Senate President Spilka's 2025 Inaugural Address

Remarks of Senate President Karen E. Spilka

Swearing In of the 194th Massachusetts Senate

January 1, 2025

Thank you, Senator DiDomenico, for your kind words and for the countless hours you have dedicated to helping the residents of your district and the Commonwealth – your work to uplift the most vulnerable among us, especially children, is outstanding, and the Senate is truly lucky to have you on our team.

Thank you to Senator Edwards, for your kind words as well - your service to this body and to our country is invaluable, and I look forward to continuing to work with you on behalf of the residents of your district and the Commonwealth.

I’d also like to thank my friend and colleague, the Minority Leader, Bruce Tarr for all your work on behalf of this great state and, most importantly, your thoughtful partnership and friendship.

I’d also like to thank my cousin, Rabbi Joseph Meszler, for his beautiful convocation this morning. Years ago, I told the story of my grandfather, Joseph Goldstein, who escaped political and religious violence in Russia to come to America – where his family was able to thrive and write our own American story. Rabbi Meszler is named after my grandfather, a living reminder of the sacrifice he made to create safety and possibility for our family in this great country.

I’d like to welcome the dignitaries and guests joining us today, and congratulate our newest members, Senators Driscoll, Fernandes, and Dooner. We all look forward to you bringing your experience and unique perspectives to our work here. And, of course, I would like to thank the Clerk and his team, Senate Counsel and his team, our court officers and the entire staff of the Senate for your dedication to this body

And thank you, the members, for your service

Standing before you today – on the very first day of a New Year and the very first day of a new legislative session - our 194th General Court. I can’t help but be humbled at all we have accomplished together during my time as Senate President.

When I stood before you after first being elected President in 2018, I spoke about the importance of ensuring fairness in education funding. And I’m proud to say that the Student Opportunity Act was signed into law in 2019, and we have upheld our commitment to fully fund it ever since.

That day in 2018, I also told the story of my father, a World War II veteran who helped liberate the camps at Buchenwald, and the toll his untreated mental illness took on our family. And I’m proud to say that our landmark, first-in-the-nation comprehensive mental health care reform bill, which puts behavioral health treatment on par with physical health treatment, was signed into law in 2022.

I also spoke about the importance of listening to residents like El, my constituent, about acknowledging people for who they are on government documents. And I’m proud to say that, as of July 2024, you can now designate “X” as well as “M” or “F” for gender on a birth certificate or an application for a driver’s license, learner’s permit or identification card.

In 2023, I laid out a vision for a Student Opportunity Plan, to ensure that every Massachusetts resident had access to educational opportunities from cradle to career. And I am beyond proud to say that we made community college free for all through MassEducate, and significantly reformed early education and care to increase access and affordability while paying early educators more. Also last session, I said that “the third time’s a charm” for finally lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and I’m proud to say that a bill to do just that has been sent to the Governor this week, along with important market reforms to our health care system.

In fact, just this week, the Senate wrapped up what I consider to be a historically productive legislative session, which consistently delivered on our promise to make the Commonwealth more affordable, competitive and equitable. When it comes to affordability, not only did we lower the cost of medications, we made community college free; provided breakfast and lunch to every K-12 student in our public schools, saving families $1200 per child per year; put reforms in place to start lowering the cost of child care, created a framework to bring the high cost of housing down; made bus service free; funded low-income MBTA fares; and passed the most comprehensive tax relief package in a generation, which doubled the senior circuit breaker tax credit, increased the earned income credit for working families, and provided the largest universal child tax credit in the country.

To make Massachusetts more competitive, we made significant investments in life sciences, climate tech, AI and cybersecurity, clean energy and small businesses; expanded educational opportunities for all of our residents; raised the salaries of early educators; and addressed systemic health care challenges to help keep costs for businesses and municipalities down; all while staying true to the values we hold dear here.

And in our continued work toward equity, we passed tuition equity; strengthened access to physical and mental health care for pregnant people and new parents; extended the full rights of parentage to LGBTQ+ families and families created via assisted reproduction; opened up economic opportunity for business owners by creating new liquor licenses in the City of Boston; and enshrined protections for LGBTQ+ veterans and those living in long-term care facilities.

We also made important changes to our long-term care and assisted living sectors, passed a wide-ranging climate bill that will allow us to power up our clean energy future, and increased benefits and modernized services and recognition for our veterans and their families.

And these are just some the initiatives that made it to the Governor’s desk. I could go on and on about the work that we have accomplished, but I’m sure you’d all like to have dinner with your families tonight!

There is something I would like to say, however, about how all of this good work was done — and that’s by all of us working together. As Helen Keller once said, "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." Or, if you prefer a sports analogy, look to the words of Michael Jordan: "Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships."

As we think about the work ahead of us this session, the people of Massachusetts will be looking to us to champion issues important to them, collaborate to find solutions, and compromise to put those solutions into practice. I can’t think of anything more important, especially now.

It is clear from the results of the last national election that people are hurting. They are being squeezed by economic realities that feel beyond their control, and they have lost trust in so many of our institutions – including the people they elect to represent them.

But, here in Massachusetts, we will not give in to despair—or amplify the chaos we see at the national level. We will continue to focus on our fundamentals – access to quality education at every level, a commitment to innovation, and our responsibility to expand access to justice and uphold civil rights – while fighting to lower costs and increase opportunities for every single resident.

Because, what worries me most about attention-seeking politicians is not only the damage they will do to our institutions – although that is a grave concern. It is also that the chaos, attention seeking, disregard for the Constitution and constant sowing of division will take our attention off the important work of fighting for our residents. Because, at the end of the day – or the end of a legislative session – what is left is the work. And, for me, the work is the fight.

The fight for lower costs, more affordable homes, an economy that works for everyone, and a belief that Massachusetts can safely be called home by everyone who wants to live, work, raise a family and start a business here.

Right now, we are at an inflection point – both as a country and as a Commonwealth. It is a critical time for us to prove to people that government is, in fact, working for them. And that we really are working together as a team.

So, this session, I’m taking the words of one of my personal heroes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to heart. She said, “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” That is our challenge this session—to partner with the people we serve, to build that Commonwealth that works for everyone.

To that end, I propose that the Senate engage in a statewide listening tour. Our media landscape is fractured and distorted by algorithms designed to deliver profit to powerful companies. And so, to ensure that we are focusing on what’s vital while delivering news about the work we are doing, we must engage directly with those important to us – our constituents. I’m proud to say we have a lot of good news to share. But we also have significant work ahead of us - and so I’d like to dig into both.

When I think back to the day that we announced the MassEducate program last May, I remember distinctly the words of one of the students who joined us that day. Jose Cervantes – who was just two years old when he came to Massachusetts – lives in Lowell and has worked as a mason for two decades while supporting his daughter Charlie. Jose and Charlie are our guests today in the Chamber.

Thank you for joining us, we are proud of both of you, you represent the best of Massachusetts.

When he was asked to participate in the MassEducate launch event, Jose worked late the night before so he could be there without taking a hit to his paycheck. That’s how important he felt it was to spread the word about free community college – a resource he looks forward to passing on to Charlie when she is ready. Speaking about his time at Northern Essex Community College, he said, “The word community in community college is so underrated, because when you walk in there, that’s what it feels like.”

I can’t think of a better way to explain how absolutely vital these institutions are to creating community while promoting positive economic outcomes – both for the students they serve and the state. As Jonathan K. Jefferson, the President of Roxbury Community College said, MassEducate “sets a firm foundation for ensuring that all residents can aspire to economic growth.” That’s why we will continue to support MassEducate as well as the wraparound services our SUCCESS programs provide, and continue to work with our community colleges to ensure that faculty and staff have the resources and support they require.

We will also continue our commitment to our state universities and our UMass system – to ensure they can support the students who may choose a four-year degree after completing community college, while continuing to be a wonderful option for traditional four-year students.

Because of this Chamber’s vision and persistence, right now, all Pell-eligible residents are able to go to our four-year colleges tuition and fee free, and families with incomes under one hundred thousand dollars have those costs cut in half. This is an incredible commitment to public higher education, but we can’t stop now. This session we must go further to help make college more affordable for more middle- and lower-income Massachusetts families.

At the K-12 level we have maintained our commitment to the Student Opportunity Act, providing record levels of funding to our public schools. But it has been some time since we closely examined some aspects of K-12 funding and policy, and so I hope to tackle that this session.

And, I’d also like for the Senate to turn its spotlight on Career and Technical Education – to celebrate its achievements and learn what it can teach us about putting high school students on a path towards lifelong success. Research has shown that students that participate in Career and Tech Ed have the potential to reach higher earnings after graduation in fields such as construction – and even have better degree completion rates in fields like healthcare if they do go to college.

In a Commonwealth where we need all hands on deck in fields like clean energy, life sciences, animal care, hospitality and health care, we need Career and Tech Ed more than ever, and that is why, when it comes time for us to spend from our one-time Fair Share infrastructure fund, I am challenging us to commit more than $100M toward expanding Career and Tech Ed capacity.

Finally, we cannot speak about our educational success without focusing on the crucial ages of birth through five years old—those children served by our early education and care providers. Last session, we invested an historic $1.5 billion in this sector, but there is still work to be done. The Senate will maintain its commitment to shoring up our early ed and care system through investments and continued policy reforms, because wouldn’t it be great if we could get to the eventual goal of ensuring that all parents and caregivers pay no more than seven per cent of their salary for care?

Increasing educational opportunities at every level will be the single most important thing we continue do to fight for a Commonwealth that opens doors of opportunity while keeping costs down, and I thank you all for your continued commitment to this cause.

Another area where the Senate continues to show leadership is in increasing access to quality health care. The past few years have been difficult for patients and providers alike, with well documented failures caused by the introduction of private equity into our health care ecosystem, both here and throughout the country – and we are still trying to understand its full impact. “The Gilded Age of Medicine is Here,” declared a recent article by the New Yorker Magazine, with our own Steward Health meltdown used as the example to illustrate this point

While it is vital that we continue to study the impact of private equity, the market oversight law passed this week puts important guardrails in place to help prevent another crisis like Steward. Ultimately, just as healthcare should be a conversation between a patient and provider without government getting in the way, we should also be free from the influence of private companies as we make the decisions that are best for our health and well-being.

As a leader of healthcare reform for over 20 years, it’s time for Massachusetts to put the patient and provider back at the center of our healthcare ecosystem, and the Senate looks forward to taking action to make that happen by looking at comprehensive healthcare reform, including taking a close look at primary care delivery.

Finally, the Senate has championed lowering the cost of necessary medications for years, and I am proud to say that the recent bill sent to the Governor on prescription drugs will save thousands of dollars for residents, especially those living with chronic conditions. I guess a third time really was a charm!

As we move into the new session, we are mindful that two pain points continue to color the experiences of the people who call Massachusetts home: the high cost of housing and the problem of congestion, traffic and uneven access to reliable public transportation.

By working together, the Senate, House and Healey Administration made big strides towards addressing housing availability and affordability through the Affordable Homes Act. We have stood up for the MBTA Communities Act, unlocked the potential of accessory dwelling units, provided eviction protections, and increased state funding for market rate and affordable units. But residents are still considering cheaper states to live in as they wait for the results of that wide-ranging bill to become reality.

In the meantime, in the spirit of putting our ears to the ground and understanding the factors prohibiting our residents from finding housing they can afford, I will ask the Senate Housing Committee Chair and members to go out into our communities and speak with people and experts about our housing challenges, and report their findings back to me after one hundred days.

The Senate will also try again to shift the burden of brokers’ fees from renters, and look at other ways to cut unnecessary costs for renters and homeowners alike. When it comes to transportation, the Senate will continue to support the MBTA, the commuter rail, and RTAs across the state, so that residents can get out of their cars and into public transportation that is affordable and reliable, and we will continue to support building up our EV adoption so that we can reach our climate goals. Because, in Massachusetts, we can cut costs for residents while creating opportunities for a greener future.

Speaking of our future, there is one area where I feel strongly that we must create a brighter one

That’s why I am once again calling on the Senate and House to pass meaningful legislation to address raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction—or Raise the Age as it is most commonly called—to include the age of 18, or what is typically a student’s last year of high school. I’m proud of the progress we made last session in bringing awareness to this important issue, working together with the Celtics, Citizens for Juvenile Justice and other advocates and stakeholders. Everyone here knows how easy it is to make mistakes in our youth – we’ve all been there. Most kids will make a mistake—or ten—in their lifetimes. For many of us, those mistakes didn’t stop us from having the chance to fall in love, start and nurture a family, take out a loan for an education, buy a house or car, or develop a calling and a career that we love.

It is unjust that some young people—by virtue of geography, race, ethnicity or family background—will be robbed of opportunities to create a life full of meaning and happiness because of an early entanglement with the criminal legal system. Massachusetts will never reach its full economic potential without ensuring that we engage everyone in opportunities to learn, work and succeed, and we will never achieve racial equity in Massachusetts without addressing the systemic biases and injustices in our systems, including our criminal legal system—and giving our children a fair shot at life.

It is time once again to build on this movement and follow the large body of supporting evidence that keeping children and young adults away from incarceration provides better outcomes for all of us.

Today, I have barely scratched the surface of the many policy wins we accomplished last session, while laying out some of what more needs to be done, yet these accomplishments are consistently overshadowed by a persistent negative media narrative.

Contrary to what these news outlets may print, the Senate is in fact eager to have the public informed about the work we do—and to have public involvement. We broadcast all of our sessions – both formal and informal; hold hybrid public hearings; invite the public to learn more about the Legislature through our Citizens’ Legislative Seminars two times a year; use numerous channels to communicate about our work; and meet our constituents in our districts to hear from them on the issues they care about.

But in an age when local news has been obliterated, state and local stories get bypassed in favor of national ones, and the major outlets we have here in Massachusetts choose to report more on personalities than policy, we can understand how frustrating it can be to try to get a handle on what is happening at the State House.

That’s why the I am committing to a series of changes that will build upon the Senate’s commitment to an open and transparent process of legislating.

The Senate has long ensured that all votes of Senate committees are made public, but this session, I am committing to making all Senate votes in joint committees public as well, and I’m calling on our partners in the House to do the same.

In addition, our Senate rules require that Senate committees make testimony public, and I’m calling on us to make all testimony, either from Senate or Joint committees, public as well.

I am also committing today to posting all summaries of bills that come out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. While sometimes these summaries are dense, they include important information about the bills coming to the Senate floor for a vote.

In decades past anyone could walk into the Clerk’s office or the Senate Ways and Means office and get documents in hand. You can still do that today – but we must recognize that most people access information digitally now, and our digital offerings need to be easily accessible and digestible.

That’s why my team has worked with LIS to create a digital press room on the Senate website, and will continue to work with LIS and the Clerk’s office to enhance our digital presence.

I also propose formalizing what we did at the end of last session – which allowed us to complete vital work - and allow conference committee votes to continue thorough the full two-year session. The bills that emerge from conference committees contain provisions that have been vetted by one or both branches and have been reported upon – sometimes extensively.

And speaking of conference committees, I am going to ask negotiators on conference committees to work towards more openness in committee meetings, starting with working to ensure the first meeting is open.

And, finally, I propose that we move up the deadline for reporting bills out of committees from the second year to the first year of the session. Doing so will allow us to keep a steadier pace of vetting, debating and passing bills before the end of formal session gridlock.

When I look back on my years of Senate President, I am amazed at all we have accomplished together. Not only have we made concrete changes that will lower costs for residents while expanding opportunities for all of us.

We have increased representation in this Chamber through installing a portrait of Abigail Adams in our lobby, unveiling our new bust of Frederick Douglass, and – soon – through the selection of a woman to be represented in our Chamber by our Senate Art Committee.

We’ve done this, even with the disruption of a global pandemic – during which we showed the rest of America just how important effective, responsive, collaborative, reality-based bipartisan government can be.

This work isn’t easy, I know. But true leadership never is.

To quote a philanthropist and American legend, Dolly Parton, “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are an excellent leader.”

I’m excited to work with you to inspire the people of Massachusetts to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. And so, once again, I thank you for your vote, and for the trust you have again placed in me as your Senate President.

I encourage you to enjoy this day and celebrate your great achievement with your friends and family. And then let’s get to work – and let’s fight for the people of this great Commonwealth.

Thank you.