Northeast governors are rallying in Boston today to talk tariffs, and defend jobs and families and cross border ties.
State House News deputy editor Colin Young spoke with NEPM'S Carrie Healey about which governors will attend and what the meeting's focus will be.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Governor Maura Healey is hosting a number of northeast governors today and Canadian premiers at the State House to talk about U.S., Canadian trade, tariffs and lots more. New Hampshire's governor is not represented among the invited coalition. Do you know why that is?
Colin Young, SHNS: No, Carrie, I don't know exactly why not. I will say New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte was not part of this group of governors who sent a letter to their Canadian counterparts, about a month ago, asking for this meeting.
Governor Healey's office says that Governor Ayotte will be sending a representative to participate in the meeting today. I'll also add that Democratic Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut is sending a representative in his place. So we have one Democrat and one Republican governor from New Hampshire who won't be here in person. But they're not ignoring the get together entirely.
What effects have these Trump administration tariffs actually had on Massachusetts businesses and workers? And and what's known about how Governor Healey is planning to address these challenges during the meeting?
The big way that the tariffs have so far affected Massachusetts is the uncertainty that they've injected into everything — business planning, the state budget process, and on and on. It's really created this dynamic where everyone is a little bit hesitant to make any moves because they don't know what could be coming next.
So, everyone is in a wait and see mode, and that seems to also be the case on the tourism side of things. There have been reports that there's just less interest in cross-border tourism this summer. Maine, for example, depends on a lot of tourism coming south from Canada.
So, I think what we'll hear from Governor Healey will be a lot about maintaining these relationships between Massachusetts and the Canadian provinces. Regardless of what's going on in D.C. and really strengthening this state provincial relationship to try to do as much together as possible. Even while Canada and the United States have this frosty relationship at the highest level.
This week, Massachusetts lawmakers will likely put another supplemental budget into motion. What does this one cover?
So the big ones here, Carrie, are millions of dollars for hospitals and community health centers that have been struggling financially. There's also aid in this package for elder home care services. We've been hearing for months and months that those service providers just don't have the money to be able to actually meet the need that is out there. So this will give them a little bit of an infusion. Altogether, the bill is more than $500 million in extra spending.
This comes as the actual fiscal year budget is still being decided behind closed doors. It's already the middle of June. Do you expect lawmakers will file an interim budget to keep the state running after July 1st, and give those negotiators a little more time to work on the budget?
It's been about a decade since Massachusetts has had a budget signed and in place by the time the new fiscal year starts on July 1st. So, I do expect there'll be an interim budget.
It's usually about this week that the governor has to file what's known as a 1/12 budget, because it covers 1/12 of the year. It's meant to keep state government operating through July to give negotiators a little bit more time to get that final budget into place.
And briefly, Collin, today's Senate committee on the census meets. The federal government's clearly got different aims and priorities than the state. The previous Trump administration interfered in the collection of census data in 2020. So how important is census data to Massachusetts and what are lawmakers saying?
Census data is wildly important to Massachusetts. Five years ago, there was the thought that Massachusetts may lose population, therefore losing a seat in Congress. That didn't happen. And as we look towards the 2030 census, I think the thing state officials will be focusing most on is getting as accurate of a count as possible, because the population count that comes out of the census is usually what determines a lot of federal funding levels for the state.
So, Massachusetts wants to make sure that each and every person here who can be counted is counted. Because if people aren't counted, that's going to mean fewer dollars coming from the federal government to Massachusetts.
