“‘For years, Governors of both parties met with Presidents of both parties annually,” Healey said in a statement released after 4 p.m. Thursday. ‘This has always been an important opportunity for us to discuss the most pressing issues facing our country and how we can work together on solutions. But it should come as no surprise to anyone that President Trump has completely politicized this.'”
Maura Healey
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Wu and Rooney on collision course, again
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney are cruising toward another political fight that could strain their sometimes-friendly, sometimes-cool relationship. Over the course of the past week, Wu came out in support of a rent control ballot question, while Rooney’s organization joined the real estate-led campaign seeking to defeat the measure.
Posted inHousing
Ed Augustus becomes eighth member of Healey’s Cabinet to depart
Housing Secretary Ed Augustus will step down next week to take over a Central Massachusetts bank, and the governor picked former HUD official — and onetime MassINC chief operating officer — Juana Matias to succeed him.
Posted inImmigration
It’s anyone’s guess when Beacon Hill will agree on an immigration response
Three weeks after both Gov. Maura Healey and the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus offered separate roadmaps for action, it’s still unclear how or when House and Senate Democrats will proceed amid national pressure to respond to ICE raids.
Posted inEducation
Healey has called for universal pre-K in every Gateway City by the year’s end. Providers say they won’t get there.
Seven of the 26 cities are not currently participating in the state’s pre-K implementation program. Child care providers in cities that are participating say that while it enforces a mixed-delivery approach highly valued by preschool advocates, universal access for every 4-year-old by the end of the year is a pipe dream.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. falling short of key climate targets, with some bright spots, after one year of Trump attacks
The state’s self-assessment comes as it races to reduce its carbon pollution to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and produce no new net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — all while confronting a hostile federal government and an affordability crisis sweeping the state.
Posted inState Government
‘It just requires people to be destitute’: Healey draws criticism over push to tighten eligibility for safety-net program
Five years after lawmakers scrapped the asset limit attached to the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children program, Gov. Maura Healey wants to bring it back at a higher threshold — a move that advocates say will impose unnecessary burdens on at-risk recipients.
Posted inState Government
Governor’s budget proposal seeks to trim environmental programs roughly 4 percent
The impact of the federal reconciliation package enacted by President Trump last year coupled with slower growth are forcing Healey to reexamine funding across the board. EEA is not immune from the shifting budget landscape.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. climate chief missed her own deadline to calculate the cost of state’s climate commitments
Hoffer set out to put a price tag on the state’s net-zero climate commitment and develop a menu of options for how to pay for it. That price is still not yet known more than a year after the report was due.
Posted inHousing
Holyoke’s unsheltered homeless count hits new record as threats to federal aid loom
The state and federal funding landscape continues to shift while homelessness in Western Massachusetts has reached unprecedented levels in the aftermath of the pandemic. Holyoke had the highest unsheltered count in all of Hampden County this year, according to preliminary numbers.
Posted inOpinion
Gov. Healey’s budget plan is spending Massachusetts into a corner
Tax revenues are slowing, costs are rising, and the Healey administration continues to grow state government as if the bill will never come due.
Posted inEducation
From T support to school aid, surtax emerges as crutch for state budgeting
Gov. Maura Healey’s spending proposals has reopened debate about whether voters intended for the surtax on high earners to fund only new investments or anything related to transportation and education.
Posted inState Government
Despite improvement, Mass. unemployment system remains one of the worst in the country by some measures
The Bay State boosted its rate of timely unemployment payments in November and December, but it still ranked in the bottom three states in that span, and legislative leaders are mostly silent on the issue.
Posted inThe Codcast
Unpacking the governor’s state budget proposal
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Chris Lisinski hosts Viviana Abreu-Hernandez of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and Jim Stergios of the Pioneer Institute for a discussion about Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal year 2027 state budget proposal.
Posted inEnergy
Cold weather threatens to take bite out of Healey’s energy savings bid
If consistently below-average temperatures drag deeper into the winter, the average ratepayer might still wind up with comparatively higher bills as their heating systems use more energy to warm homes.
Posted inState Government
Growing health care pressure drives up spending in Healey’s annual budget
MassHealth spending would increase more than 7 percent under Gov. Maura Healey’s new state budget proposal, roughly twice as much as all other state spending in a reflection of the challenge Beacon Hill faces to control health care costs.
Posted inEnergy
House energy chair must be removed from post over his controversial climate bill, Mass. Sierra Club says
The move kicks the already-high tension around energy issues in Massachusetts up a notch and offers somewhat of a finer point on the political fallout from Cusack’s proposal last year.
Posted inThe Codcast
‘No doubt it may get worse before it gets better’ — Breaking down the 2026 State of the Commonwealth.
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Chris Lisinski talk about Gov. Maura Healey’s 2026 State of the Commonwealth speech. They compare her tone and policy position to earlier years, review reactions to the speech, and look ahead at what this says about Healey’s run for reelection.
Posted inState Government
Healey comes out swinging against Trump in election-year address
Gov. Maura Healey’s final State of the Commonwealth before she’s up for reelection featured plenty of criticism of the Trump administration, plus hints of modest new action to rein in costs of living.
Posted inTransportation
Another MBTA deficit is on the horizon. Did the state miss its chance for a more permanent fix?
The T is once again warning of a financial shortfall on the horizon, but this time around, its push for more state funding will bump up against a tighter economic environment and a series of federal cuts affecting every corner.
Posted inEnergy
Next up on Beacon Hill: House leaders plan closed-door meetings on Healey’s energy affordability bill
The political pressure to lower energy prices in the Bay State, home to the third-highest electricity costs in the country and rising gas bills, has intensified and will likely continue to escalate in an election year for both Healey and the Legislature.
