Baker agenda key to re-election bid
Unveils plan in State of the State address tonight
Gov. Charlie Baker is poised to unveil new plans aimed at transportation and climate change — while underlining his long-held vow against raising taxes — when he takes the House chamber’s rostrum tonight for his annual State of the State address.
The speech, with its usual interruptions for cheers and applause from the Democratdominated Legislature, gives Baker a key opportunity to lay out his agenda with a re-election fight looming in November.
Aides kept the exact contours of his speech under wraps yesterday, but said the Swampscott Republican will tout his good working relationship with Democratic lawmakers and hit on a recurring theme of contrasting Beacon Hill to dysfunction-plagued Washington, D.C.
Baker used his speech last year to distance himself from the toxic fray of the Beltway, without mentioning then newly inaugurated President Trump by name. With Democratic challengers still trying to tie him to national Republicans, he’s likely to do so again.
He also plans to roll out new “initiatives” aimed at transportation, though advisers did not specify if they’ll target the MBTA. The beleaguered transit agency is expected to be a long-running issue on the campaign trail, given Baker’s considerable focus on rehabbing its performance and image since the opening days of his first term.
Baker is also expected to push his new opioid legislation, which includes the controversial proposal that was first aired and rejected in 2015 to allow doctors to commit addicts involuntarily for 72 hours of treatment.
The speech will come a day before Baker unveils his fourth budget of his term. Asked if he expects it to be a “maintenance budget” given the uncertainty that’s clung to tax revenues in recent cycles, Baker said yesterday that it “builds on things we’ve done before” but also will offer new, undisclosed initiatives.
He has consistently opposed any new “broadbased” tax hikes and will have support from the House, where Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has also said lawmakers will avoid any new major tax increases in a spending plan that’s expected to exceed $40 billion.