MORRIS COUNTY — Senator Joe Pennacchio introduced a Senate resolution urging the United States Congress to pass legislation to help hundreds of thousands of businesses struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution (SR-69) seeks federal action to assist commercial tenants and landlords as businesses remain closed and lease payments become due.

“We want to prevent a domino effect that could do irreparable damage to local economies,” said Pennacchio (R-26). “Companies can’t conduct business, employees lose their jobs, lease payments are missed, and landlords can’t make their mortgage payments. This resolution, as is my bill (S-2460) in the New Jersey legislature, provides a safety net to prevent businesses from closing forever and landlords from facing bank foreclosures.”

The resolution asks Congress to allow commercial property owners who voluntarily offer rental forgiveness to business tenants to claim a portion of the lost rent as a tax deduction. Landlords who forgive rent during the COVID crisis would be eligible to claim a portion of the discount, up to $15,000 as a deduction against their federal income tax under Pennacchio’s initiative.

“Our recovery from this fiscal calamity requires unconventional considerations,” said Pennacchio. “There is a lot of benefit with this plan, and no new bureaucracy. When businesses lock their doors forever and valuable real estate sits vacant and abandoned, it has a devastating impact on neighborhoods and entire regions.”

Unlike Senator Pennacchio’s state legislation, S-2460, which would allow a New Jersey income tax credit of up to $5,000 to landlords who voluntarily forgive any or all of a business rent up to $15,000, the federal resolution calls for a tax deduction.

Pennacchio noted the net dollar amounts between using credit for the state and a federal deduction for those in the 30 percent federal tax bracket are very similar.

PARSIPPANY — A message from Mayor Michael Soriano:

This past Monday, on a solemn day, meant to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, we were all exposed to a horrifying and disturbing video across news platforms and social media sites.

The shock and condemnation of George Floyd’s murder in broad daylight has been strong, swift, and nearly universal. And yet it seems that the underlying issues that have led to his and so many other needless deaths have yet to be addressed.

I cannot help but feel that, given the wrong time and place, I could have been George Floyd. I have been profiled several times in my life. While walking in the neighborhood I grew up in I was slammed onto the hood of a police car with a loaded service pistol pointed to my head, I sometimes wonder if things may have turned out worse that evening if I wasn’t wearing my Boy Scout uniform under my jacket. I still recall the horror I felt when I saw how badly my little brother’s face was beaten when he was in custody while handcuffed. Any of those incidents could have ended the same way – and without a camera to record it.

At the same time, I remember the compassion of the police officers that consoled my mother when my little brother passed. I have worked with police officers as a member of advisory boards, civic associations, and as Mayor. I studied Criminal Justice in college. I know and respect so many police officers. I have friends and family in law enforcement, and I worry about them, and I pray for all of those serving in law enforcement to return home safely after their shifts. But that doesn’t ease the pain I’ve felt with so many other people of color this week and so many other weeks in the past.

I have not known what to say since watching that video in horror several days ago. So many questions are raised that I do not have answers to. How can you push your knee into his neck for 8 minutes? How can the other officers just stand there? What if this wasn’t being filmed? Will we ever learn?

There is so much to be done at the federal and state levels across this country. Here in Parsippany, since taking office at a time when the Parsippany Police did not utilize body cameras, our department is now partially outfitted with them, with a full and complete rollout coming soon.

My heart aches for George Floyd’s family, which has grown to include millions of people this week, and I worry about those that are peacefully protesting each day and I pray that they return home safely. We have been thrust into a time of national mourning, and we are deeply in need of national healing. I hope you’ll join me in continuing to reflect on the events in Minneapolis and listening to those who have been most impacted by this violence. Please stay safe, take care of each other, and may God bless you.

-Mayor Michael Soriano

PARSIPPANY — Gourmet Cafe will be donating 10% of all orders to purchase a Shop Rite Gift Cards to supply to the Parsippany Food Pantry. It’s a win-win situation. Great meal for you and your family while supporting local families in need!

Gourmet Cafe is located at 136 Baldwin Road.  Click here to view their website.

Currently, they are operating under special hours, open from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. seven days a week.

PARSIPPANY — Assemblyman Brian Bergen signed on as a prime sponsor to an Assembly resolution urging Congress to fully re-establish the state and local tax deductions, commonly known as SALT, that homeowners were permitted when filing their federal tax returns until a cap was imposed by federal law. The resolution notes the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the Garden State population and its economy and requests the homeowner tax deduction be restored for the 2019 federal tax filings due July 15.

“People in New Jersey are already taxed more than residents in almost every other state and they have suffered more from the pandemic than residents of almost every other state,” said Bergen. “Reinstating the SALT deduction for this tax season would go a long way toward helping Garden State families get through this crisis.”

Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce introduced AR163, noting the state’s economy was already sputtering prior to the COVID-19 crisis and that residents of New Jersey need tax relief immediately.

The resolution asks Congress to waive the $10,000 cap imposed by the federal tax cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on the amount of state and local taxes homeowners can deduct from their federal tax bill. High cost-of-living states, such as New Jersey, were uniquely impacted by the cap because combined state and local taxes incurred annually by many Garden State homeowners easily exceed $10,000.