Cutting Taxes for Families, Renters, and Seniors
In 2024, Governor Healey’s billion-dollar tax cuts went into effect, putting money back in the pockets of families, renters, seniors – nearly every Massachusetts resident.
Lowering the Cost of Housing
Governor Healey signed the Affordable Homes Act, the most ambitious housing plan in Massachusetts history. This blueprint to create or save 65,000 homes will help make sure the people who work in our communities can afford to live in our communities.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration also partnered with 110 MBTA communities to pass new zoning and embrace more transit-oriented housing. 3,000 units are already in the pipeline.
Growing our Innovation Economy
In 2024, the Massachusetts economy added 33,000 jobs and nearly 100,000 workers to the labor force. The state’s unemployment rate remains consistently below the national average.
In November, Governor Healey signed the Mass Leads Act, a monumental economic development bill that invests in the industries that make Massachusetts #1 in innovation, including life sciences, ClimateTech and artificial intelligence, by:
- Reauthorizing the Life Sciences Initiative for $500 over 10 years, increasing the annual life sciences tax incentive program from $30 million to $40 million, and expanding the mission of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to include programs that support preventative medicine and health-related AI.
- Investing an unprecedented $400 million in ClimateTech initiatives and creating a new tax incentive program to support ClimateTech companies in Massachusetts.
- Investing $100 million to create the Massachusetts AI Hub and facilitate the application of artificial intelligence across the state’s ecosystem.
Fixing Roads, Bridges and Public Transportation
Under the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s leadership, the MBTA is on track to deliver on a promise to lift speed restrictions by the end of the year. For the first time in at least 20 years, the Red Line is slow zone-free. For the first time in 15 years, the Orange Line is slow zone-free.
Governor Healey delivered the highest level of funding to the MBTA in 20 years, including $600 million for rail and station upgrades to improve safety and reliability across the system. The MBTA and the Administration also reached an agreement to bring battery-electric train service to the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line, which will result in more frequent service and cleaner air for surrounding communities.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration won $9 billion in federal funding, much of which will advance several critical projects to improve transportation infrastructure across the state – the Cape Cod Bridges, West-East Rail.
Investing in Education from Early Ed to College
Building on the success of MassReconnect, Governor Healey made tuition- and fee-free community college a reality for students of all ages across Massachusetts. The Healey-Driscoll Administration also significantly reduced the cost of public higher education for middle- and working-class families – and enrollment at public four-year colleges increased for the first time in more than a decade.
As part of Governor Healey’s Gateway to Pre-K agenda, the Healey-Driscoll Administration expanded universal preschool access in 15 additional school districts, adding 747 affordable pre-k seats for children in Gateway Cities and rural communities.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration significantly increased funding for child care, resulting in more seats for kids, higher wages for educators, improvements in quality, and lower costs for families. Massachusetts added 508 licensed early education and care programs, with the capacity to serve 9,407 more children compared to last year.
Improving Wages and Conditions for Workers
In 2024, Governor Healey became the first Governor in more than 50 years to create a Labor Advisory Council and appoint a Labor Advisor in the Governor’s Office.
Governor Healey also signed wage equity legislation into law, increasing transparency in pay by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges and protecting an employee’s right to ask for salary ranges.
In addition to making community college tuition- and fee-free, the Healey-Driscoll Administration expanded access to Career and Technical Education programs because good-paying jobs shouldn’t require a four-year degree.
Expanding Access to Health Care
This year, Governor Healey signed a maternal health bill that expands access to midwifery, birth centers and doulas in Massachusetts to help women before, during and after pregnancy and improve the health of babies. The Healey-Driscoll Administration also made other maternal health equity advancements, including 10 million in grants to maternal health providers in key communities and enabling more than 150 doulas to become MassHealth providers.
Governor Healey expanded youth mental health access at local centers to provide urgent crisis response, serving thousands of children and cutting youth mental health emergency room stays in half. The administration also made an unprecedented investment to expand access to in-school programming for students who have fallen behind academically due to challenges with their mental health.
Governor Healey took decisive action to protect women’s access to health care, including reproductive health care. On the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade, she signed an Executive Order protecting access to emergency abortion care in Massachusetts. She also preserved a stockpile of the lifesaving abortion medication mifepristone to ensure it remains available in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts reported the largest single-year decline in overdose deaths since 2009-2010. The Healey-Driscoll Administration supported the health and human services workforce, including investments of more than $31 million for student loan repayments and more than $12.5 million through other initiatives to strengthen and diversify the behavioral health workforce.
Protecting Our Communities
In 2024, Governor Healey appointed Geoffrey D. Noble as Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police to enhance public safety, recruit and retain excellent troopers and modernize training.
Governor Healey also took nation-leading executive action to pardon misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions in Massachusetts. Governor Healey has issued more pardons in her first two years in office than any other Governor in recent history.
Governor Healey signed a gun safety law that bans ghost guns, strengthens the Extreme Risk Protection Order statute to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and invests in violence prevention programs. Governor Healey signed a bill that bans revenge porn and expands protections against abuse and exploitation.
Transforming Veterans Services
This year, Governor Healey signed the most comprehensive piece of veterans’ legislation in Massachusetts history, the HERO Act, to increase benefits, modernize services and promote inclusivity for veterans in Massachusetts.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration also hosted a traditional “topping off” ceremony at the Holyoke Veterans Home, marking a significant milestone in construction of the new facility that will deliver improved care to veterans.
Governor Healey launched a $20 million campaign to end veteran homelessness in Massachusetts, which is the largest, targeted investment to address veteran homelessness in state history.