Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivered her State of the Commonwealth address last week, laying out the priorities for the year ahead, as she also begins her reelection campaign. State House News Service reporter Colin Young talks about what stood out to him, and where her Republican challengers were seeing the opportunities to draw contrasts with the governor.
Colin Young, SHNS: My big takeaway from last week's speech was that it really did feel like the start of the governor's race. I probably wouldn't be able to name this speech. You know, this isn't Healey's ‘so and so speech’ the one where she made this ‘grand announcement.’ It really was the one where she laid out how she's going to make the case to Massachusetts over the next nine months or so that she is the best person to continue to lead the state for the next four years.
It was light on specifics. Sometimes governors use these speeches to make a lot of new promises. Governor Healey didn't do much of that this year. Instead, she did a lot of recapping and really using Donald Trump as a foil. She really signaled that she is hoping to run for reelection against Donald Trump this fall. Now, her Republican challengers very much want to run against Maura Healey. And it was interesting hearing Healey talk so much about Donald Trump and the federal government in her speech.
And when we talked to Republican candidates after the speech, they wanted to talk about the nitty gritty of some of the energy policy that the governor discussed. So, two sides talking in very different terms… at this stage in the race.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: During her address, I'd expect that many local elected officials were listening for Healy to speak directly to municipalities with reassurances for the year ahead. Did she offer any concrete, long-term relief to address the financial pressures that are squeezing cities and towns?
No, she didn't. And that actually stuck out significantly to Senator Bruce Tarr. He's the minority leader, the Republican leader in the Senate. And when I spoke to him after the governor's address, he said that was the one thing that he really noticed to be missing, that the governor didn't speak to these issues that are really squeezing cities and towns and that contribute to the cost of living pains that a lot of residents feel across Massachusetts. So, that's something that certainly Republicans noticed. I think a lot of Democrats noticed that as well, because it's something that they are going to have to wrestle with, and they probably would have liked to have had some indication of how the governor is thinking about it.
On Tuesday, lawmakers are taking another look at a long-stalled bill that Charlemont has pushed for years as the town continues to absorb the costs of river rescues and heavy tourism along the Deerfield River. Officials say those pressures have only grown. This bill has repeatedly stalled on Beacon Hill, with its house sponsor now resigned. What, if anything, is known about where this bill goes next?
This bill has a few things working against it. One is that its chief sponsor, Rep. Natalie Blais, has now resigned from the House to take a job at UMass Amherst, and her district is going to go unrepresented for the remainder of the term. Now, the other thing going against it is that it was filed later than the standard deadline, which just means it isn't under the same kind of clock for this committee to act on it as other bills would be. So, there's no hard and fast deadline specific to this bill, at least now, as Senator Paul Mark has also co-sponsored this bill.
So, I imagine he will be doing some of the heavy lifting here in making the case, even though it is a House bill. And we'll probably see some reps from districts that surround Blais’ district also pitch in when we've had similar situations in the past. Neighboring reps have stepped in to make budget requests when there's been a vacancy.
Does Charlemont's proposed recreation tax, which this bill is, fit within the same spirit of 'local fiscal flexibility' for a local option tax hike that the Healey Administration has pushed in the Municipal Empowerment Act, or does it go well beyond what the administration seems to have in mind?
It does seem to fit in that that same spirit of municipalities know what they need best, and they know how to meet those needs best. I would say this Charlemont bill, I would think, is maybe a little bit more palatable to Democratic lawmakers this year who might be hesitant to pass the governor's statewide local option tax bill that would let any city or town adjust some tax rates. They might be more willing to take a vote that could raise taxes in only one town, rather than potentially in every town across the state.
