Healey puts affordability front and center during State of the Commonwealth address

Gov. Maura Healey hammered home two points during her State of the Commonwealth address Thursday night: lowering costs for residents and lowering the rhetorical boom on President Trump.

"In this moment, my job as governor is to provide what this federal government hasn’t: stability, security. And how about a little common sense?" she told a joint session of the State Legislature.

Affordability was the centerpiece of her speech, with Healey at one point saying that lowering the cost of living should be the focus of "every elected official in America."

"The reality is that these are tough times. People are feeling it," she said. "Everything is more expensive. Groceries, a cup of coffee, the new coat or boots you want, or the water heater you need. Sports fees for your kids, dinner out once in a while. It’s all harder now."

To that end, she made several proposals aimed at slowing the evacuation of Bay State wallets, taking shots at Trump along the way.

"While the president is raising costs on everything with tariffs? We cut taxes for middle class families, made community college cost-free, and made school meals free for every student," she said. "We’re focused every day on lowering the costs of housing, energy and health care."

Read the full text of the 2026 State of the Commonwealth address

On housing, Healey said the state is on track to build 220,000 new homes by 2035. She said that includes converting public property into housing, and allowing homeowners to add additional living space to their houses by right.

"You can take your garage, or extra space in your backyard, and go ahead and build a place for your parents or your kid who just graduated," she said. "They’re called Accessory Dwelling Units. And if you go online, you’ll be able to get low-cost financing and download free designs for the project that works for you."

Healey said she'll work to expand a program that helps secure $25,000 for people trying to secure a down payment for a new home, and another to help drive down mortgage interest rates.

She also presented a plan she floated Thursday morning to lower energy bills in February and March through a combination of direct aid and rebates customers will repay in warmer months. The governor also pointed to a new connection to hydropower generated in Quebec, which last week went online, bringing clean energy to the state. The new service will lower power bills in the state by $50 million, she said.

To combat skyrocketing costs and long delays in getting proper health care, Healey said she's already taken action to remove prior authorization for many treatments. She also said she'll push for a law to ban providers from reporting medical debt to credit agencies.

"It’s bad enough to get a huge bill, when you’re dealing with an illness," she said. "It shouldn’t wreck your credit too, so we’re not going to let that happen."

The theme on affordability trickled down to gym and streaming subscriptions. Healey said she would push to simplify canceling services people no longer want or need.

"I say canceling a subscription should be just as easy as signing up for it. Let’s make that a law in Massachusetts," she said, noting that Attorney General Andrea Campbell "has done great work on the regulations, we’re going to build on that."

Healey pinned some, but not all, of the blame for higher costs on Trump, who she said throws tantrums "like a two-year-old."

"And I’m sorry to all the two-year-olds out there," she said. "He’s driving prices up with his tariffs. He’s cutting trillions of dollars out of health care. And Congress can’t seem to do anything. Meanwhile, seniors have to worry about food and heat getting cut off. Veterans have their services cut. LGBT families are worried about their kids being targeted or losing their rights."

Healey also pushed back on the Trump administration's use of masked federal agents to corner and arrest people for potential deportation. She cited several cases in Massachusetts where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested people who were not hardened criminals.

"Here in Massachusetts, we’ve seen a high school student arrested on his way to volleyball practice. A college student on the way home for Thanksgiving, deported to Honduras where she hadn’t been since she was a child," she said. "Children being used as bait to lure their parents out of their homes. Now we have parents afraid to send their kids to school or to go to church or see their doctor."

Citing her prior years as the state's attorney general, she said "None of this makes us safer."

"But I have a message tonight: This is Massachusetts. We don’t back down. We look out for each other. We stand for what we believe, and we will not change who we are —  ever," she said, expanding from discussion of immigration to other steps the state has taken to counteract actions by the Trump administration, from vaccines to SNAP benefits to counteracting the cost of tariffs on everyday goods.

"That is what we did, because this is who we are," she said. "250 years ago, we started a Revolution. Today, while some turn their backs on liberty, Massachusetts stays free. In the face of efforts to divide us, Massachusetts stands united. And because we stay true to who we are, the state of our commonwealth is strong."

Senate President Karen Spilka said she was "pleased" to hear the governor's pledge to offer more restrictions on social media, saying the tech companies were built to "exploit insecurities" especially among teens. Healey proposed new legislation to require the companies verify user ages and gain parental consent for younger users.

"It really hones in on protecting children, which is what we have been focusing on in the Massachusetts Senate," the Ashland Democrat said.

House Speaker Ron Mariano, who missed the speech due to illness, released a statement in support of Healey's vision for the state.

"The House will continue to work with Governor Healey to cut costs for residents, and to ensure that despite the damage being done at the federal level, Massachusetts will continue to serve as a driving force behind solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.” he said.

Her would-be Republican gubernatorial challengers in November each released statements lambasting the speech.

Former MBTA administrator Brian Shortsleeve panned the speech hours before Healey delivered it, declaring it a"fantasyland State of the Commonwealth address."

"The truth is that under Maura Healey, Massachusetts is the most expensive state in the nation to raise a family. The truth is that Maura Healey has increased state spending by billions of dollars, and our people pay more, more, more. The truth is that we pay the second highest electricity costs in the country, second only to Hawaii," he said.

Writing on Facebook, Republican candidate Mike Kennealey counted the time it took for Healey to criticize Trump, saying "we need results. Not excuses."

"It only took 8 minutes and 22 seconds into Maura Healey's State of the Commonwealth Address to blame President Trump for everything going poorly in Massachusetts since she was elected, including the first two years where he wasn’t even President," he wrote.

Republican candidate and former Abiomed CEO Mike Minogue clapped back at Healey, whom he said use the speech to tell people "everything is fine."

"Has the audit that we voted for been done? Is it easier to live here than it was three years ago? Are your bills lower? No," he said. "She had three years to solve the problems, but instead she blames others and campaigns on the problems."

Chris Van Buskirk contributed to this report.