Financial industry and New Jersey business leaders testified against the proposed tax on financial transactions at an Assembly committee hearing Monday. State Chamber of Commerce President Tom Bracken testified that the tax could backfire on New Jersey, adding that the mere discussion of the tax has caused several stock exchanges to begin exploring moving their data centers out of New Jersey. Representatives of the financial industry didn’t rule that out and they testified that such a tax would just be passed along to companies, investors and the state’s public pension funds. No vote was taken on the bill.

Businesses began pre-registering Monday for the third phase of the state’s small business assistance grant program. Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, said he expects the EDA will receive tens of thousands of applications. The state has $70 million available for this phase, with half of that set aside for restaurants and bars.

New Jersey’s child care centers are struggling financially due to the pandemic and need higher state subsidies to stay in business. That’s the gist of a new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The centers face higher costs due to COVID-19 and limits on class size. The report says some child care centers have had to raise their rates or turn away children.