“It’s an honor to have the support of my colleagues for another term as Speaker. I am very proud of what we have accomplished on behalf of the people of New Jersey over these six years, meeting our obligations and setting priorities in accordance with our shared values. Personal highlights include passage of the Equal Pay Act during my first year as Speaker, our groundbreaking work in the fight against food insecurity in our state, raising the State’s minimum wage to $15, and most recently, the work we’ve done to make New Jersey more affordable for families—especially for parents and seniors with the Child Tax Credit and our historic property tax relief, including my own StayNJ legislation. We have increased aid to our schools and made other prudent investments for good jobs, strong infrastructure, and a clean environment. We’ve managed to do all this while taking our state from fiscal crisis to budget surplus.
I remember being sworn into office as a freshman Assemblyman by my first Speaker, my good friend, the late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver. As we welcome the largest freshman class of legislators since 1982, I hope to impart some of the wisdom I’ve been lucky to gain from those who’ve come before. Just as importantly, I plan to listen to the dynamic, diverse new voices in this institution that means so much to me. The New Jersey General Assembly can get a little combative—this is Jersey, after all—but when we have honest debate and live up to our duty to the people we serve, we can do great things.”