BOSTON — Lamenting an outmigration of residents, weakening state tax collections and a surge of new arrivals acutely straining state resources, a Republican senator on Wednesday outlined a bleak synopsis of the past 12 months in Massachusetts, offering up an election year speech timed to represent an alternative to Gov. Maura Healey’s State of the Commonwealth address.
Sen. Peter Durant, speaking on behalf of the Massachusetts Republican Party, called on the state to revise its right-to-shelter law as the at-capacity emergency shelter system buckles under the burden of thousands of migrant families seeking refuge here. The costly ripple effects on state programs and benefits are harming Bay Staters, Durant said in his speech.
“The Right to Shelter law is being exploited, and you are bearing the economic burden. We must work together to amend the Right to Shelter law to carry out the mission it was intended to 40 years ago when it was written: To serve residents of the Commonwealth with emergency housing when they find themselves in distress,” Durant said, according to remarks shared by the MassGOP. “Without action, our State will continue to be a magnet for an influx of migrants, with far reaching consequences that will impact you and future generations.”
Durant’s remarks, scheduled for delivery at the Omni Parker House Wednesday night, were billed as the Massachusetts GOP’s “official” response to Gov. Maura Healey’s State of the Commonwealth address. It represented a new approach from the party, which has been unable to gain much traction in recent years in legislative or statewide elections across Massachusetts.
Durant, who last year captured a Senate seat that had been held by a Democrat, also called for education reform, expanded investments in vocational education, a streamlined process to build new housing, increased use of natural gas to contain costs during the state’s clean energy push, and strategies to ease burdens on middle-income residents who are forced to leave Massachusetts due affordability woes.
Faced with six months of revenue collections falling short of expectations, Healey last week announced $375 million in budget cuts.
As Durant put it Wednesday, “As we have heard over the past six months, revenue in the state is falling off a cliff and it’s not that hard to see why.”
“When we replace 50,000 net tax-PAYERS with tax-TAKERS the result is predictable,” Durant said of the state’s outmigration over the past year. “And while some may demonize a statement like that, it doesn’t make it false. The old adage is that we are near the point where there are more people IN the cart than pulling it. We are seeing the disastrous consequences happening in slow motion.”
The budget cuts have damaged relationships between the administration and municipalities, Durant said, and sown distrust among local officials.
The Spencer Republican in the fall flipped the Senate seat vacated by Democrat Anne Gobi. A former representative, Durant has been one of the Legislature’s most vocal opponents against Massachusetts’s right-to-shelter law. He wants to install tighter eligibility requirements into the law, which is designed to support vulnerable families, including pregnant women and those with young children.
The Healey administration expects emergency shelter costs will total nearly $1 billion this fiscal year and the next fiscal year, a price tag that’s also sparked concern from Democrat House Speaker Ron Mariano.
“As a result of our federal government not properly securing the borders, and our state legislature’s lack of action to amend this law, tens of thousands of migrants are being housed in hotels and office buildings across the Commonwealth, and we see more arrive every day,” Durant said. “Immediately upon arrival, a vast array of services open up to those who have entered the state, some at the displacement of our own residents. The benefits include free housing, medical care, education, financial aid and in-state tuition at our public universities, EBT cards, SNAP benefits, and other cash benefits including first time home buyers’ assistance providing $30,000 cash through the Home Base program become instantly available to those who have never paid into the system.”
The Healey administration has emphasized that all migrants housed in state-run shelters and receiving state assistance are here legally.
In her address, Healey stressed that Massachusetts didn’t create the migrant problem, and touted the work state officials are undertaking to help migrants secure work authorization permits.
“I’m proud of the way Massachusetts stepped up with compassion — and solutions — for the influx of migrants that is testing states across this country,” Healey said, according to her prepared remarks. The governor added, “We will continue to demand Congress take action to fix the border and get us funding to cover our costs.”
As the MassGOP’s envoy, Durant pushed for bipartisan, pragmatic solutions that the party sees as crucial for getting Massachusetts back on track, achieving Healey’s goals, and boosting the state’s competitiveness, a major focal point for the administration.
Durant said Massachusetts must “get back to the basics and engage our students with a proven curriculum” with its educational system as he referenced MCAS data from last spring, which showed less than half of third graders were reading proficiently. Without offering specific examples, Durant urged officials to not “pile on new concepts before children are prepared to learn them.”
Healey, citing the same MCAS data, announced a five-year initiative to improve student literacy.
“Every child in this state needs to be able to read and read well — and we’re going to give them the tools to do just that,” she said.
Echoing housing policy proposals from Healey and other Democrats, Durant said public-private partnerships are needed to revitalize old mills, and other unused or underutilized buildings.
But contradicting the administration and clean energy advocates, Durant urged Healey to take advantage of natural gas as the state pursues decarbonization efforts.
While Durant said Democrat leaders are relying on solar and wind alternatives, he claimed those energy sources cannot deliver sufficient electricity and are raising costs. Those affordability challenges are contributing to an exodus of manufacturers, said Durant, who noted his electricity bill is climbing by more than 50 percent next month.
“We have abundant reserves of natural gas just 300 miles away. It’s imperative we increase pipeline capacity in the state so we don’t have to ship our gas supply thousands of miles from Trinidad,” Durant said. “Accelerate our efforts to get clean, renewable hydro power from Quebec, and develop plans to add capacity through nuclear energy.”
Lawmakers and Healey in November approved a law allowing Avangrid to renegotiate contracts with energy distribution companies for parts of a transmission project linking hydroelectric power generated in Quebec to the regional grid. The project, which could be a future source of clean energy for Massachusetts, was previously scrambled by Maine voters rejecting the hydropower transmission line and delays before a legal resolution. Offshore wind power companies this month are also rewriting bids for possible major projects here.