IN HER FIRST State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. Maura Healey vowed to sharply increase funding for transportation, reduce MBTA fares for low-income riders, and create a task force of public and private leaders to come up with a substitute for the gas tax. 

At a time when the state is attempting to encourage a dramatic shift to electric vehicles, the governor indicated it was time to chart a new course for transportation financing in what she called the clean energy era. 

“There are challenges and there’s a lot that needs to be done,” she said. “But I promise, under my administration, we will not kick the can down the road any longer on anything difficult.” 

She pledged to increase funding for local road and bridge repairs to record levels, double support for MBTA operations, and tackle deferred maintenance at the T. Aides said her spending plans would not be available until next week, but her message gave hope to former transportation secretary James Aloisi, who has urged state leaders to tackle long-term transportation funding challenges. 

“Finding new, stable revenue sources for all our transportation needs is critical, and I’m pleased that she is embracing this task, which is a good sign that we finally have leadership that understands the problem and is willing to take action to solve it,” he said. 

Healey’s pledge to launch a lower fare for low-income riders was not unexpected. She included $5 million in this year’s budget to move in that direction, but the program hasn’t received a green light from the MBTA board of directors yet. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who favors doing away with fares entirely, has an appointee on the board who has indicated her mind is not made up yet. 

Healey also announced a new program called Literacy Launch to address a problem that showed itself on last year’s MCAS test, when more than half of third-graders failed to meet expectations in English. The governor blamed social inequities for the low scores as well as “disproven methods” of teaching reading. 

She promised a five-year funding effort to make appropriate reading materials available to more school districts and mandate that educators be provided with “evidence-based” instruction. “Every child in this state needs to be able to read and read well – and we’re going to give them the tools to do just that,” she said. 

Healey used her speech to showcase some of her administration’s early achievements and touch on challenges ahead, often using people she has met during her first year in office to illustrate her points. Like a coach trying to motivate her team, Healey told the overwhelmingly Democratic members of the Legislature that it was time to take action on legislation she has filed to address lagging housing production and affordable preschool. 

“Let’s do it. Let’s do it,” she said. 

The governor used a personal story to convey that she knows what it’s like for families to struggle to make ends meet and her view about government’s role in easing that struggle.

“I think about my own mom, raising five kids alone,” Healey said, her voice shaking with emotion. “One night, we were sitting around the kitchen table, and I could see she was hiding tears. She quietly asked my brother if she could use his savings from yardwork and babysitting to pay the taxes. He was 11. People do what they have to do to get by. I get that. As I see it, government should be there to make life easier, not harder.” 

Democrats in the chamber gave Healey warm applause throughout her speech, but even among them there was concern about all the new spending initiatives at a time when state tax revenues are static. Revenue projections are falling short of target levels this fiscal year, forcing Healey to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap by paring back spending by $375 million and tapping interest earned on state bank deposits. Healey did not mention the budget cuts in her remarks. 

But she did mention free lunch meals for public schools students, stockpiling the abortion pill known as mifepristone and universal pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds, all which got more applause than her mention of last year’s $1 billion tax cut, which received a smattering.

After the speech, House Speaker Ron Mariano, a supporter of the tax cut, said he is looking for more details that will come with Healey’s budget proposal next week. “Believe me, we’ll hear if any line items are underfunded,” Mariano told reporters. “Free school meals, that’s something I really believe in and it’s going to be expensive. There are a lot of things in the budget that are expensive already.”

He added, referring to the voter-approved law known as the Fair Share Amendment: “I don’t know what the millionaire’s tax is going to produce. And neither do they. We won’t have final numbers in there until after April. There could be more in that account than we know of.”

The Massachusetts Republican Party put forward newly elected Sen. Peter Durant of Spencer to provide a different perspective on Healey’s first year in office. He called for amending the state’s right to shelter law, which requires Massachusetts to provide shelter to homeless families and pregnant women. The program’s cost has tripled this year from initial budget projections, overwhelmed by migrants arriving from other countries. Healey has responded by capping the number of families eligible to participate in the program at 7,500 and putting new arrivals on a waiting list. 

Durant said the Legislature should amend the law so that shelter is only provided to citizens of Massachusetts. “Without action, our state will continue to be a magnet for an influx of migrants, with far reaching consequences that will impact you and future generations,” the senator said according to his prepared remarks.  

“When we replace 50,000 net tax-PAYERS with tax-TAKERS, the result is predictable,” said Durant. “And while some may demonize a statement like that, it doesn’t make it false. The old adage is that we are near the point where there are more people IN the cart than pulling it.” 

Healey wants to cover the cost of the more than $900 million program this year and next year by tapping surplus funds left over from previous budget years, but has offered no long-term solution. 

“This is a hard issue, with no easy answers,” she said in her speech. “And I want to be clear, Massachusetts did not create this problem. We will continue to demand Congress take action to fix the border and get us funding to cover our costs.” 

She suggested one way out may be to obtain work authorizations for migrants from other countries and get them jobs with Massachusetts companies. Healey said Salem Hospital recently hired a few migrants to work in housekeeping. “We’re going to do that around this state,” she said. 

More than 2,700 migrants have received work authorizations in recent weeks, but so far shelter occupancy has not declined.