New Jersey’s long-running battle over whether drivers should pump their own gas hit a decisive wall Thursday, after Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin issued his most forceful rejection yet of any plan to end the state’s 76-year ban on self-service fueling.
“I do not see a bill ever being posted in the Assembly during the time that I’m the speaker,” Coughlin told reporters when asked whether lawmakers might finally consider changing the law. Any shift, he warned, would mean “thousands and thousands of jobs that would get lost.”
The comments, prompted by a question from journalist John Shilling, amount to a blunt veto from one of Trenton’s most powerful lawmakers and all but doom the latest efforts to give New Jerseyans the freedom to pump their own gas. The full-service requirement, enacted in 1949 as a fire-safety measure during an era of vicious price wars, has since morphed into an economic lifeline for attendants and a quirky point of pride for residents wary of smelling like diesel.
New Jersey is now the only state that still bans drivers from touching the pump, a distinction that took hold once Oregon loosened its own restrictions in 2018.
But while reform advocates say the prohibition drives up prices and worsens staffing shortages in a tight labor market, Coughlin’s stance reflects the deep political risk of tinkering with a policy that polls show many residents still support. An estimated 7,000 to 10,000 workers depend on full-service employment across the state, and labor unions and station owners have fought hard to maintain it.
The latest push came in March, when state Sen. Jon Bramnick reintroduced the “Motorist Fueling Choice and Convenience Act,” a bipartisan bill that would allow stations to offer self-service but also require larger facilities to keep full-service lanes. Like similar proposals over the past few decades, it generated chatter but little momentum.
Coughlin’s remarks triggered swift reactions online, with critics accusing him of outdated protectionism. “How about worrying about high taxes and not silly things like pumping gas?” one user complained. Supporters quickly countered that the speaker was defending jobs and safety, not nostalgia.
The Middlesex County Democrat, who has led the Assembly since 2010, is unlikely to face significant pushback within his caucus over the issue, especially as lawmakers juggle bigger affordability fights over property taxes and utility rates. And with the Assembly not scheduled to return until January, self-serve proponents have no immediate path to move their cause forward.
For now, New Jersey drivers will keep doing what they’ve done for more than seven decades: sit tight in their cars and let someone else squeeze the handle.