Realtors® Q&A–Meet the Decision Makers–Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin

Welcome to our new series for New Jersey Realtor® Magazine, where we interview key decision makers on their influential roles within New Jersey. First up is Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. His verbatim responses are italicized below. Do you have an idea of someone you’d like us to interview? Email editor@njrealtor.com

I entered politics more than 35 years ago, serving on the school board and city council in South Amboy. After taking nearly two decades to raise my kids, coach Little League and serve as a Municipal Court Judge, I re-entered the arena and was elected to the Assembly in 2009 to serve the 19th legislative district and had the honor of becoming Assembly Speaker in January 2018. As a lifelong resident of Middlesex County instilled with the passion for public service by my mother, I wanted to do more to help my community. I wanted to improve the lives of all New Jerseyans, particularly our seniors and middle-class families.

I knew that having a seat in the General Assembly would give me the opportunity to make a positive impact, help maintain the things New Jersey does well like our public schools, and to be a voice in the room as an important policy was being debated. Today, with the privilege of serving as Speaker, I continue the work of standing up for my constituents and the more than nine million people who call New Jersey home.

As Speaker, I am tasked with setting the legislative agenda for the General Assembly — the 80-member lower chamber of

our state government’s legislative branch. In large part, my job involves deciding which bills will be voted on, which ultimately influences the course of legislation and what can eventually become law. My cardinal rule is to be very thoughtful when I consider legislation — who does it help? Is it going to make people’s lives better? Is there a better way to do it? Who is paying for it? Prior to serving, while sitting on my couch reading the Sunday paper, I used to think about how easy these policy decisions would be, but quickly learned that it’s an entirely difficult experience from the inside when you learn all sides of an issue and have to balance the interests of so many stakeholders.

This year as part of the FY2023 State Budget, we are exceptionally proud to have delivered a bold increase of direct property tax relief to working and middle-class New Jerseyans. The new Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters (ANCHOR) is making up to $1,500 in property tax relief available for more than a million income-eligible households and $450 for nearly a million renters.

By making good on our promise to deliver on property tax relief, we are beginning to tackle the top-of-mind ‘affordability’ issues that may have kept people from entering the New Jersey housing market in the past. Combined with the more than 14 tax cuts we have put in place since 2018, we’re making real and tangible progress in several areas of affordability.

Since becoming Speaker, it has been one of my top priorities to tackle food insecurity. Nearly a million of our New Jersey neighbors struggle to keep food on the table and I believe that no one’s greatest challenge on any given day should be how to feed their family. And so, New Jersey has been hard at work to reverse food insecurity in our communities. The result is more than 30 pieces of legislation signed into law.

From $85 million in direct support to our food banks and pantries to creating the infrastructure needed to strategically target hunger among our children, our college students, our seniors, and so many others vulnerable to food insecurity, we have become a national model. It is my view, that when we bridge the gap between the front lines of hunger and create opportunities to access healthy and nutritious foods reliably, we will have brought people to true food security.

There is always a list, but a piece of legislation that took months of work and will result in huge impact for so many across our state is the Economic Recovery Act of 2020. The ERA created a seven-year, $14 billion package of tax incentive, financing, and grant programs that will address the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger, fairer New Jersey economy. We are only beginning to see some of the fruits of these programs, but already businesses and projects of all kinds and sizes are being funded, which together will prove invaluable as we work to attract, retain, and develop the talent and industries that will fuel New Jersey’s future.