House Speaker Ron Mariano pledged to not raise taxes or fees in Massachusetts as part of the state budget process, create an internal procedure to “better predict” the impact of policy decisions on energy costs, and invest more than $1 billion into early education and care.

In a wide-ranging speech Thursday morning to Boston’s business community, the Quincy Democrat also committed to passing legislation to “bolster” access to early college programming for students and designating one of his lieutenants to respond to President Donald Trump.

But Mariano’s stance on taxes and fees throws a bigger wrench into Gov. Maura Healey’s plan to increase certain taxes in the fiscal year 2026 budget, like applying the tobacco tax on synthetic nicotine products and imposing an excise tax on complimentary hotel rooms.

Two weeks after he pledged to eschew Healey’s proposal to resurrect taxes on prescription drugs, Mariano said government officials must “now ask ourselves what government can do to address the affordability challenges that are motivating residents to move to other states.”

“As the House works to develop our budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, I want to state here and now that our FY26 budget will not raise taxes or fees on any residents or businesses here in Massachusetts,” he said.

In the budget Healey released earlier this year, the Arlington Democrat proposed reviving a measure that would charge pharmacies $2 or 6% per prescription, whichever is less; applying the sales tax to candy; and penalizing prescription drug manufacturers for excessive pricing.

With Mariano’s promise to cut out tax increases from the budget, the path forward becomes more difficult for ideas Healey said could raise hundreds of millions in new revenues for the state amid uncertainty around federal funding and slower economic growth in the post-pandemic era.

Senate President Karen Spilka said last week she does not support Healey’s tax on prescription drugs and had not heard from “many senators” who supported other tax increases the governor proposed.

The House is expected to release its full fiscal year 2026 budget proposal next week.

This is a developing story…