Talking Politics Full Episode: March 3, 2023

In terms of governing, it was Maura Healey’s biggest week yet. The still new(ish) governor unveiled a sprawling tax plan worth nearly $750 million — bigger than the one then-Governor Charlie Baker tried to pass last year — and, a couple days later, her first-ever state budget proposal, which totals $55.5 billion.

So what did Healey get right — and where did she drop the ball? While Healey is a Democrat who’s been lionized by progressives over the years, the reaction to her tax plan and budget doesn’t break down neatly according to ideological lines. Adam Reilly is joined by Charlie Chieppo of the right-leaning Pioner Institute, who sees much to like in Healey’s proposals, and Phineas Baxandall of the left-leaning Mass. Budget and Policy Center, who’s more skeptical. Lisa Kashinsky, the author of Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook, also weighs in on the reception Healey’s proposals have received and the political path that awaits them on Beacon Hill.

Then, in Massachusetts, there’s widespread agreement among politicians and the public that climate change is real and poses a significant threat to the state’s future. Case in point: Governor Maura Healey’s decision to create a new, cabinet level Climate Chief position to craft a cohesive climate-change response that spans state government.

But what if that isn’t enough? In a recent Boston Globe opinion piece, Northeastern University professor Joan Fitzgerald and two co-authors argued that Massachusetts needs a brand-new coastal adaptation agency to organize and execute a cohesive response that spans the state’s shoreline. Fitzgerald, who was the lead author of the Boston Foundation’s Inaugural Boston Climate Progress Report, joins Adam to make the case for a new agency and some big new investments.

Also joining the conversation: Globe business reporter Jon Chesto, whose recent coverage of a proposed floodgate in Fort Point Channel highlights how big engineering projects could help coastal communities adapt — as well as the huge political hurdles that need to be cleared for that to happen.

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