Maura Healey

What Maura Healey Pledged to Do as Massachusetts' Governor

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Maura Healey took the oath of office as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts at 12:32 p.m. Thursday, ascending to the state's top job after two terms as attorney general and pledging to tackle challenges like housing, cost of living, transportation and climate change.

After a campaign during which she was criticized for being light on details, Healey made a handful of firm commitments in her inaugural address to a joint session of the House and Senate, and to the people of Massachusetts.

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She pledged to:

  • Create a standalone secretary of housing to "work across government and support every city and town to make sure we meet our goals" within her first 100 days;
  • Have her administration and finance secretary "identify unused state-owned land and facilities that we can turn into rental housing or homes within one year";
  • Expand tax deductions for renters;
  • Include in her first budget proposal a "MassReconnect" program to make community college free for people 25 and older without a college degree;
  • Increase funding to the state university system;
  • Appoint a safety chief at the MBTA within 60 days;
  • Fund the hiring of 1,000 new workers to focus on the operation of the MBTA within her first year;
  • Form an interagency task force dedicated to competing for federal infrastructure money;
  • Direct each agency under her administration to conduct a full equity audit;
  • Double the state's offshore wind and solar power procurement targets, and quadruple energy storage deployment;
  • Electrify the state's public vehicle fleet and put a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030; and
  • Commit at least 1 percent of the state's budget to environmental and energy agencies, triple the budget of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and create a "green bank" to invest in resilient infrastructure and to attract new businesses to Massachusetts.
Gov. Maura Healey gave her first speech in office on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, at her historic inauguration.
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