Craig Coughlin

Biography

Coughlin received a B.S. degree from St. John's University and a J.D. degree from St. John's University School of Law. He served on the South Amboy Board of Education from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he was elected to the South Amboy Borough Council, serving until 1993.

He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge for Edison Township in 2005. He resigned in 2009 to run for the General Assembly seat vacated by Joseph Vas, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate John Wisniewski.

Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.

Outside of the legislature, Coughlin is an attorney. He resides in Fords, Woodbridge Township with his wife Letitia and three sons, Craig, Jr., Vincent and Nicholas.

Legislative career

In the General Assembly, Coughlin serves on the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee as chairman and the Labor Committee. Since 2014, he was chosen as the Assembly Deputy Parliamentarian. He is also an appointed member of the State Board of Canvassers, State Historical Commission and Intergovernmental Affairs Commission.

In the Assembly, Coughlin has introduced legislation to provide tax credits to businesses who expand or modernize their manufacturing plant or machinery and/or train new employees for manufacturing purposes (A-4292), legislation to expedite and prioritize the remediation and reuse of vacant or underused public property such as Brownfield Redevelopment Areas (A-2395) and legislation which would allow local, county and school governments to shop for the most affordable health insurance coverage for their employees (A-1273).

Assemblyman Coughlin successfully ushered numerous bills into law, including a law which permits fire districts and departments to enter into joint purchasing agreements with neighboring counterparts in an effort to spur purchasing power and help agencies remain under the annual budget cap (P.L.2013, c.89.), a law creating a study whether to incentivize New Jersey businesses via tax credits to hire higher education students (P.L.2013, c.60), a law to protect library donations and governance (P.L.2010m c.83.; P.L.2013, c.56), a law enforcing private property maintenance (P.L.2011, c.222.), a law to streamline highway maintenance (P.L.2011, c.46.), and a law to ensure proper tax sharing between state and local units (P.L.2010, c.55.).

His proudest legislative achievement was the passage of legislation (P.L.2012, c.47) revising the laws concerning the state's microbrewing industry. With bi-partisan support, the new law allows brewers to brew more, pay less fees, expand their number of locations, sell to the distribution network, and offer samples on and off site.

For the November 2013 General Election, he authored (ACR-114) Public Question Two which asks the electorate if veterans' organizations can use proceeds derived from legalized games of chances, e.g. 50/50s and raffles, for operational expenses.

District 19

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 19th District for the 2016-17 Legislative Session are: