[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We are honored to be joined by the Honorable Assembly Speaker, Craig Coughlin.

Good to see you, Mr.

Speaker.

- Steve, nice to be with you again.

- Let's be honest with people, we were just talking, we're taping this on the 17th of March.

It is St.

Patrick's Day.

- That's right.

- But also, the Big East Tournament was over.

You're a big basketball fan.

Will you admit to being a St.

John's fan?

- I'm proud to be a St.

John's.

Undergrad in law.

You gotta dance with a girl in pocket.

- And the speaker said that we should respect politicians who stick with loyalty to their team and don't change and I absolutely agree.

But let's talk about public policy.

Your initiative, the Stay NJ program.

- Right.

- You drove it, got it passed by the legislature, signed into law right now, as it is.

- Yeah.

- If you earn up to 500 grand, you're eligible.

It's for a property tax rebate up to 6,500.

The governor has proposed, Governor Sherrill has proposed you reduce that level from 500 grand to 250 grand and cap it at $4,000 rebate, not 6,500.

Your initial reaction?

And you weren't hearing that for the first time when she delivered a budget address, right?

You knew that was coming.

- Well look, I've had gotten to work with the governor over the time, between the time she was elected and the time she took office and before the budget address.

So, no, I wasn't surprised when she, when she said it.

But I am, you know, committed to making sure that we have the strongest state program that we can have.

The numbers were picked because we wanted to include as many seniors as we possibly can.

The number at 500,000 and 6,500 represents a real attempt to make sure that seniors stay in New Jersey, stay by the people that they love, their grandkids, in the communities that they built.

And so I think that's an important and I think it's been a very, very popular program, right?

First time checks have gone out for the first quarter of this year.

And well, the response to my ledge office, and I've said it before, I actually got a written letter from a senior thanking me, which is rare.

I can't remember last time I got a real, a handwritten letter.

And I think that's probably true to most of us, but, you know, in talking to my colleagues, they're getting the same kind of response.

It's really important.

It also offers the opportunity to be transformative for people who are not 65.

So that when you're 58 years old and you're deciding where you're gonna retire, the Stay NJ Plan offers you the opportunity for real meaningful property tax relief and that may have a deciding factor.

That said, I understand the governor's working hard to chat with, to meet the challenge of, you know, a structural deficit.

And so we're gonna do our job as, you know, as you know, Steve.

I mean, you served the legislature.

The constitutional job of the legislature now is to review the budget.

They don't send it to us to check the math, they send it to us because constitutionally, the legislature has an important role in the budget process.

And so we're gonna get to work on it, we'll look at the governor's proposal, fully understand it, and then make sure we have the strongest state program going forward.

- And by June 30th, the end of... I'm sorry Mr.

Speaker, by the end of the fiscal year, we will know what that program looks like, correct?

By June 30th.

- Yeah, when we get to the budget, we'll have it.

We're gonna have a state program.

The governor is committed to that, I'm committed to that.

My colleagues have all voted for it already.

Remember, it is the law.

The state is the law, it's not program, so.

- That's right.

Mr.

Speaker, let me try this.

We have an initiative and we've talked to you about this before, but the website for stay, excuse me, for Start Strong NJ, which is our childcare initiative, public awareness around childcare, here's the question, with money being so tight, the governor puts certain items in her budget proposal that the legislature has to respond, react, and enact in one form or another.

There'll be negotiations.

Tight money, money's tight.

What do you believe the responsibility is of the state government to fund and support childcare programming that in many ways allows families to work, for parents to work and know that their children are in a safe, affordable childcare situation?

What do you say, Mr.

Speaker?

- I say that that's one of the really important things that we can do for young families in the state of New Jersey.

Childcare is very expensive.

I know it now because I have three adorable grandchildren.

If you want, we can talk for them, about them for a couple of hours too.

So I see first, secondhand, I guess, how important it is to have childcare that's affordable by both my sons and their wives who have the children or have their careers and they're working hard at that.

And I think it's a way for us to help them, for people to start careers, build families, stay again in New Jersey, perhaps on the other end of the thing.

Grandparents play an important role in that.

You know, my wife watches the kids a couple days a week and takes some of the burden off them, off off the cost of our children.

But the state and the governor has been committed to this, has put money in the budget for childcare, support that wholeheartedly.

- Mr.

Speaker, let me try this.

Lots of talk about "Christmas tree" items, legislative initiatives, after the fact, late in the game, get attached to the budget.

And again, as a former legislator, you mentioned it, a very brief term, as you well know, one term and gone.

- But it was a great term.

- Yeah, it was, yeah, at least my mother thinks so.

So I remember being on the finance committee, the budget committee, the Democrats from the majority happened to be a Democratic legislator.

There were items that I was able to get put into the budget that helped my district.

- 100%.

- Explain to folks, A, what those items are, and sometimes they are not particularly impactful and valuable.

Sometimes they are wasteful, sometimes they have value.

I don't mean mine, but help people understand that because right now the argument is, it's all waste, it's pork, you gotta get rid of it.

You say what, Mr.

Speaker?

- I say that position is nonsense.

The money that the legislature puts in reflects the legislative priorities for their districts in ways of helping people.

The things we invest in through the budget process, and it's not always late in the game.

It just, what happens is the way the process works, we let the budget committee do their work, we then get the resolutions, which are suggestions proposed by legislators after, you know, they don't just make these things up.

As you know, you speak to the mayors, you speak to the elected officials, you speak to the town.

And then who knows the towns and the town's needs of the district that you represent better than the legislators who are there all the time, right?

I go to more events in the towns that I'm fortunate enough to represent than you can count.

And so what goes into the budget, I would take issue of the fact that there are wasteful things in there.

I can't.

Largely these are things that directly impact people.

Sometimes they help projects to get going.

But the narrative that these are pork, you know, that they're Christmas trees or that they're wasteful spending is nonsense, nonsense.

Look at what we... Also, some of these things are restorations.

Last year, for example, Steve, we included $120 million of restoration that the Governor Murphy had taken out for higher education for four years and for community college.

Ask the kids who could maybe afford to go to college because of that if it was wasteful.

Ask their parents, ask the people who had dreams about whether they... We invest in things like healthcare facilities 9/11 system for counties.

There's myriads of programs that we support for profoundly brain injured children, for developmentally disabled people to make sure they have good care.

All of those things are really good, and many of them are direct to communities to help reduce their property tax.

- Mr.

Speaker, only, we only have a few seconds left.

- Sorry.

- But for those who say, including the Governor, we can't afford it, you say?

- I say we can afford it.

And I say we should be including those things.

Now, the governor has challenged us to say, if you wanna add something, you gotta find the takeaway.

I'm not afraid of that challenge.

Last year, we took $400 million out of the budget, largely unnoticed.

The year before that, 500 million.

So we're not afraid to cut the budget where we can find places to cut that don't hurt people and in order to directly help communities and others.

- Craig Coughlin is the Speaker of the Assembly, that's the highest ranking member of the Lower House, and he is a St.

John's basketball fan.

- I am.

- And after that, he roots for Seton Hall after that.

- I had a son who graduated from Seton Hall and a son of a graduate of Seton Hall Law, so.

- And we're doing a whole nother program with the speaker on the Big East, the history of the Big East basketball conference and why the history and the legacy matters.

- Sign me up.

- Not policy, just basketball, okay, Mr.

Speaker.

- 100%, Steve.

You name the time and place.

- You got it, that's the speaker.

I'm Steve Adubato, thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

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