Gov. Charlie Baker is likely to sound a reflective tone in his final State of the Commonwealth address Tuesday night, but he said Monday that he also plans to use his speech to look forward and press for action on issues he would like to see resolved before he leaves office in just less than a year.
A little more than 24 hours before his speech at the Hynes Convention Center, the governor specifically mentioned mental health care as a topic he will call for action on this session.
Baker is due to file his final state budget Wednesday and his speech is likely to touch upon a number of initiatives that will be part of the spending bill.
“Here’s what I hope to accomplish tomorrow: I hope to have a chance to reflect on many of the very good things that have been done here in Massachusetts through the work together of the House and the Senate, our colleagues in local government, and our administration over the past seven years,” Baker said Monday. “And we will certainly propose some things we would like to see progress on between now and the end of the session. I can tell you right now, one of the things we’ve all talked about quite a bit is mental health and I certainly hope that issue — I know that’s important to the House and Senate; it’s important to us — I hope we can get something done on that by the end of the session.”
The Republican governor gave a brief preview of his speech after a semi-regular meeting with House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka.
Democrats have held supermajorities in both branches of the Legislature for all of Baker’s seven years in office, but he and legislative leaders have maintained warm relations and have rarely bickered publicly.
“I appreciate the fact that despite the increasingly bitter and adversarial and somewhat toxic nature of a lot of what passes for political discourse that goes on around this country, people in public life here in Massachusetts have been pretty good about treating each other with respect when we agree and with respect when we don’t,” Baker said Monday, previewing another theme of his address that he said he has “said in almost all of my addresses.”
Watch Gov. Charlie Baker’s State of the Commonwealth address on 7NEWS starting at 7 p.m.
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