Government
Affairs & Lobbying

Between the start of a new two-year legislative session and one of the most restrictive budget cycles in recent years, it’s been a busy first six months at The Zita Group.

With the NJ FY2027 budget signed into law on June 30 at $60.7 billion and the Legislature now on summer recess, we’re taking a look back at the budget and legislative wins our team helped secure for our clients.

This year’s cycle presented no shortage of obstacles: a tighter timeline as a result of the extension granted to the new governor for her proposed budget announcement, uncertainty about federal funding, navigating the dynamics between a new Governor’s Administration and the Legislature, all while balancing Governor Mikie Sherrill’s commitment to affordability against a full legislative agenda.

View accomplishments here

TZG has represented NJ’s craft brewing industry since 2009 and led the successful effort in 2012 that modernized New Jersey’s antiquated brewery laws and unlocked the industry’s economic potential. This involved drafting and passing legislation that relaxed constraints on the industry, created a more business-friendly environment for new breweries and brewpubs to enter the New Jersey market.

Faced with new challenges, in 2022, TZG launched government affairs and strategic communications efforts to end various state-issued license restrictions that potentially jeopardized the long-term viability of the industry in the nation’s hyper-competitive alcoholic beverage marketplace. On behalf of the Brewers Guild of New Jersey, the state’s leading trade association for craft beer manufacturers representing both production breweries and brewpubs statewide, our firm formulated a comprehensive two-year plan aimed at ending these restrictions and establishing a new reliable statutory framework which explicitly detailed the rights and privileges of breweries in terms of both on-premise activities and off-premise events in their respective communities. TZG identified Assembly and Senate sponsors to champion and advance the cause, scheduled meetings with legislators, helped develop and execute a strategic communications plan, and mobilized grassroots resources that provided a measurable impact on the course of the legislation which led to successful passage of comprehensive reform bill in January 2024.

As a result of these efforts, New Jersey breweries are better positioned to expand operations, market their products, and compete with breweries in neighboring states. 

When Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) ran into legislative and regulatory challenges in its planned construction of a 700 megawatt electric generation facility on a brownfield site in Woodbridge, NJ, the company turned to The Zita Group (TZG) to advance its interests.

TZG developed and negotiated amendments to complex legislation that would create long-term capacity contracts and coordinated with CPV’s internal and external legal teams. TZG advocated with senior officials in the governor’s office, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to garner support for the proposed amendments and closely collaborated with Woodbridge officials to gain support for the amendments.

As a result of these efforts, the state passed legislation allowing CPV to successfully bid for and win a contract to develop a power plant in Woodbridge, NJ. TZG continues to help the company foster relationships with key NJBPU and NJDEP leadership and staff.

On behalf of Regional Cancer Care Associates (RCCA), TZG secured passage and approval of legislation A-4447 (P.L. 2024 c. 87) that allows oncology physicians to refer patients to in-house pharmacies.

RCCA is a New Jersey medical practice owned by oncologists and one of the nation's largest cancer physician networks with 16 clinic locations throughout New Jersey and additional locations in Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. RCCA provides cancer care to more than 26,000 patients each year. 

As part of the care they provide, RCCA operates an in-house pharmacy as a central component to the treatment protocols their physicians use where their patients receive continuous oversight with respect to complex cancer drug regimens. While every RCCA patient is informed that they may fill their prescriptions at the pharmacy of their choice, patients choose RCCA’s pharmacy because it is a natural extension of the care they receive from their physicians.

In years past, the NJ Board of Pharmacy granted specialty permits for certain in-house pharmacies if they met certain requirements.  However, the Board of Pharmacy reversed its interpretation of existing law and took the position that health care practitioners are prohibited from owning and integrating in-house pharmacies.  In response to the Board’s action, TZG acted quickly to identify sponsors from both parties to introduce legislation intended to protect and preserve our client’s pharmacy license.  The bill, as introduced, was met with opposition from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.  However, TZG helped our client negotiate amendments to satisfy all parties involved in the bill.

The legislation was critical to create a clear exemption from existing law while continuing to protect against conflicts of interest, and preserving sensible health care practices for the benefit of cancer patients.

The bill was introduced on May 3^rd, 2024.  It passed with unanimous approval in both Houses and was signed by Governor Phil Murphy on October 30^, 2024, less than six months after it was first introduced.

The coronavirus pandemic forced businesses and organizations across the state to adjust to new economic and regulatory realities, finding new ways to service their customers while complying with strict health and public safety protocols. The TZG team was instrumental in advocating for our clients and helping them comply with new regulations during this unprecedented time.

HelloFresh, a global meal kit delivery service, faced several challenges keeping their Newark facility operations running throughout the pandemic. Beyond what the state had implemented, Newark enacted additional restrictions on individuals and businesses within the city. TZG successfully advocated for the company to be deemed essential allowing them to remain open regardless of other city-wide closures and limitations.

UPS saw an unprecedented demand for their services throughout the pandemic as they delivered millions of pieces of PPE, COVID-19 vaccines, and other products across every corner of the globe. The TZG team worked with state and municipal officials to ensure that UPS technology facilities and warehouses could operate beyond curfew hours in order to keep their facilities fully operational. TZG also helped facilitate open lines of communication with the state’s Office of Emergency Management, the State Police and Governor’s Office so that essential public health supplies could be distributed broadly to help protect our frontline workers in the early days of the pandemic.

The Brewers Guild of New Jersey faced challenges as their members had to rethink their business models when indoor dining and tasting room activities were prohibited or restricted throughout the pandemic. TZG was instrumental in advocating for new revenue streams to sustain the industry during this difficult time. On behalf of the Brewers Guild, TZG worked with the Governor’s Office, the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Legislature, and other industry trade groups to pursue the signing of Executive Order No. 104, which in part, allowed breweries to deliver beer directly to consumers’ homes. This effort also led to TZG working on legislation signed by the Governor in May 2020 to extend brewery delivery privileges at least six months post the pandemic. These newfound delivery privileges were vital to keeping these small businesses open and workers employed.

Also, several of our clients with retail operations were in jeopardy of temporarily closing during the height of the pandemic if they were not deemed essential businesses. The TZG team worked with the Governor’s Office to ensure that telecommunications company storefront locations and in-person financial services were deemed essential under Executive Order No. 107 and could continue to serve customers in person. TZG’s efforts ensured that our clients could continue to meet their customers’ needs during these tumultuous times.

TZG has represented New Jersey’s regional health insurance funds (HIFs) since 2010. These funds offer public entities a cost-effective source for providing quality health benefits to their employees. TZG works to advance the HIFs’ legislative and public affairs objectives.

Several years ago, at the beginning of Gov. Chris Christie’s first term in office, legislation was introduced and eventually enacted that revolutionized local government and school district health insurance financing by significantly increasing employee and retiree contributions. It also required that employees have a choice of five plans, promote generic drug utilization and wellness programs, require enrollment audits, and create labor-management committees to oversee plans. While many of the provisions contained in the legislation were consistent with HIF cost-containment efforts, the funds sought clarification on certain provisions in the bill to ensure that HIF practices would not be hindered.

TZG worked with Fund professionals and commissioners to develop a detailed position paper on the bill and a background piece explaining how the HIFs operate, the benefits of HIF membership, and key financial and membership data about the HIFs.  Leveraging its contacts in the Legislature and Administration, TZG arranged a series of meetings for the Fund with state legislators, senior legislative staff, and the chief of staff for the Department of the Treasury, which was leading the Administration’s efforts on the bill. These meetings provided the Fund with an opportunity to voice its concerns and helped to ensure that the Fund’s recommendations and input were incorporated into the final version of the legislation.

In the spring of 2024, TZG secured a $1 million line-item appropriation in the State Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for Joint Health Insurance Funds.  This funding was for costs HIFs incurred associated with COVID-19 Surveillance Testing during the 2021 and 2022 school years.

On behalf of the HIFs, TZG developed and executed a legislative budget strategy and worked with the HIFs to develop salient messaging that would resonate and garner support for this budget request.  At the outset, TZG identified legislators who would introduce budget resolutions in both the Senate and Assembly and help champion the cause throughout the legislative budget process.

TZG arranged and led meetings with legislative bill sponsors, members of the Budget and Appropriations Committees and reached out to legislative leaders in both houses to secure their support.  TZG also engaged with the Governor’s Office which included representatives from Governor’s Counsel, Governor’s Policy Office as well as officials from the Department of the Treasury.

Throughout the budget process, TZG spoke with decision makers about the costs of surveillance testing which were inadvertently sent to insurance, and were not the liability of the HIFs.

The meetings with legislators and administration officials also provided an opportunity to further explain how HIFs typically operate and the cost savings that HIFs have generated to local municipalities, school districts and to local taxpayers. 

Soon after the FY 2025 State Appropriations Act was signed and enacted on July 1st, TZG turned its focus on next steps necessary to ensure the appropriate implementation of this budget appropriation.  TZG reached out to the Department of Education, the agency responsible for allocating the funds, and helped to secure a grant agreement that ensures the funds will be easily accessible to the HIFs when the funding becomes available.