Healey: Bay State safe from DC chaos
Attorney General Maura Healey laid out her priorities for her second term in her inaugural address, painting Massachusetts as a safe haven from Washington, D.C.
“I understand why some are losing faith in our government and our politics, why people worry that government just isn’t there for them. To them I say, we’ll stand for something better,” Healey said. “No matter what happens in Washington, we’ll continue to lead.”
Healey laid out her vision for her next four years, including continuing to combat the opioid crisis and gun violence, as well as prioritizing the environment and education.
To address the opioid crisis, Healey promised to protect the Affordable Care Act and make mental health treatment more accessible.
“This is no time to throw our insurance markets into chaos, make it harder to access treatment or take away care from millions of Americans,” Healey said. “It shouldn’t be easier to see a doctor for a broken arm than it is to see one for substance use or any mental health condition.”
Healey noted that Massachusetts was the first state to sue not just Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, but its executives and owners last year. She vowed to hold opioid makers accountable “for the role they played in creating this crisis.”
“We’ll do whatever it takes to hold this company accountable and get the justice our families deserve,” she said.
On gun violence, Healey promised to work with Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization that offers gun violence prevention programs, to train 140,000 young people how to “stay safe and ask for help before it’s too late.”
“Over the last four years, we worked and cried with too many parents who’ve had to experience the unimaginable,” Healey said. “We must continue to lead on gun violence.”
Healey set a goal to meet “our electric power needs with renewable energy” by 2050, and half or more by 2030.
She said, “Our climate is changing,” even though the federal government calls it a “hoax.” Healey called for a statewide comprehensive plan for electric vehicles to make them an option for everyone and to adopt a regional cap-and-invest system.
The attorney general also promised to support the efforts on Beacon Hill to address the school funding formula, which hasn’t been changed since 1993.
She touted her accomplishments in her first four years, including the Narcan Fund created with the Legislature, prosecuting fraud and corruption, taking down drug cartels and human traffickers, and ending family separation at the border.