Taxes, fees and licenses are among the business costs that Gov. Mikie Sherrill's chief operating officer must review within 90 days. A small-business plan and an advisory group are due within 120 days.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill's chief operating officer, Kellie Doucette, has 90 days to recommend ways to cut the cost of and number of steps involved in starting and running a business in New Jersey, under an executive order that Sherrill signed Tuesday.

Doucette will consult with the state departments of the Treasury, Community Affairs and State on how to reduce "the cost and complexity of starting, operating, and growing a business in New Jersey."

The recommendations can cover taxes and fees, licenses, energy costs, financial requirements, state procedures and duplicate or needless steps, the order says.

Doucette's review also covers rules and fees set by local and other governments, not only the state's. The order binds only the state agencies that the governor runs, so anything touching town or county rules would reach Sherrill as a recommendation. Doucette's ideas can include new laws, and for each one she must spell out the effect on the state budget, any new law or rule it would need and what putting it in place would take.

Companies that set up, stay or grow in New Jersey can deal with many state departments and programs, according to the order, which says clearer contacts and better coordination "can reduce unnecessary cost, delay, and uncertainty."

The cost review is one of the first deadlines in Executive Order No. 28, which launches a strategy called "New Jersey Means Business" that runs through 2030. Sherrill's administration owes nearly all of the order's other assignments within 90, 120 or 150 days, and most of that work comes back to the governor as recommendations.

"New Jersey Means Business will bring our agencies together to cut unnecessary costs and delays, help businesses grow, and connect our residents with good-paying jobs," Sherrill said.

To run the effort, the order creates the New Jersey Means Business Economic Development Council, which reports to Doucette. A senior director who works in Doucette's office chairs the council. Members include the leaders of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the New Jersey Innovation Authority and the state departments of Labor and Workforce Development, Community Affairs, State and Treasury.

The order also calls for a plan to keep employers in New Jersey and help them expand, and another to choose sites for new businesses and get them ready to build on, both due in 90 days. The preparation can include buying land and combining lots, environmental studies, permits and engineering for infrastructure, the order says.

A short list of industries where the state would focus its most intensive economic development work is due to Sherrill in 120 days. So is a plan to help research at the state's universities and labs turn into products and new companies. A review of the incentives and funding that the state offers businesses and developers, with recommended changes, has the same deadline.

A plan for small businesses is due within 120 days

The small-business plan, which the council's chair must recommend to Sherrill within 120 days, is meant to help small business owners discover and use state programs, from funding and technical help to licenses and permits. The plan centers on Business.NJ.gov and the Business Action Center, a Department of State office whose representatives help owners with the work of running a company in New Jersey. The plan also must look for ways to improve Business.NJ.gov and sort its ideas into those that can start now and those that will take longer.

The plan covers enterprises from microbusinesses and Main Street shops up to midsize employers, including startups. For each group, the plan must take stock of the state programs and help on offer, and judge how well those programs meet that group's needs.

Business.NJ.gov is the state's business website, where owners register a business, look up licenses and permits and handle state taxes. According to the site, limited liability companies, corporations and limited partnerships form with the state Treasury's Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services. Sole proprietors and general partnerships have no company to form, so they may register a business name with the county clerk.

Businesses register for state taxes with that same Treasury division. The IRS, a federal agency, issues the employer ID number.

For the dealings that owners have with the state most often, the plan must tally the separate state systems and log-ins that each dealing takes and propose a goal for fewer, the order says.

The plan also must catalog the details that owners give to two or more state agencies. For each detail, the plan has to say whether current law lets agencies share it and, if not, which law or rule stops them.

"Through expanding resources like Business.NJ.gov and improving the customer experience in permitting and licensing, we're working to make doing business in NJ as simple, streamlined, and intuitive as possible," Dave Cole, the state's chief innovation officer, said Tuesday.

Doucette also has 120 days to set up an advisory group of business leaders from many industries and regions, with a chair that she picks. The group will advise the council and Doucette on how small and midsize firms raise money, grow and stay in New Jersey, and on the state's business climate.

Key business projects would get one state point person

Doucette additionally has 150 days to create a service, shared across state agencies, for what the order calls "key business projects." The service will propose its own criteria for which projects qualify, and the order itself sets no minimum size and does not limit the service to any industry. Each qualifying project would get one state official as its point person and liaison across the agencies involved, the order says.

The service would pull together the permits that a project needs from the state and from towns, along with regulatory reviews and job-training and workforce help. The service also must propose expectations for timely decisions and one shared way for agencies to track each project's milestones and open problems.

The service also has to fit with permit changes already under way, so that projects do not face the same requirements twice, the order says. Sherrill set out her own permitting overhaul Jan. 20, in an executive order on state permits, Executive Order No. 5. That order set up a cross-agency permitting team in the chief operating officer's office, told every state agency to catalog the permits that it issues and called for target review times and an online dashboard showing where state permit applications stand. The new order signed Tuesday gives Doucette 90 days to line that permitting work up with New Jersey Means Business.

The public view of that dashboard, at Permits.NJ.gov, went up on Oct. 28, with 10 pilot projects at the state departments of Environmental Protection, Transportation and Community Affairs, the Governor's Office said. The listings give review steps and dates, along with which agency holds each permit that a project has sought. The state plans to add many more projects as the Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Innovation Authority automate the dashboard, the office said.

The public will see a yearly progress summary

The council must propose a short list of statewide measures for tracking the strategy within 90 days, with starting points and data sources for each. Once a year, the council must post a summary of progress on the strategy's website, nj.gov/meansbusiness. The plan for development sites also must include a public tool for finding and evaluating available sites.

Apart from the yearly summary and the site-finding tool, the order treats its reports and recommendations. It also considers the council's and agencies' talks with outside experts and companies as advice to the governor that is not subject to the state's Open Public Records Act.

Business.NJ.gov offers a free step-by-step guide to starting a business, and owners can chat with a business advocate there weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The chat connects owners with the Business Action Center's staff.

The order takes aim at the complaint that Sherrill said business owners around the state keep giving her: "It costs too much and it takes too long."

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Sources

New Jersey Department of State, New Jersey Business Action Center, home page (accessed Nov. 10, 2026)

Office of the Governor, Executive Order No. 28, "Establishment of the New Jersey Means Business Economic Development Council," signed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill (Nov. 10, 2026)

Office of the Governor, Executive Order No. 5, "Establishing various teams under the office of the Chief Operating Officer focused on simplifying and modernizing the State's regulatory processes," signed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill (Jan. 20, 2026)

Office of the Governor, press release, "Governor Sherrill Announces Initial Hires" (March 3, 2026)

Office of the Governor, press release, "Governor Sherrill Announces Permitting Progress, Launches Public View of Dashboard" (Oct. 28, 2026)

Office of the Governor, press release, "Governor Sherrill Launches 'New Jersey Means Business' Economic Development Strategy to Boost the State's Business Competitiveness, Grow the Economy, and Create Quality Jobs" (Nov. 10, 2026)

State of New Jersey, Business.NJ.gov, home page and "Register Your Business" (accessed Nov. 10, 2026)

State of New Jersey, New Jersey Means Business, home page (accessed Nov. 10, 2026)

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress