Competitive New Jersey (njbia.org/blueprint) spotlighted the need to reform duplicative and burdensome regulations that drive up the cost of doing business in this state. We are eager to work with the new administration to address costly mandates that have been a drag on business productivity, innovation, and growth.

We will also keep advocating for other business priorities in the Blueprint related to the state budget, workforce development, education, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing and innovation, transportation, infrastructure, tax reform and economic development. Job creators should be at the center of critical policy discussions, and NJBIA is working to ensure they are.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

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