The Healey-Driscoll Administration's Priorities

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll are committed to bringing people together and making Massachusetts a place where every worker, business and family can succeed.

Read Governor Healey's Inaugural Address here. 

Climate & Clean Energy

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll know that the climate crisis is our biggest challenge, but there is also enormous opportunity in our response. They want to meet this moment with innovation and urgency to make Massachusetts a world leader in combating the climate crisis and driving our clean energy economy.

They’ve already made that commitment clear by creating the position of Climate Chief, a new cabinet-level position responsible for driving climate policy across every agency and ensuring that climate change is considered in all relevant decision-making. Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to establish such a position at the cabinet level. 

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll have appointed Melissa Hoffer to be Massachusetts’ first ever Climate Chief. Chief Hoffer will monitor the progress of the administration's cross-agency climate work and make sure that municipal leaders, labor and those disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis have a seat at the table. She will play an integral role in putting Massachusetts on track to meet the administration’s ambitious climate goals. 

Those goals include doubling offshore wind and solar targets, quadrupling energy storage deployment, electrifying the public transportation fleet, putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2030, dedicating at least 1% of the state budget to environmental and energy agencies, tripling the budget of the Clean Energy Center and creating a Green Bank to foster investment in resilient infrastructure and attract new businesses to Massachusetts.

Each step of the way, Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll will focus on our environmental justice communities, which bear the brunt of increasing temperatures, dangerous pollution, extreme weather, and rising sea levels. All communities in Massachusetts will be stronger, more resilient, and benefit from these clean energy investments

Affordable & Abundant Housing

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll know that making Massachusetts more affordable begins with making housing more affordable. The cost of housing right now is unsustainable for families, businesses, and our state’s future. Our challenge is to dramatically increase the production and supply of housing, and to make it more affordable for all. 

To spearhead these efforts, the Healey-Driscoll administration is creating a new Secretary of Housing. This Secretary will work across government and across the state, supporting cities and towns in every region, to make sure we meet our housing goals. 

Governor Healey has also directed Secretary of Administration and Finance Matthew Gorzkowicz to identify unused state owned land and public property to turn into rental housing or home ownership within the year. The administration is also committed to expanding opportunities for first-time home buyers by better funding down payment and closing assistance programs, and expanding rental assistance and the rental tax deduction to reduce costs for renters.

But Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll know that to truly tackle this problem, we need everyone acting together. That’s why they’ve asked every community, every local official, and every citizen to join them in these efforts. On the local level, this starts with building more housing near transit hubs, adjusting zoning ordinances, and actively preserving our housing stock. 

Housing is a problem everywhere, and everyone will play a part in the solution

High-quality Education

Massachusetts is the birthplace of public education in the U.S., home to world-renowned schools and educators. But the opportunity gaps that already existed have only been exacerbated by COVID-19. Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll are committed to rebuilding our education system so that it works better for everyone and to ensure that every Massachusetts resident has access to a quality education, from early education through higher education.

It starts with making early education and care more affordable and accessible. Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll support a comprehensive solution to the child care crisis, such as legislation in line with Common Start that would make sure every family pays what they can afford, and that care workers are paid what they deserve. This is something our families, workers, and businesses all agree on. 

The administration will fund the Student Opportunity Act to ensure that every student and every school gets the resources they deserve. They’ll also increase wraparound services like mental health care and food security because students can not reach their potential if they are homeless or hungry or suffering from untreated mental illness. 

Finally, Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll want to make sure that every Massachusetts resident has access to the type of higher education that works for them. This is essential for solving our workforce shortages – right now there are tens of thousands of jobs in health care, transportation, and technology left unfilled because many workers’ skills don’t match today’s demands. That’s why Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll plan to launch a major initiative with our community colleges and vocational training schools to align the training we offer with the needs of our companies in every region. They’ve pledged to create and fully fund the new MassReconnect program, which will offer free community college to all students over 25 who have not earned a college degree. They’ll also work to enhance early college opportunities and increase funding to our state university system so everyone can afford to get a higher degree.

Safe & Reliable Transportation

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll know that we can’t have a functioning economy without a functioning transportation system. They know that the current state of our transportation infrastructure is unacceptable. They’re going to get back to basics and relentlessly focus on safety, reliability, and staffing. 

It starts with the workforce. The MBTA in particular is experiencing a critical workforce shortage. That’s why Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll have pledged  to include funding in her first budget to hire 1,000 additional MBTA workers in the first year of her administration. They will also work with high schools, vocational technical schools, and community colleges to create a pipeline for the next generation of transportation workers.

The Governor and Lieutenant Governor have already launched a worldwide search for the next MBTA General Manager. This person will have deep transit experience and will be focused on safety and reliability. They are also creating the position of Transportation Safety Chief, who will conduct a full safety audit of our system.

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll will also take a regional approach to public transportation and identify ways to make our system more interconnected. One project in particular that they are committed to seeing through is West-East Rail, and they will appoint a West-East Rail Director to lead these efforts.

Our roads and bridges also remain in a state of disrepair. There are billions in federal funding available to fix it, but Massachusetts competes with every state in the country for those dollars. That is why Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll will be forming a transportation funding task force – the first of its kind – to compete for those federal infrastructure funds and ensure Massachusetts gets every available dollar for shovel ready projects in every region

Affordability & Competition

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll know that if we want to unlock the full potential of our people, we must remove the barriers holding them back. That starts with addressing our high costs and making Massachusetts more affordable.

That means building more housing, and also requires lowering the cost of education from early childcare through higher education. They have also proposed an expanded child tax credit that would give every family additional money back in their pockets per year for every child and support a number of measures to provide real relief to renters, seniors and low- and middle-income families.

Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll also know that our workers and businesses need to have a level playing field to compete on. That’s why they’ve pledged to introduce a wage theft bill to make sure workers are paid what they are owed and that the businesses who play by the rules are protected