Ella Adams
State House News Service
House Speaker Ron Mariano on Thursday urged proponents of an income tax cut ballot question to sit down with the House, while also railing against the Trump administration and calling on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to expand services to Weymouth to unlock 6,000 new homes.
Until his speech at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Forum Thursday morning, Mariano had not indicated that he would be open to compromising with proponents of an initiative petition that would cut the income tax from 5% to 4% over three years. Mariano has been publicly bashing the initiative petition process for months, as tensions have risen between lawmakers and reformers hungry for new laws.
"It’s my hope that the folks who are pushing this ballot question are willing to sit down with us and consider alternatives to their current approach," Mariano said, according to his prepared remarks. "If they believe, as we do, that the Commonwealth can tackle the issues of affordability and competitiveness in a fiscally responsible manner, the House is open and willing to work on solutions to those challenges, together."
The tax cut would slash state tax revenue, and Mariano said if the question passes in November "we will have no choice but to make significant budget cuts to services and programs that our residents rely on." He said school budgets, health care funding, infrastructure spending, the MBTA, support for cities and towns, and state investments in economic development could face reductions and repeated his claim that the question's approval by voters "could force the Legislature to consider the need for new sources of revenue."
Mariano acknowledged that "there's still a long way to go" to address the state's housing crisis in the wake of the 2024 housing production law. Massachusetts must build more than 200,000 homes by 2035 to meet demand, according to the Healey administration.
The South Shore Democrat called on the MWRA to formally commit to extending its service area to include the town of Weymouth, which would enable it to serve a former Naval air base and unlock 6,000 new homes.
"After decades of incremental progress, and a few setbacks along the way, we are finally on the precipice of beginning construction on thousands of new homes where the Base once stood," Mariano said, adding that 3,000 homes are "officially under agreement," with another 3,000 in the works.
"There's only one problem: water," Mariano said. "In the midst of the Commonwealth’s housing crisis, we simply cannot allow bureaucratic indifference and outdated concerns to get in the way of this vital project."
Mariano also railed against the Trump administration's alleged "recklessness and incompetence" during his speech, suggesting that since the outset of President Donald Trump's second term the House's work has been about "how Massachusetts can mitigate the most damaging actions happening at the federal level."