Senate President Spilka's Remarks at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Forum

As prepared for delivery

April 22, 2024

Good morning, thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.

I’d like to especially thank Jim Rooney, Chris Eicher, Casey Bains, Danielle Dorey, Angelica Medina, and Bishnu Ghimire for your terrific work on putting this event together. I’d also like to thank the Chamber for your partnership on so many important issues, including, but not limited to, tax relief, federal immigration reform, childcare reform, and addressing affordability and competitiveness.

I’d also like to take a moment to recognize my Senate colleagues who are with us this morning: Assistant Senate Majority Leaders Mike Barrett and Sal DiDomenico, Majority Whip Mike Rush, Senate Ways & Means Chair Mike Rodrigues, Vice Chair Cindy Friedman, Assistant Vice Chair Jo Comerford, and Senators Brendan Crighton, John Cronin, Jamie Eldridge, Pavel Payano, and Paul Feeney.

I started this two-year legislative session stating that, despite all the challenges we have faced post-covid, I am filled with hope—but that hope cannot exist without opportunity. As we head into the final months of our two-year session, I would also add that hope cannot exist without action. That’s why I’m proud that the senate has kept a laser focus on tackling the issues of affordability, competitiveness and equity this session—and why we are not taking our foot off the pedal now.

Last year I stood before you and laid out a unique vision of competitiveness that focused on shoring up the middle class, to keep our young people from leaving the state because of high costs, a topic the chamber recently explored with your survey of young residents. While costs continue to be high, the Senate has only strengthened our resolve to deliver solutions.

Whether it’s through our tax relief package, our commitment to quality education at every level, our efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs, or our approaches to housing, transportation and sustainability, we have taken action—and we will continue to do so. 

As we all know, our financial picture is starting to get complicated. The Commonwealth is in a different place financially than we were a year ago, that’s true. And our responsibility to care for the migrants who have sought refuge in Massachusetts is one we should not have to bear alone. But without a comprehensive, national immigration reform bill, we are left to manage it as best we can. The Senate is committed to housing people with dignity and respect, while also keeping our own fiscal house in order. We must continue to do both, while advocating for the federal solution we desperately need.

Now, some would say that because of the challenges we face as a Commonwealth, we have to scale back our ambition to tackle some of our most persistent challenges. But I would argue that now is not the time to pull back on the critical investments that have been—and will continue to be—beacons of hope and opportunity for our residents. Because Massachusetts cannot thrive without a well-educated, well-trained workforce. And those workers cannot thrive without sustainable, family-supporting jobs, the ability to afford a house, pay for childcare, and have access to the incredible health care and other quality of life benefits we have here. We are all pieces of the puzzle that make the Commonwealth successful, and I am honored to have the privilege to work on behalf of our residents and businesses—in partnership with you—to help piece that puzzle together.  

I have often spoken about how proud I am of the commitment to K-12 education we made with the passage of the Student Opportunity Act. But it is also clear that one “Act” is not going to be enough to ensure our economic competitiveness. We need more than just one “Opportunity Act”—we need an “Opportunity Plan” that brings the same focus and commitment to education from cradle to career. And so, the Senate has brought that focus to early education and care and public higher education.

Providing our residents with more affordable and accessible higher education—whether it be college or workforce training—is essential to our future. Last year, we tore down an enormous barrier by making tuition equity the law in our budget. Unlocking the talent of thousands of students who have lived in Massachusetts for years but were ineligible for in-state tuition and scholarships because of their residency status.

But there are currently still too many barriers in place, and we must continue to knock them down. A recent article in the Boston Globe calls the cost of college a calamity for those in the middle. That’s why the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget included an unprecedented increase in funding for scholarships and financial aid for all levels of public higher education.

Now, with state and federal support, all Massachusetts residents with lower incomes who are eligible for federal Pell grants can go to community college, a state university, or our UMass system with tuition and fees paid for by the state with federal assistance – this is huge. Further, recognizing the unique role community colleges serve, we included free community college for students 25 and older—and to students of every age pursuing nursing degrees. Our efforts are already seeing results. According to data released in late 2023, the number of students studying at community college increased this fall—resulting in the first undergraduate enrollment increase at Massachusetts public colleges and universities in a decade.

But we are still facing headwinds. Families of high school seniors are struggling with the new federal financial aid, or FAFSA, application process—leading many to not apply to college altogether. In fact, financial aid experts have been warning that whenever you throw up any type of a barrier to college access, a permanent drop-off in the number of applications follows. Which leads me to the Senate’s proposal for universal free community college.

Our goal of providing free community college to every resident has generated a lot of discussion—and I welcome that dialogue. But the fact remains that, if we want a generation of students to benefit from the terrific programs at our many community colleges across the state, we must remove as many barriers to entry as possible. Free is a lot easier to understand than: it will be free for you if have the time, support of adults, and language capabilities needed to fill out these many complicated forms.

We have also heard concerns that wealthy students will choose free community college regardless of their other choices, thereby canceling out the equity we are trying to achieve with this initiative. But the numbers just don’t bear this out—currently, less than a quarter of community college students in Massachusetts have incomes above $120,000. And we expect that community colleges will continue to be the gateway to higher education and new opportunities for students who otherwise don’t see college in their future.

Not making community college free and easily accessible because of fears that someone who could afford it may take advantage of it is effectively slamming shut the doors of opportunity for too many people, and hindering our efforts to train the next generation of health care workers, personal care attendants, lab technicians, clean tech workers, early educators and others—the very workforce that we are in such desperate need of right now.

So, the Senate will deliver on our promise of free community college for all in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, including tuition and fees, plus the cost of books and supplies. While creating a clear pathway for these students to transfer to public four-year colleges and universities if they desire. I’d like to particularly thank Higher Education Senate Chair Jo Comerford, the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges, and the Department of Higher Education for their hard work and partnership on this important issue.

By partnering with businesses—community colleges provide the kind of hands-on, real-world training that creates the workforce we so desperately need. For example, at Middlesex Community College, the biotech learn & earn program provides students the opportunity to earn a living wage at a full-time job with partner companies such as Pfizer and AbbVie. These students can earn up to $30 an hour, are mentored by leaders in the company and are often hired by the companies as full-time employees with benefits when they complete the program. And at Mass Bay Community College in my district, automotive technology students are trained specifically in either Toyota, GM, BMW, Or Chrysler – and 97% are employed after graduation.

The Senate is committed to giving students the tools they need, through the Student Opportunity Act, free community college for all and support for our public universities and UMass system. But we also know that if we wait to focus on our kids until kindergarten, it’s already too late. 

That’s why the Senate—thanks to the leadership of Education Chair Jason Lewis—has reaffirmed its commitment to quality early education and care with the passage of the early ed act in March—a bill that takes transformative steps to improve the affordability and sustainability of childcare programs. I see this as both an education and a workforce bill. When it comes to education, the benefits of quality early education and care are well documented for children aged 0 to 5 years. As for workforce, this bill addresses two key pain points: the low wages of early educators and childcare workers—and the availability and affordability of childcare for parents and caregivers who either need to work or want to work.

And research by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, highlighted by this Chamber, found that one in ten parents decline new opportunities at their workplace due to childcare needs, which translates to more than three billion dollars in foregone wages. For early educators, our bill establishes a career ladder that will help increase salaries in this historically underpaid field, which is made up of a majority of women. It would also make scholarship and loan forgiveness programs for early educators permanent, as well as direct the state to explore more innovative ways to develop this crucial workforce. To address accessibility and affordability, it makes the state’s C3 grants permanent. These grants, which were originally paid for by the federal government during the pandemic, provide monthly payments to more than 92 per cent of early education and care programs across the Commonwealth.

They have also become a national model thanks to their success at keeping centers’ doors open during the pandemic, preventing drastic tuition increases, providing higher compensation for early educators, and expanding the number of childcare seats available. I am very pleased to see both the governor and house have included funding for this program in their budgets. As the branch that first proposed making this program permanent, I think it is safe to say the Senate will include full funding in its budget to be released in early May—thank you Senator Rodrigues.

Today, I’m also excited to talk about the innovative public-private matching grant pilot program—developed with input from business leaders—that will incentivize employers to invest in new early education and care seats. This pilot, which is modeled on a wildly successful program in Iowa, would offer grants to private companies willing to create their own childcare seats. Under this program, any business that submits a plan for investing 50 per cent of the costs associated with creating new childcare seats would be eligible to receive a matching grant from the state to cover the remaining 50 per cent of the costs. This pilot program, which we included in our bill and will fund in our upcoming budget, is equitable by design, and parameters are in place to help guarantee good paying jobs and support families with lower incomes. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – we cannot tackle our childcare challenges alone. We know this issue is a priority for so many of you, and we look forward to working with you to make it a model for public private partnership.

I’d like to now talk about another important “opportunity to provide opportunity” this session. One that probably doesn’t get talked about very often in rooms like this one, but which absolutely needs to be part of the conversation as we talk about “hope” and developing a strong workforce for our future, and that is the issue of 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.

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 and live for. 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.

That’s why—together with Senate Majority Leader Cindy Creem, Senate Committee on Juvenile and Emerging Adult Justice Chair Brendan Crighton, and advocates across the Commonwealth—including the Celtics—we are fighting to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction. Hopefully you have seen by now the Raise the Age t-shirts that the Celtics have been wearing, as they have made this their priority social justice issue this season.

I am pleased to say that we have been joined by Allison Feaster, Dave Hoffman and James Parker of the Celtics this morning, as well as Leon Smith and Sana Fadel from Citizens for Juvenile Justice—a few of the many voices who are advocating for this important change. 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.

And Massachusetts will never reach its full economic potential without ensuring that we engage everyone in opportunities to learn, work and succeed. It is time to build on this movement and follow the body of supporting evidence. It’s time to Raise the Age. And so, I am asking you—if this issue is unfamiliar to you, and you have questions, please reach out to my office, or to Senate Majority Leader Creem or Chair Crighton, to learn more and join our efforts to get this passed this session—for justice, for opportunity, for hope.

The Senate’s commitment to affordability, competitiveness and equity extends to more than education. Under the leadership of Senator Cindy Friedman, we have passed legislation that would lower the prices of prescription drugs through the PACT Act. We have taken steps to understand the effects of private equity in healthcare in order to learn how important it is to keep up with the changing healthcare marketplace and—we hope—prevent another situation like the Steward crisis.

We are also looking at possibly changing or expanding the role of the Health Policy Commission—or HPC—as it has been more than a decade since we have done so. As for housing, we included the MBTA Communities provision in the housing choice bill last session. In our tax package, we successfully increased the cap on the rental deduction, doubled the senior circuit breaker tax credit, increased tax credits for low-income and market-rate housing. And we are carefully considering the policies we may include in our version of the Housing Bond Bill.

When it comes to transportation, we continue to prioritize policies and funding that promote emissions-free travel. Emissions-free and public transportation are just two ways to help combat our ongoing climate crisis, which the Senate plans to address in earnest through a comprehensive climate bill before this session ends under the leadership of Senator Barrett and Leader Creem. Climate change is an area that will need our creativity—and where partnerships with the business community will be especially important. I’m excited about the incredible work being done here in Massachusetts. As we work to build a sustainable clean energy future, we will need all hands-on deck—and we welcome your partnership on this issue as well.

As we near the end of this legislative session, we have a lot to do. We must take action now to buffer our state and our residents from future financial uncertainty, continuing high costs, and the changing nature of work, here and worldwide.

We can best do this by focusing on our fundamentals: our people, our education system from cradle to career, and by putting our innovation economy to work to tackle the biggest challenges of our time. Massachusetts is well poised to continue to succeed and lead well into the future if we do so. And I look forward to your partnership.

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