 Costa initially planned to stand as an independent candidate in the 2007 state election but was persuaded by Premier Morris Iemma to stand instead for the Labor Party.He was elected to the Legislative Assembly on 24 March 2007 with 53% of the vote.From June 2007 to September 2008, he was a member of the State Parliament's Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics and Chair of the Standing Committee on Broadband in Rural and Regional Communities.