Although the Legislature left formal session with much work undone on August 1st, the 193rd session of the Legislature is not over for a few more months.
Your legislators still need to hear from you about the bills still under negotiation. Read on for two actions to take over the next week.
Wanted: A Robust Climate Bill
When the Legislature left formal session two months ago, they left without consensus on climate legislation. Let’s be clear: it’s not acceptable for the Legislature to go this entire session without passing any new, robust legislation to address the climate crisis. We need legislation, and that legislation must meet the moment.
As 100+ climate organizations recently said in a letter, “We cannot accept a narrow siting and permitting bill that does not do enough for climate justice, reducing climate pollution, or protecting ratepayers as the outcome of 18 months of the legislative process.“
A robust climate bill MUST include the following:
Siting reform that centers environmental justice. Environmental justice communities have suffered the historic burden of pollution from our energy system, and we need to ensure that new facilities do not compound these inequities. The definition of cumulative impact analysis (i.e., the calculation of that historic burden of pollution) in the Governor’s H.5049 is the most accurate and complete definition introduced this session and should be the one used in a final bill that includes siting and permitting reform.
Measures to end large-scale gas pipeline expansion and increase the use of non-emitting thermal networks. The legislature must act immediately to ramp down the expansion of gas infrastructure and put gas companies on a path to provide clean, non-emitting renewable energy rather than fossil gas that leaks methane and air pollution into the atmosphere and into our homes and businesses, costing ratepayers significant sums of money.
Take a few minutes to write to your state legislators in support of coming back into formal session and passing a robust climate bill.
Call Your State Representative about Raise the Age
In July, the Senate voted, as part of their economic development bill, to increase the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18-year-olds—keeping high school seniors out of the adult prison system.
The House did not include this important language, and a Conference Committee of three state senators and three state representatives have been negotiating the differences between the two bills.
Let’s keep up the drumbeat for critical juvenile justice reforms.
Tell your Representative that: (1) Raise the Age is an economic development policy and (2) urge the Economic Development Bill conferees to include Raise the Age in the final bill:
Step 2: Call your legislator with this sample script:
My name is _________, and I am a constituent of Representative _______. I ask that the Representative reach out to the Economic Development bill conferees, Chair Parisella, Chair Michlewitz, and Rep. Muradian expressing the Representative’s support for including Raise the Age as passed in S.2869 in the final Economic Development bill.
Subjecting 18-year-olds to adult prosecution, CORI records and adult incarceration causes significant harm not only to the teens themselves but to our economy which is desperate for more – not less – young people to participate in the workforce.
To Governor Healey and the 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
RE: A Robust Climate Bill
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made a commitment to environmental justice and to meeting climate mandates in order to ensure a livable planet and a just transition for all. With this letter, the undersigned 108 organizations present elements that MUST be in a climate bill when it lands on Governor Healey’s desk before the end of 2024.
The Legislature had been poised to take action until the unceremonious end to the 2023-24 formal legislative session on August 1. Despite this delay, there is still time in 2024 to call a special session and pass a climate bill that is broader than siting and permitting reform alone. While it is important to keep the climate bill negotiations alive, the climate-related provisions in the Governor’s supplemental budget bill, H.5049, filed September 11th are far too narrow to represent a reasonable response to the climate crisis in 2024.
We call on Governor Healey, President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Chair Barrett, and Chair Roy and the entire legislature to take this opportunity to meet critical environmental justice (EJ) goals and to equitably and rapidly transform the gas industry into one that meets the Commonwealth’s climate goals while keeping gas rates down. We cannot accept a narrow siting and permitting bill that does not do enough for climate justice, reducing climate pollution, or protecting ratepayers as the outcome of 18 months of the legislative process. Delays in climate action do nothing to benefit constituents and only serve to benefit those who profit from the climate crisis. A 2024 climate package must include, at minimum:
Siting and permit approvals tied to a robust cumulative impact analysis. The definition of cumulative impact analysis in the Governor’s H.5049 is the most accurate and complete definition introduced this session and should be the one used in a final bill that includes siting and permitting reform. We applaud its inclusion.
Measures to end large-scale gas pipeline expansion and increase the use of non-emitting thermal networks. While the details of the transition away from gas as a heating fuel in the Commonwealth will require future work from the Healey Administration, legislators and other key stakeholders, the legislature must act immediately to ramp down the expansion of gas infrastructure and put gas companies on a path to provide clean, non-emitting renewable energy rather than fossil gas that leaks methane and air pollution into the atmosphere and into our homes and businesses, costing ratepayers significant sums of money.
These are critical components of the evolving climate bill. From a necessary expansion of the electric grid itself (crucial to bringing in the thousands of megawatts of renewable electricity we need), to ensuring that Environmental Justice populations are not overburdened, to protecting gas customers and taxpayers from the ballooning costs of maintaining an expensive, health-harming, and dangerous gas system that will soon be obsolete, our Commonwealth simply cannot afford to wait. We urge the legislature to reconvene for a formal session and demonstrate strong support for environmental justice and rapid decarbonization by passing a robust climate package.
350 Central Mass
350 Mass
350MA Berkshire node
Acadia Center
Alternatives for Community & Environment
All In Energy
Andover WECAN
Arise for Social Justice
Berkshire Environmental Action Team
Beyond Plastics Greater Boston
Boston Catholic Climate Movement
Boston Climate Action Network
Boston Green Action
Breathe Clean North Shore
Brookhaven Residents’ Climate Change Committee
Canton Residents for a Sustainable Equitable Future
Cape Ann Climate Coalition Organizing Committee
Citizens Climate Lobby, South Shore & Cape chapter
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Mass. North Shore chapter
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Group, the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence
Climate Action Now Western Mass
Climate Code Blue
Climate Reality Project Boston Metro chapter
Climate Reality Project Massachusetts Southcoast
Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund
Coalition to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere
Concord Area Humanists
Concord Climate Action Network
Conservation Law Foundation
Elders Climate Action Massachusetts chapter
Energy Allies
Energy Efficient Bolton
Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative
First Parish in Bedford
First Parish in Cambridge, Environmental Justice Team
First Parish in Framingham Climate Action Team, Chair
First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington Climate Action Working Group
First Parish Watertown, Green Sanctuary Committee
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Newton Climate Action Task Force
Food & Water Watch
Fore River Residents Against the Compressor (FRRACS)
Gas Transition Allies
Greater Andover Indivisible
Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
GreenRoots
Green Energy Consumer Alliance
Green Newton
HEET
HEETlabs
HealthLink
Jewish Climate Action Network
Lexington Climate Action Network (LexCAN)
Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Massachusetts
Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group
Mass Peace Action
Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN)
Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, Inc.
Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church Climate Action Team
MetroWest Climate Solutions
Mothers Out Front – Arlington
Mothers Out Front – East Boston
Mothers Out Front – Bedford Chapter
Mothers Out Front – Brookline Chapter
Mothers Out Front – Cambridge Chapter
Mothers Out Front – Newton
Mothers Out Front – Northampton
Mothers Out Front Massachusetts
No Fracked Gas in Mass
North American Indian Center of Boston
North Parish of North Andover Climate Justice Group
North Reading Green Alliance
Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church, Green Sanctuary Team
Our Climate
Our Revolution MA, Climate Crisis Working Group
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast, inc
Although the formal period of the legislative session ended on July 31, the MA Legislature is still in session for 3.5 months. And their work isn’t done.
Let’s make sure that the Legislature and Governor Healey hear that.
Call Your State Representative about Raise the Age
In July, the Senate voted, as part of their economic development bill, to increase the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18-year-olds—keeping high school seniors out of the adult prison system.
The House did not include this important language, and a Conference Committee of three state senators and three state representatives have been negotiating the differences between the two bills.
Let’s keep up the drumbeat for critical juvenile justice reforms.
Tell your Representative that: (1) Raise the Age is an economic development policy and (2) urge the Economic Development Bill conferees to include Raise the Age in the final bill:
Step 2: Call your legislator with this sample script:
Subjecting 18-year-olds to adult prosecution, CORI records and adult incarceration causes significant harm not only to the teens themselves but to our economy which is desperate for more – not less – young people to engage in our economy.
My name is _, and I am a constituent of Representative _. I ask that the Representative reach out to the Economic Development bill conferees, Chair Parisella, Chair Michlewitz, and Rep. Muradian expressing the Representative’s support for including Raise the Age as passed in S.2869 in the final Economic Development bill.
Join Mass Power Forward to Tell Gov. Healey Not to Kick the Climate Can Down the Road!
Join Mass Power Forward at the State House to call on Governor Healey to not kick the climate can down the road. We must stop expanding the for-profit gas utility system, and right now Governor Healey is proposing a flimsy climate bill with no plan for ending the expansion.
WHAT: Press Conference and Action WHERE: Meet at Nurse’s Hall, 2nd Floor of the Boston Statehouse WHO: You and your friends WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 24th at 12pm
This session was a missed opportunity to make the commonwealth a climate leader. The Legislature’s inaction is a grave disappointment to anyone who cares about saving our planet.
This session was a chance to make serious progress slowing the expansion of our dirty and expensive methane gas system, but instead legislative leadership got tied up in political spats and chose not to extend the session and finish the job.
This comes after a year and a half of advocacy that included hundreds of meetings and thousands of calls and signatures to legislators. Many of the most popular policy proposals received vast majorities of legislative co-sponsors, yet House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka did not allow them to come for a vote.
Many policies “died in committee,” where politicians take secret votes that their constituents are not able to see. Many more died in the backroom process where amendments to bills were withdrawn before they had a chance to receive a vote.
The legislative process is broken, and undue influence from corporations routinely blocks popular and effective legislation in favor of utility and developer profits.
One point we underscored is that even though the Legislature adjourned on July 31 (well, technically, the morning of August 1), the full legislative session doesn’t end until next January. That means that they could come back into session at any point to finish important business, especially passing a robust and equitable climate bill that centers environmental justice and includes a transition away from gas.
But they are not likely to do that unless they hear from you, their constituents. So take a minute today to email your legislators.
Protect the Right to Shelter
Massachusetts prides itself on being a welcoming state, but Governor Healey’s cruel and unnecessary restrictions on emergency shelter run afoul of that.
Join the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and the Mass Law Reform Institute tonight at 7 pm in front of the State House for a candlelight vigil in support of children and families experiencing homelessness.
To the Conferees: Chair Barrett, Chair Roy, Majority Leader Creem, Vice Chair Haggerty, and Ranking Members and Minority Leaders Tarr and Jones,
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic.
Thank you for your work in negotiating a final version of climate legislation, reconciling S.2838 and H.4884.
This past Monday was the hottest day on record, according to a European climate service. The urgency around robust and equitable climate action could not be clearer.
Massachusetts has in recent years made important commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the recommendations of the International Panel on Climate Change and the Paris Climate Agreement. Setting targets is critical, but meeting them requires real work, consisting of the decarbonization of all sectors of our economy. And we must do this work in a way that does not reproduce the inequities endemic to the fossil fuel economy from which we must transition away.
We urge you to include the following provisions of the Senate or House bills in the final legislation you produce:
Putting Gas Companies on a Path to Provide Clean, Non-Emitting Renewable Energy(Sections 46, 74, and 76 of the Senate Bill; Section 24 of the House bill): Among other measures, these sections would allow gas companies to sell networked geothermal energy, limit the expansion of new gas mains unless there are no feasible alternatives to gas, require that the public interest in greenhouse gas reductions be considered when evaluating proposed expansions to gas mains, permit gas companies to meet their “obligation to serve” by providing customers with renewable substitutes, encourage gas companies to repair or retire leak-prone pipelines, and require gas companies to implement an orderly transition to non-emitting energy for heating buildings.
In short, as the Department of Utilities made clear back in December, there cannot be a future for gas in Massachusetts. The DPU can only do so much on its own, and we need legislative action.
Electrifying the Commuter Rail System (Section 138 of the Senate Bill): This is a critical component of an MBTA-wide plan for decarbonization.
Easing Access to Solar in Historic Districts (Section 106 of the Senate Bill): We need to remove roadblocks to residential solar if we are to achieve the scale necessary.
Updating Our Bottle Bill (Sections 45-58 of the Senate Bill)
Updating the Massport Charter to include attention to climate change and environmental justice (Sections 108 & 109 of the Senate bill sections; Sections 65A&B of the House bill)
Removing Woody Biomass from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standard for Municipal Lighting Plants (Section 115 of the Senate Bill)
Establishing Labor Standards and Reporting for Clean Energy Procurement (as reflected in the adopted amendments #120 in the Senate and #100 in the House)
Similarly, we echo the demands of the Mass Power Forward coalition to include the following in a final bill:
Siting and Permit Approvals tied to a robust cumulative impact analysis. Such an analysis must be holistic, incorporating past and current exposures to pollution and other chemical sources, as well as other factors found in the built, natural, and social environments, and their impact on quality of life and public health.
Clean air for environmental justice populations and all. (as found in Senate Bill Amendment 100; House Bill amendment 15). Environmental Justice (EJ) populations are disproportionately affected by air pollution. By including air quality policy in the climate bill, we will improve indoor and outdoor air, especially for EJ populations and residents burdened by pollution from congested roadways and ports, and mold in housing.
Ending large-scale gas pipeline expansion (as found in Senate Bill Amendment 16; House bill Amendment 17): Every new mile of high-pressure pipeline installed is an expensive asset that will have to be paid off over decades by ratepayers or, if stranded, by taxpayers, and such expansion irreconcilable with meeting our climate goals.
Thank you again for your work on this important issue.
The best time to contact your legislators is yesterday. The second best time is today.
That’s because time is short. The current legislative session will wrap up next Wednesday, and major decisions will be made between now and then.
As I noted in Monday’s update, this email will be longer than I’d like. That’s because our Legislature, despite being a full-time body, has the tendency to push off everything to the last month, last weeks, even last day of the legislative session. The public deserves a better process, and I’m sure most legislators would prefer one too.
But we wanted to keep you in the loop about what’s happening and what you can do. There will be an array of actions you can take: make a plan to choose at least one action step, and talk to friends about it.
Here’s what you can do:
Email your state rep in support of Raise the Age
Email the Affordable Homes Act Conference Committee
Email the Climate Bill Conference Committee
Email the Ways & Means chairs about the Prison Moratorium
Show up on Monday in support of families experiencing homelessness
Make sure to check out our blog for other updates, and stay tuned for action steps. Many bills move quickly at the end of the session (Example: We just learned that the Senate is taking up an important maternal health bill next Tuesday.) In solidarity, Jonathan Cohn Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts
Email to Your State Rep: Raise the Age
On July 11, during the debate on its economic development, the MA Senate voted 31 to 9 to keep 18-year-olds out of the adult prison system.
Shifting legal system-involved youth from the adult criminal legal system into the juvenile system improves young people’s access to education and skills training, even if they are never incarcerated. Young people’s prosecution as adults during their late adolescence derails their education, which can have serious effects on their ability to attain employment during these critical adolescent years, diminishing their lifetime earnings, and preventing them from contributing fully to the Massachusetts economy.
The economic development bill is now in Conference Committee, where three senators and three representatives will negotiate a final bill. Here’s what you can do:
Email the Affordable Homes Act Conference Committee
Last month, the MA House and MA Senate passed versions of Governor Maura Healey’s Affordable Homes Act.
WHAT HAPPENED: Like Healey’s original version of the bill, both bills established an Office of Fair Housing, legalized accessory dwelling units in single-family zoning districts without undue restrictions, streamlined the use of state-owned land for housing, and increased the bond authorizations for public housing, building decarbonization, and many more housing initiatives. Unfortunately, however, both chambers caved to the real estate lobby and axed the widely popular local option real estate transfer fee (which would have allowed cities and towns to raise extra money to invest in affordable housing).
But the two bills had a number of differences, and a Conference Committee of three senators and three representatives are negotiating final details.
WHAT IS AT STAKE: We have a displacement crisis in Massachusetts, and it is essential that the final version of the Affordable Homes Act contain policies to help renters and working-class homeowners.
Creating a process for sealing eviction records (Senate bill)
Banning brokers’ fees (Senate bill)
Establishing a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase local option (House bill)
Creating a Foreclosure Mediation Pilot Program (Senate bill)
A Conference Committee of three state senators and three state representatives are negotiating the final details of the bill.
If we are to make a dent at addressing the affordable housing crisis, we need more investment, we need more housing production, and we need policies to prevent displacement. The Legislature shouldn’t leave out that critical final piece.
You can also email them directly and cc your own legislators, using the following emails:
Last week, the House took up its climate omnibus bill. While the bill contains a number of important reforms, it lacks the ambition of the Senate’s recent bill, which did far more to accelerate the transition away from gas. And the Senate’s bill still hadn’t gone far enough to meet the moment, especially around environmental justice.
Mass Power Forward, the coalition of climate justice advocacy groups, is asking people to email the six-person Conference Committee finalizing the details of this bill. Here is a template you can use:
I am writing to you regarding the Climate Omnibus bill. Both the Senate and the House bills are missing critical pieces. In particular, we need a robust cumulative impact analysis in line with current practice and a halt on new gas expansion. Please see this letter for further details.
This is important to me because
Best,
NAME
Email the Ways & Means Chairs about the Prison Moratorium
Last session, the MA Legislature passed a moratorium on new prison and jail construction, only for then Republican governor Charlie Baker to veto it.
New session, new opportunity. But time is running short.
The Prison Moratorium bill (S2821), which would put a five-year pause on the construction of new prisons and jails, was reported favorably out of the State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee. It needs to get a vote on the floor by next Wednesday.
Families for Justice as Healing is asking that people contact the two Ways & Means chairs in support of this critical bill:
Email/call script: “Hello, my name is _______ and I am calling to ask the Chairman to please bring the Prison Moratorium bill S.2821 of Ways and Means to the floor for a vote. Both chambers of the legislature already passed the Prison Moratorium last session, and the State Admin Committee worked hard to clarify the language so it’s even more clear that repairs can still be made for the wellbeing of incarcerated people. Passing the Prison Moratorium is a top priority for me, and this bill is supported by incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, community members from all over the state, clergy and faith leaders, public health experts, social workers, and medical providers. Please Pass the Prison Moratorium before the end of the session. Thank you.”
Support families experiencing homelessness and the right to shelter!
On July 23rd, Governor Healey announced changes to the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter system that will force children and their families out with no safe place to sleep at night. Families who are deemed eligible for shelter will now be forced to choose: wait in an unsafe place for a shelter placement or stay for 5 nights in a state-run overflow site but then wait at least 6 months to access EA shelter. This policy change will disproportionately impact immigrant families, both new arrivals and long-term Massachusetts residents.
Join our allies from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless in front of the State House on Monday, July 29th, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. to call on the Governor and Legislature to uphold access to shelter for children and families.
Last week, the House took up its climate omnibus bill. While the bill contains a number of important reforms, it lacks the ambition of the Senate’s recent bill, which did far more to accelerate the transition away from gas. And the Senate’s bill still hadn’t gone far enough to meet the moment, especially around environmental justice.
The process in the House was also emblematic of the chamber’s democracy deficit: of 107 amendments filed, 91 were withdrawn, and the handful that were adopted were watered down. What we see time and time again in the MA Legislature is that bad process leads to bad outcomes.
The clock is ticking. The current formal legislative session at the State House ends in just two weeks. And there is a lot still pending.
Take action in support of strong action on our housing crisis and on the climate crisis with the tools and templates below.
The Affordable Homes Act Must Support Renters
WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR: Last month, the MA House and MA Senate passed versions of Governor Maura Healey’s Affordable Homes Act.
Like Healey’s original version of the bill, both bills established an Office of Fair Housing, legalized accessory dwelling units in single-family zoning districts without undue restrictions, streamlined the use of state-owned land for housing, and increased the bond authorizations for public housing, building decarbonization, and many more housing initiatives. Unfortunately, however, both chambers caved to the real estate lobby and axed the widely popular local option real estate transfer fee (which would have allowed cities and towns to raise extra money to invest in affordable housing).
But the two bills had a number of differences, and a Conference Committee of three senators and three representatives are negotiating final details.
WHAT IS AT STAKE: We have a displacement crisis in Massachusetts, and it is essential that the final version of the Affordable Homes Act contain policies to help rentersand working-class homeowners:
Creating a process for sealing eviction records (Senate bill)
Banning brokers’ fees (Senate bill)
Establishing a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase local option (House bill)
Creating a Foreclosure Mediation Pilot Program (Senate bill)
If we are to make a dent at addressing the affordable housing crisis, we need more investment, we need more housing production, and we need policies to prevent displacement. The Legislature shouldn’t leave out that critical final piece.
The House will be voting today on its climate omnibus bill (H.4876), which addresses the difficulties of connecting local clean energy projects to the grid.
Amendment #17 Protecting consumers and communities from new, large gas pipeline expansions (Williams), which would end Energy Facilities Siting Board approval of new, large, polluting gas pipeline expansions which, if constructed, will adversely affect ratepayers, the health and safety of Massachusetts residents, and the climate.
Amendment #15 Improving Air Quality in Environmental Justice Communities (Barber), which would create a technical advisory committee for air quality and direct the Department of Environmental Protection to identify at least 8 pollution hot spots, install air monitors there, and provide recommendations for how to reduce air pollution there by 50% by 2030.
Mass Power Forward also has a handy action guide as well that you can use.
Three weeks from this Thursday (i.e., August 1st), the MA Legislature will go on break for the rest of the year.
That means that it’s crunch time: all of the policymaking that should have already happened over the pats 18 months will happen in just over three weeks.
That also means that it’s especially important for your legislators to hear from you so that our priorities can cut through the noise.
Read on for an email to your state rep and an email to your state senator to send this week and share.
Thank you for all you do.
In solidarity, Jonathan Cohn Policy Director Progressive Massachusetts
Tell Your State Rep: MA Wants Bold Climate Action
This summer has already seen some heat records broken, and we should expect more. Climate change isn’t just an issue for the future; it’s here today, and it’s urgent that our elected officials act with the urgency the situation requires.
On June 25, the Senate passed Bill S.2838, An Act Upgrading the Grid and Protecting Ratepayers. While the bill makes some strides towards dismantling the gas system, it left out key demands of Environmental Justice communities across Massachusetts such as:
A robust cumulative impact analysis tied to siting approval
Tell Your State Senator: Strengthen Privacy Rights
Currently, there is no law in Massachusetts or federally to prevent the sale and purchase of cell phone location data. Every day, companies collect and sell sensitive location information from cell phones, revealing information about where we live, work, and socialize.
Here’s just one example: Politico recently reported that a data broker company tracked people’s visits to nearly 600 Planned Parenthood clinics in 48 states, including Massachusetts. The company sold that data to inform one of the largest anti-abortion ad campaigns targeting specific individuals. If anti-abortion extremists can use cellphone location data to target abortion seekers with ads, they can also use that data to target, harass, or threaten patients and providers in our state.
There is a bill to fix this: the Location Shield Act, which would ban the sale of cellphone location data to protect the privacy and safety of all Massachusetts residents.
The MA House is planning to vote on a narrowed version of this bill this week. It’s vital that the Senate take up the Location Shield Act so that MA can be a leader on protecting privacy rights.
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