The current moment demands “urgent action like never before,” the governor said Thursday, but she again brushed off the suggestion that the glacial pace of Beacon Hill legislating complicates state attempts to swiftly act on issues like housing, affordability and more.
Most of Gov. Maura Healey’s agenda rests in the hands of the Legislature, including her massive housing bill, the economic development plan her administration filed this week, her plan to leverage interest on state savings to attract federal grants, and more. On WBUR’s “Radio Boston” Thursday, she did not take the bait when host Tiziana Dearing asked if the Legislature was “an actual impediment” to addressing the economy and competitiveness.
“Well, I’m proud of the things that we were able to get done this year. You know, as I look back, and it’s a time of reflection to a certain extent, as I look back on the year, I mean, the budget that we passed that I signed, really, really important investments, education, workforce, climate initiatives, housing. Tax cuts for the first time in over 20 years,” she said.
Healey added, when pressed on whether she feels any urgency from lawmakers, “I think everyone understands that urgency, I think we all are looking at the same numbers. And I look forward to the year ahead and what we what we can do. … And it is the case that that the times right now necessitate urgent action like never before.”
Intentional or otherwise, the governor recently demonstrated the different interpretations of urgency between the Legislature and her office. When lawmakers finally sent her the late fiscal year 2023 close-out budget bill Monday about two and a half months after she first filed it, she signed it into law within minutes. She had previously said that the overdue budget and protracted talks between House and Senate Democrats was “part of the process” on Beacon Hill.
And when Healey takes her $4.1 billion housing bond and policy bill on the road, she often talks about the urgency of that bill becoming law and suggests that people lobby their state lawmakers to advance the governor’s bill in time for spring housing construction, a timeline that would be very ambitious for the state’s plodding Legislature, where Democrats can struggle to find consensus among their members.
“That’s why we need your help and advocacy to get it done and get it done quickly. Housing construction starts will start in the spring or not, right? So we’ve got to get this going and get this going now,” Healey told the crowd during an October stop in Attleboro.
Healey’s omnibus Affordable Homes Act was referred to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing in October and that panel has not scheduled the bill for a public hearing.
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