Coughlin begins charting his agenda for post-pandemic session – POLITICO

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin is charting a legislative agenda as New Jersey begins to emerge from the throes of the pandemic, starting with a commitment to expand the state’s free school meal program.

Many details remain unresolved, but Coughlin said his platform will include five pillars: tackling hunger, homelessness, mental health and child care issues and providing more aid to small business owners. The Middlesex County Democrat said he’s working on legislation to expand access to free school meals and wants to reimagine how the state is serving its homeless population.

The fact Coughlin is so firm about his agenda for the upcoming session is not insignificant. He’s usually shied away from putting out a robust platform, instead releasing proposals more piecemeal.

“I have historically rolled things out as they came in,” Coughlin said, but as New Jersey recovers from the pandemic, “there’s a couple of things I recognize need to be addressed, that dovetail with one another.”

In a 30-minute phone interview with POLITICO on Monday, Coughlin said he’d wait to introduce his proposals until the new session that begins in January, rather than try to rush them through the lame duck.

“What I think we need to do as a caucus is to make sure that the caucus reflects on shared middle class values,” he said.

Coughlin’s agenda comes as the political balance of Trenton is in flux.

Last week, Senate President Steve Sweeney suffered an out-of-nowhere defeat to a virtually unknown Republican candidate, Edward Durr, sending shockwaves through New Jersey politics. Sweeney’s departure will surely recalibrate the balance of power in the Legislature, and deals are already in the works to name Sen. Nick Scutari (D-Union) the new Senate president. Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) said over the weekend she’s also interested in the position.

Despite losing several seats in the Assembly, Coughlin said the news wasn’t all bad for Democrats.

“It’s been a tough and trying 48 hours, but today is a good day for Democrats in New Jersey and for the Assembly,” Coughlin said at a press conference announcing Democratic leadership last week, including that he will remain as speaker. “We retained a solid and comfortable majority in the Assembly and the Senate, we reelected a Democratic governor for the first time in 44 years, we flipped a Senate seat for the first time in the 16th District.”

Coughlin has made combating hunger in New Jersey one of his signature issues, and ramped up those efforts during the pandemic, pushing through legislation that appropriated more money into anti-hunger causes and shepherding the passage of a bill that made New Jersey the first state to appoint an official anti-hunger advocate to oversee food aid programs.

The speaker wants to go a step further by expanding the state’s free meals program. During the pandemic, the federal government allowed families to pick up free food from their local school district, even if they did not qualify for the programs. But that benefit will expire this school year and Coughlin wants to increase the number of students eligible for free meals by broadening family income eligibility.

“If we can get kids well fed, at least we know they have a couple of meals a day, that enhances their performance and eliminates the burden for the parents who have to worry [about feeding their kids],” he said.

Coughlin said all lawmakers have stories about helping people with housing issues, and now with the foreclosure moratorium ending, he fears the situation will only get worse.

One option he’s looking into is turning vacant structures, such as hotels or malls, into public housing. Then the state could provide wraparound services in the same location, he said, and help provide people with transportation.

“The notion is using things that are not used for their intended purpose, like commercial space, to identify them, figure out how to fund them, and then turn them into centers for living and for those other wraparound services,” he said.

Other issues on his agenda, such as improving access to child care, expanding mental health services and providing more aid for small businesses, are in the early stages of discussion, he said.

“These are things that may take more time,” he said. “And if we’re going to be thorough and thoughtful about it, I wouldn’t want to rush it during lame duck.”

Carly Sitrin contributed to this report.