Baker's pledge: Governor promises education, housing, climate change will be priorities

Jan. 22--BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker touted his accomplishments in his annual speech to state lawmakers Tuesday night, and pledged to tackle pressing issues from the state's transportation woes and housing crisis to climate change.

The Swampscott Republican stressed bipartisan governance in his fourth State of the Commonwealth address, highlighting his work with the Democratic-controlled House and Senate and outlining his administration's priorities for the year.

"Our economy is booming, our unemployment rate is below 3% and we have more people working than at any time in our history," Baker said in a speech before the 200-member Legislature in the historic House chambers. "We also cut taxes for working families and delivered on a promise made to voters 20 years ago to reduce the income tax rate to 5%."

Baker ticked off a list of his accomplishments, from overhauling the state's criminal justice system and updating the education funding formula to tackling teen vaping and opioid addiction.

On the MBTA, Baker said the state has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the T's infrastructure and modernize its operations since the brutal winter of 2015 ground the transit system to a halt.

He said a new education law he signed last month will help schools serving high numbers of low-income students while benefiting districts across the state with updates to the existing school funding formula.

The law, which will provide $1.5 billion in new spending on the state's K-12 system, also requires school districts to develop three-year plans to close student achievement gaps.

"Dollars are important, especially in the communities that will benefit most from this infusion of resources," Baker said. "But they're not the only thing that has to change."

Baker cited the turnaround of Lawrence schools under then-superintendent and now Education Commissioner Jeff Riley as a model for educational reform.

"The new leadership, combined with gifted and talented programs, acceleration academies, parental outreach, applied learning opportunities, longer school days and early college programs helped students find their footing," he said. "And they blossomed."

Baker also highlighted his administration's success plugging budget gaps without raising state taxes.

"We've been able to do all of this by finding common ground, by refusing to engage in the partisan nonsense that consumes so much of our national politics and by putting the people of our Commonwealth first," he said.

Baker urged lawmakers to act on several pending bills dealing with a housing shortage, transportation, health care costs, climate change adaptation and other pressing topics.

"We know these are big, complicated issues, but we urge the Legislature to act as quickly as possible on these bills," he said.

Climate change will be a major focus of Baker's second term and Tuesday night he committed the state to a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 through the multi-state Transportation Climate Initiative to reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.

The state could generate up to $500 million a year for clean transportation programs from the sale of carbon allowances through the program, Baker said, though critics say the move will hurt consumers at the pumps. Baker said the state has to meet benchmarks to reduce vehicle emissions to comply with the Global Warming Solutions Act, a federal law the state signed onto years ago.

"Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation have been on the rise for decades and now represent 40% of this state's total emissions," he said. "Unless we take on transportation, we won't meet our objectives."

Baker remains extremely popular one year into his second term in office with his second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Karen Polito, a Shrewsbury Republican.

While he has been critical of Republican President Donald Trump's policies, he has largely avoided debate on divisive national issues such as abortion rights and illegal immigration.

Polls have consistently shown him the most admired governor in the country, leading pundits to suggest he would be well positioned to seek an unprecedented third-term.

In Tuesday's address, Baker praised as Pete Frates, the former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig's disease helped spread the ALS ice bucket challenge, and members of his family who "turned a terrible twist of fate into an opportunity to change the world."

"Day after day after day, as Pete descended into the grip of ALS, he and his family fought the disease and raised awareness and hundreds of millions of dollars, changing the game forever for all those impacted by ALS," Baker said, acknowledging Frate's sister, Jen, and brother Andrew, who were in the audience.

Baker didn't mention Trump by name but remarked that voters want elected leaders "to fix what doesn't work" not engage in "pointless bickering" or "sloganeering and cheap shots."

"People who deal with much greater troubles than ours will rightly question us if we waste our time, and theirs, on the politics of personal destruction," Baker told the gathering. "They want us to be better than the yelling they see on TV and across social media."

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group's newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhi.com.

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