The state Senate plans to dedicate new funding in the annual state budget to make community college universally free in Massachusetts and to encourage private businesses to help boost the availability of child care.
Senate President Karen Spilka announced the initiatives in a speech Monday before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, where she also teased forthcoming climate legislation and threw her support behind the idea of bringing 18-year-olds into the juvenile justice system instead of treating them as adults in court.
Massachusetts raised its age of juvenile jurisdiction in 2013, moving 17-year-olds out of the adult court system. Advocates, including members of the Boston Celtics, have been pushing for another increase, citing the continuing brain development of young people in their late teens and early 20s.
Spilka said she hopes to bring a “raise the age” bill for a vote in the Senate this term, but did not specify when. The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee has until the end of the month to decide whether to advance legislation that would gradually raise the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 21 by 2028.
“I would love to raise the age to 21,” said Spilka, an Ashland Democrat. “All research shows that emerging adults’ brains really aren't formulated till almost 25, so 21 makes sense, but at the very least, we're trying to work on raising it to include 18-year-olds.”
Leon Smith, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice, said he's optimistic about the measure's chances. He said judges and prosecutors would still have the ability to seek adult penalties for serious offenses.
“But for 18-year-olds, it will bring a greater focus on rehabilitation and the kind of supports that are necessary to help young people meet key developmental milestones they need to be successful, like addressing underlying trauma and educational completion,” Smith said after Spilka's speech.
Formal lawmaking sessions end for the year on July 31, which gives senators and representatives a little over three months to finish up major business. Sometime before that date, Spilka said the Senate will also tackle a “comprehensive” climate and clean energy bill that features policies related to “the grid and battery storage and electrification and other areas.”
Lawmakers in the state House of Representatives this week plan to debate and pass a $58 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts in July. The Senate will rewrite the House’s bill and take up its own budget in May.
At a time when sluggish revenue growth and skyrocketing costs associated with the state’s emergency shelter system leave Massachusetts facing financial challenges, Spilka said she wanted to resist calls to “scale back our ambition to tackle some of our most persistent challenges.”
“I would argue that now is not the time to pull back on the critical investments that have been — and will continue to be — beacons of hope and opportunity for our residents,” she said.
One of the Senate’s top priorities in the budget, Spilka said, will be removing community college costs for all students.
In the budget passed last year, lawmakers and Gov. Maura Healey made community college free for nursing students and for adults age 25 and older who do not already have degrees. Spilka has repeatedly called to extend that initiative to all students.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues, the Senate’s budget chief, estimated that such an expansion would cost about $100 million.
The Senate budget will also put money toward a child care pilot program they included in an early education access bill passed last month. Spilka said that under the program, based on a similar effort in Iowa, businesses that create child care seats would receive a matching grant from the state to cover half the cost.
Neither the free community college nor the business child care pilot are included in the House’s budget at this point. Lawmakers will have to agree on what new initiatives to fund before they can send a final bill to Healey for her signature.
