Majority Democrats in the New Jersey Assembly have selected their leadership team for new legislative session that begins in January.
Assemblyman Craig Coughlin from Middlesex County will be the new Assembly Speaker. He’ll take over for Vinnie Prieto who lost a leadership fight and will end his term as Speaker in January.
Coughlin says he intends to be a Speaker that leads by consensus to help move the Democratic agenda forward.
“What’s going to be our guiding principle is doing what’s right and best for the working middle class people in Jersey. That’s the top legislative priority. And in doing that there’s going to be any number of bills that we’re going to have to consider, a millionaires’ tax included among them.”
Coughlin expects Democrats will also consider a higher minimum wage and additional gun control measures.
Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin from Essex County will chair the Assembly Budget Committee.
“Having gone through the last eight years we understand that we are in a very high fiscal need of being able to be creative and thinking of innovative ideas to making sure that we really return what really makes New Jersey grow, and that is middle class families.”
Assemblyman Lou Greenwald from Camden County will continue to serve as Assembly Majority Leader.
The leadership team expects having Democrat Phil Murphy as Governor will make it easier to advance their agenda and get measures enacted that Republican Governor Chris Christie vetoed.