Eagerly appearing to kick off House Budget Week is Senate President Karen Spilka, who has several notable announcements scheduled for Monday morning's speech at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Forum.
Spilka will outline a plan to make community college free for all students, his office said. She hypothesizes that this measure could help strengthen the state's workforce and train the next generation of young people to stay in Massachusetts. It's a timely topic given headline after headline pointing to the state's reported labor shortage and increasingly unsustainable cost of living.
The expensive plan (one report estimates that making community college tuition-free for everyone would cost the state about $170 million a year), according to Spilka's office, It will be included in her House of Commons' annual budget, which is expected to be released next month. The early promise quickly becomes a predictable hurdle in future House and Senate budget negotiations, as the House budget scheduled to be considered this week does not include universal free community college.
Spilka also plans to announce a new public-private partnership proposal to install more car seats across the state, targeting communities that have long been a priority for her. Spilka's office said the program will provide employers with matching funds of up to 50 percent of the price of a new car seat. Exactly how many seats could be included and how much the program would cost will wait for Spilka to fill later Monday.
On the third point, Spilka's office said the Ashland Democratic Party will “strongly” advocate for the “raise the age” bill. The bill would gradually expand juvenile jurisdiction to include young people between the ages of 18 and 20. Spilka has said this before. The bill is one of her priorities, and criminal justice advocates have long pushed for its passage.
Her appearance at the House event comes two days before the House begins considering the 2025 budget and weeks before the Senate releases and advances its own budget.
Mr. Spilka's first two ideas, in particular, are likely to come with significant costs at a time when revenues are stagnant and members of Congress are calling for fiscal responsibility. That begs another question: Is the Senate preparing to propose a budget that would bring in more revenue than the House, or even Gov. Maura Healey's spending plan? If not, what are Senate Democrats looking to cut to free up resources?
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