Assembly advances economic aid bills
Measures being considered would help people with businesses, foreclosures, utilities and food needs.
TRENTON - With new data indicating that one in every 453 New Jersey homeowners is struggling to pay the mortgage, Assembly lawmakers yesterday advanced several measures that would provide economic relief to residents and businesses.
Some of the 19 measures debated by lawmakers were recommended by Gov. Corzine in last week's economic address, while others were crafted by lawmakers in response to the economic crisis.
Among the bills that the Budget Committee endorsed is a $50 million program to revitalize downtowns through community investment.
Other measures that advanced would provide $10 million for utility-bill assistance, $3 million for food pantries, and $9.5 million for legal services to low-income residents facing home foreclosures.
Another bill would raise to $80,000 the income ceiling for senior citizens and disabled residents to qualify for property-tax relief under the Senior Freeze program over the next three years.
Also advancing was a resolution, sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D., Union), that would push the federal government to help more households pay for heat by raising the income ceiling for participation in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The measure calls for raising the limit from 175 percent of the federal poverty level ($37,100 for a four-person household) to 225 percent ($47,700).
The federal Energy Information Administration estimates that heating U.S. homes with oil this winter will cost $450 more than a year ago, nearly 25 percent higher. Gas, propane and electricity costs will also rise but not as much, the agency said.
According to RealtyTrac, a data-tracking firm in California, New Jersey's rate of one in 453 households in default, repossession, or scheduled for a sheriff's auction outpaced the national average of one in 475 last month.
Also, New Jersey's rate of foreclosure filings from July through September ranked eighth in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Assembly's Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee cleared the Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act, which would crack down on the fraudulent practices of some home-foreclosure rescue advisers.
Attorney General Anne Milgram announced this week that she had filed civil lawsuits against two companies and 37 mortgage-loan providers for violating the state's consumer-fraud and racketeering statutes. They allegedly used bogus "foreclosure rescue" schemes to persuade cash-strapped homeowners to sign over their homes.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee also approved a pro-business measure that would reshape how corporate sales made in other states are taxed and eliminate a provision that increases a corporation's taxable net income in New Jersey.
The Senate also took action designed to blunt the impact of the economic crisis on businesses, approving a bill that would increase from seven years to 20 years the time that net operating losses could be deducted from a company's business tax.
"By extending the net-operating-loss provisions under the corporate business tax, we're bringing the state's tax law in line with neighboring states, and encouraging and fostering startups in New Jersey," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex), chairwoman of the Budget Committee.