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Massachusetts Governor Healey order will require equity audit

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Governor Healey in Framingham

By Colin A. Young

JAN. 12, 2023…..Gov. Maura Healey has said that her administration will put an emphasis on equity in all the decisions it makes and on Thursday detailed the “equity audit” that she will soon launch to “get our arms around what’s happening on equity right now.”

In her inaugural speech last week, Healey said that she would direct each agency under her administration to conduct a full equity audit. And on the livestreamed “Java with Jimmy” show with host Jimmy Hills, the governor said from her State House office Thursday morning that she plans to sign an executive order soon to “create an interagency council task force that is going to look at equity across the board, across all of our commissions and departments, and across the secretariats.”

“The outcome and the purpose of this is to break down barriers, to make sure that those who have been marginalized for far too long, those who are suffering disproportionate and disparate impacts across any number of realms, are — first off, you’ve got to see it, right. To do something about something, you actually have to recognize that there is a something there that’s wrong,” she said. “I mean, we know it, right? But making sure we have that intentionality around a look. And then we can make sure that we’re working every day on the policies to address those disparities.”

Healey ticked through a litany of ways in which equity could be measured in the audit: “we can measure that in terms of ridership on transportation, public transportation, health outcomes, who’s using what in terms of government services … environmental justice, climate impacts … what’s happening with respect to housing security, food security, and back to representation, what’s happening in terms of actual numbers of people working where or appointed where.”

In October, the Eos Foundation’s Women’s Power Gap Initiative released a report that touched on a sliver of what Healey described Thursday. The organization found that while 28 of the state’s top 50 boards and commissions are now chaired by a woman — up from 17 when the foundation first began reporting in 2019 and the first time a majority of those groups were chaired by a woman — people of color are still underrepresented and most of the panels are still made up of a majority of men.

Eos Foundation President Andrea Silbert attributed the heightened number of women board chairs to the Baker administration’s intentional effort to recruit and appoint women to those positions, and said that the state now needs to “shift that intentionality to women and men of color, LGBTQ2+, trans women, veterans, and the disability communities.”

“We urge the next Administration to build on our current success, accelerating diversity to better guide our state during these challenging times,” Silbert said a few weeks before Healey was elected.

On Thursday, Healey talked about the importance of representation and having people of diverse backgrounds involved in decision-making. She said her administration’s chief secretary, April English, will focus on that as she and her team work to fill seats on state boards and commissions. She said diversity has been an important consideration as she has assembled her Cabinet.

“I’m really psyched about our Cabinet. You know, we’re working our way through our Cabinet, but we’ve got some really great, great folks there and a diversity represented there that I’m really pleased about,” Healey said.

She added, “Conversation changes based on who’s in the room. I saw that as the country’s first gay attorney general, right. I happen to be the first lesbian governor now in the country. And, of course, my job is to make sure I’m not the last.”

During her half-hour with Java with Jimmy, Healey also talked about how she is feeling mentally and emotionally now that the inauguration events are over and she is settling into her new job.

“This last year was hard. I was trying to be a good attorney general, I was running for this job, I was just trying to manage life, and I had a lot of support from friends, family, others along the way. And I feel a calm,” Healey said. “I just came into the State House this morning and I feel such hope and optimism, and I feel a calm within me and a huge optimism about what’s possible. And I’d say it’s the first time I’ve felt that calm in a while.”

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14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Fed Up

    January 12, 2023 at 5:04 pm

    Governor pet project focusing on nonsense while Rome is burning

    2022 Massachusetts financial breakdown. Once again Mass is in the bottom 5 States in the Union.
    Money needed to pay bills – $74 Billion
    Taxpayer burden $28,100
    Financial Grade – F
    46-50 States

    Massachusetts’ latest financial report indicated the state’s financial position
    improved in 2021 mostly due to a great deal of federal aid and dramatic increases
    in the value of pension system assets. But the state still needed $74 billion to pay
    the bills it had accumulated. The resulting Taxpayer Burden™ was $28,100, which
    represents each taxpayer’s share of the state’s debt. Therefore, the state earned an
    “F” grade from Truth in Accounting.
    Massachusetts’ financial problems stem mostly from unfunded retirement
    obligations. Record gains in the stock market in 2021 made funding levels
    of the state’s pension system appear healthier than in 2020, but much of that
    improvement is fading. Markets have lost an average of 14% value in 2022.
    Although pension liabilities decreased by $12.8 billion in 2021 due to the increase
    in investment value, much of the value increase is only on paper. Until the pension
    investments are sold, these liability decreases are not real. Given these facts, the
    state’s overall debt situation will likely further deteriorate over the coming year.
    Even with these reported increases in pension assets, Massachusetts had only
    set aside 69 cents for every dollar of promised pension benefits and 10 cents for
    every dollar of promised retiree health care benefits. If benefits and funding are
    not changed, future taxpayers will be burdened with paying the under-funded
    retirement promises.

    Her salary just increased exponentially as well as signing an executive order to create some climate tsar for another 6 figure salary and X-amount of perks & benefits all at the taxpayers expense. No plan to get this state out of debt and back into financial solvency just DEI nonsense. I thought Tall Deval was useless she’s already surpassed him.

    ” Healey said. “I just came into the State House this morning and I feel such hope and optimism, and I feel a calm within me and a huge optimism about what’s possible. And I’d say it’s the first time I’ve felt that calm in a while.”

    Yeah no kidding it’s nice when you’re not effected by record inflation when you’re making excess of $300K a year.

  2. MortisMaximus

    January 12, 2023 at 5:37 pm

    Wow, what a sick individual! Equity is discrimination. Equality should mean equal opportunity, not quotas. Pure commie trash.

    • HuntersCrackPipe

      January 13, 2023 at 12:07 pm

      Today I’m identifying as a Hunter Biden Crackpipe! This must entitle me to a seat in the Massachusetts Governors Mansion. I hope that as a crackpipe I will receive an equitable share of any Crack seized by Mass. Law Enforcement. If I am denied my share of Crack I will file an inequity lawsuit against the Big Orange Man. Don’t forget 10% for the big guy.

  3. SolRosenberg

    January 12, 2023 at 5:51 pm

    But she is immune to this audit.

  4. 🙈🙉🙊

    January 12, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

  5. Gottolaugh

    January 12, 2023 at 8:55 pm

    I liked the headlines “Massachusetts prepares for snow. Ready to plow all streets focusing on inclusivity”. WTF?

  6. david

    January 12, 2023 at 11:46 pm

    This depraved leftist is as vicious as they come and was well known as a back stabbing snake while manipulating her way up the ranks at the AG’s Office.
    This equity BS is just a barely veiled attack on the Non Homo-Sexual White Men. The Commonwealth will suffer greatly under this Fool and the racists and haters she will surround herself with. However, Massachusetts has earned its coming chastisement to be governed by such a reprobate.

  7. Paul gauvin

    January 13, 2023 at 6:09 am

    Welcome to east coast california . ESCAPE NOW !!!!

    • Fed Up

      January 13, 2023 at 3:37 pm

      Which is why people are leaving in droves.

    • HuntersCrackPipe

      January 13, 2023 at 3:55 pm

      All fake news from FOX!

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