Tuesday, January 23, 2018
On Charlie Baker’s Third State of the State Address to the Commonwealth
Following Governor Charlie Baker’s third State of the State address to the Commonwealth I released this statement to the press.
Tonight, Governor Baker provided us with a narrative of the steady progress being made in our Commonwealth through his leadership and bipartisan collaboration with the legislature. Without resorting to increased tax burdens on the budgets of households and employers, strong gains have been made to:
• Confront the crisis of opiate addiction with meaningful regulatory changes and increased resource for treatment,
• Reform the operations of the MBTA to reduce costs, invest in infrastructure and improve performance,
• Increase investments in education and employment training,
• Dramatically reduce the number of homeless families living in hotels and motels,
• Build economic strengths and capitalize on the skills and the talents of people in our state,
• Invest in our infrastructure including public transportation, and rails, roads and bridges,
• Increase our supplies of renewable energy and develop resilience to climate change.
The accomplishments highlighted tonight by the Governor prove the power we have to cause positive change by respecting each other’s ideas and weaving them into sound public policy. With that in mind, we need to bring that power to bear on some very challenging issues.
They include continuing to combat the scourge of addiction, increasing the supply of housing, responding effectively to climate change and making sure our cities and towns and school districts have the resources they need to deliver critical services such as public safety and education.
We can make great progress in the year ahead if we continue to have fiscal discipline and focused partnerships. Governor Baker has set a course for that progress tonight.
