Public affairs &
Coalition Building

On behalf of our client, DOVE and the CROWN Coalition (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), TZG’s Jeannine LaRue led and developed legislative efforts to ensure the passage and enactment of A5564/S3945 during the 2018/2019 legislative session. This bill banned discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race.

The legislation was introduced in 2018 after student, Andrew Johnson of Buena Vista Regional High School was forced to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit a wrestling match. The CROWN Act amends New Jersey’s current discrimination law to include “traits historically associated with race,” including hair texture and styles such as twists, dreadlocks, braids, and curls ensuring that an incident like Andrew’s will never happen again.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-31) lauded the signing of the bill saying, “I am proud to see New Jersey become just the third state in the nation to put an end to this discriminatory practice. This law will ensure people of color are free to wear their hair however they feel best represents them, whether that be locks, braids, twists or curls. No one should ever be told it is ‘unprofessional’ to embrace their culture. It is unacceptable that someone could be dismissed from school or denied employment because they wear their hair exactly how it grows, but that has been the reality for many black and brown individuals. Today, here in New Jersey, we’ve changed that.”

The CROWN Act was signed into law on December 19, 2019.

The issue of marriage equality was a complicated and controversial one. The politics of getting a bill to Gov. Chris Christie’s desk was multi-layered. Convincing legislators to show political courage and vote for a bill that was ultimately vetoed – when their constituent, philosophical and religious beliefs dictated otherwise- was a massive challenge and a huge accomplishment that many thought impossible.

TZG was the lead firm on a team that developed and implemented the legislative strategy that helped to achieve marriage equality in the state of New Jersey on behalf of Garden State Equality, a statewide political advocacy organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, including marriage equality.

From crafting a grassroots campaign that fostered support at the ground level to engaging legislators on both sides of the aisle to helping formulate messaging that mattered, TZG’s comprehensive public affairs strategy provided the necessary momentum that, ultimately, influenced a successful outcome.

The Zita Group (TZG) helps our clients secure gubernatorial appointments to the state boards, commissions and authorities that are important to their industry.   We advise our clients about the professional requirements and the political considerations of a position and help them navigate the application process.  Using our network of government and political contacts and leveraging the relationships we help forge between our clients, policy makers and political leaders, TZG ensures our clients’ applications are positioned in the best way to secure approval.

As a result of our efforts, TZG clients serve on a wide array of Boards, Commissions and Authorities including:

• New Jersey State Board of Optometrists
• New Jersey Economic Development Authority
• Board of Trustees of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
• Governor’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy
• New Jersey Cardiovascular Health Advisory Panel
• New Jersey Teenage Driver Safety Study Commission
• New Jersey Office on Minority and Multicultural Health Advisory Commission
• New Jersey Council on Physical Fitness and Sports

In an attempt to conform to the standards set forth by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, a multi-state agreement to simplify and modernize sales and use tax administration, the state’s Division of Taxation proposed regulatory changes that would have inadvertently forced certain companies to pay, for the first time in state history, sales and use tax on its custom software purchases. This regulatory change, if enacted, would have cost the industry millions of dollars and discouraged these companies from continuing to operate in the Garden State.

On behalf of the world’s largest global shipment and logistics company, the Zita Group (TZG) worked alongside a coalition of business interests from across the state to maintain critical sales and use tax exemptions for the purchase and servicing of custom business software. TZG provided our client with access to officials at the NJ Division of Taxation to explain how this regulatory proposal would negatively impact the company and others who also utilized information services technology on a large scale. Together with business advocacy groups, such as the NJ Chamber of Commerce and NJ Business and Industry Association, TZG helped our client successfully convince officials to withdraw their proposal and adopt a more limited regulation.