Senate President Karen Spilka: 'We Don't Have The Luxury Of Waiting' To Take Action On Climate Change

On the third floor of the Statehouse inside of the Senate president suite, Karen Spilka stands underneath high ceilings decorated with emerald and gold patterns of the fleur-de-lis. A carpet bearing the same pattern spreads across a spacious room, illuminated by the sunlight pouring into tall windows that open to a sweeping view over the Common. But there's an incongruous decoration in the office that Spilka personally arranged. Lining the walls are pieces of peeling printer paper bearing the photos of women who would've never been allowed to enjoy such ostentatious trappings of power and status.

When she first took over in July 2018, her office walls were lined with the pictures of her precedents — who, until 2007 when Therese Murray was elected as Senate president, were all men — and Spilka decided to paste over their faces with the pictures of the women she felt have been overlooked by history.

There's the more well-known names of Phillis Wheatley and Abigail Adams, but also the lesser-known figures, such as Mary Mahoney of Boston, who was the first African-American woman to become a trained nurse.

Spilka said she feels it's important to remind visitors about the influence of women throughout the state's history, especially when they faced barriers to their advancement.

"Because as it turns out, there are lots and lots and lots of women who have had a significant and positive impact on the state," Spilka said.

Spilka is hoping to continue that tradition this year. In a wide-ranging interview with WGBH's Morning Edition Host Joe Mathieu, Spilka laid out her ambitions to pass multiple omnibus bills addressing climate change, transportation, housing and health care. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.

Joe Mathieu: [Climate is] one of the major headlines that came out of the governor's State of the Commonwealth address this week. And you're making some pretty major news on climate that you've been working on for a long time. What do you have in store?

Senate President Karen Spilka: We will be rolling out a major omnibus climate change bill. We've been working on [it] for a long time. We have heard loud and clear from our youth and all across the state that we need to take urgent action. We used to think that we had decades and decades to take action, but it's clear — all research is showing that we do not. We simply do not. Especially in light of the federal inaction, it's up to the states to be bold and have a sense of urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make the changes — the strategic and bold changes — to ensure that we reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.

Mathieu: Net zero [by] 2050. How do we get there?

Spilka: We don't have the luxury of waiting, so we need to be intentional and strategic. So we are amending the Global Warming Solutions Act to take bold action [and] lay out the steps to have net zero emissions by 2050. It's possible.

We just need to ensure, and that's why we we ... are greening the public buses so that starting in 2030, when new buses are bought, they will all be electric. That will help communities, particularly ... communities of low income, where diesel fuel buses are the main form of transportation. Buses sit and they run through the streets. They let out all the diesel fumes. This will stop that from happening. So not only will it reduce emissions, but it will also increase the health and well-being of our residents.

Mathieu: Well, we look forward to hearing further details on the climate bill. And we'll, of course, be with you for the roll out. Talking about buses makes me think of transportation, which is one of the other massive stories we're all trying to get our arms around. And you're, of course, a part of that. The governor is asking for more money for the MBTA, and that seems to be striking a chord with some Democrats who have also been calling for more money as opposed to reallocating what we have. Is $135 million in your ballpark?

Spilka: I want to start out by saying I believe that we have woefully underfunded our entire transportation system in the commonwealth. Not just the MBTA and not just the commuter rail, but our RTAs across the state. They are the lifelines for so many other areas, for public bus service and public transportation. Our roads [and] our bridges have been neglected and the funding has been neglected. So I believe that policy should drive our potential revenue. We need to take a look of policy of what do we want to accomplish.

And one of the first things I did when I became Senate president — well, two things — [was] I appointed a transportation working group with Sen. Joe Boncore, the Senate chair, who's been leading, looking at: What do we want to do and how do we want to accomplish it? And then I have Sen. Adam Hinds, Senate chair of revenue, looking at: How can we modernize and make our tax code more efficient, effective and modern? We haven't looked at both personal income and tax policy in decades.

And we have to get people out of their cars into public transportation. That is a policy focus that we must have as a commonwealth. But in order to do that, we have to have public transportation that is more affordable, that's more reliable, that's more frequent, and that's safe. What do we need to do to either lower fares with the goal of maybe eliminating them eventually, or eliminating them on some pilot programs across the state? So the $135 million — I assume it's operating, and that we need to find out from the governor — where is it going to go? I need to know that to see [if that's] sufficient.

Mathieu: I'm always fascinated, Madam President, by the confluence of housing and transportation. It doesn't matter where you live; there seems to be some scenario here. In Boston, we've got a major affordable housing and an inventory crisis [and] people dealing with a challenged public transportation system. In Metro West, where you are, people have to get in the car, sit in traffic for however long to get here. And in a lot of cases, their homes are not near public transportation. Is that part of the solution?

Spilka: Yes. The other area that we're looking at — because I agree, I believe that our housing situation is also, unfortunately, in crisis — there's a very clear connection between our real estate, the lack of affordability, and people needing to get in their cars if they cannot live near where they work. If we could create more affordable housing in communities, people could live closer to where they work and wouldn't have to drive for an hour and a half to get to their job. These are issues that deeply concern the Senate, so we're taking a look at a little broader housing bill than what the governor introduced. And I'm thrilled that the housing bills finally came out of the Housing Committee, so we are working on that, as well.