SENATE DEMOCRATS ADVANCED a $3.6 billion environmental bond bill on Wednesday, sending to the House a measure that would direct an influx of spending on local projects to strengthen the state’s dams, culverts, and coastal resilience as Massachusetts prepares for more frequent and severe extreme weather events.
The legislation that cleared the Senate by a 36-3 vote largely mirrors what Gov. Maura Healey initially filed last year, including a provision that would require home sellers to disclose their property’s flood history and risks to prospective buyers. Massachusetts is currently just one of 14 states not to require such disclosures.
The Senate did, however, insert a ban on single-use plastic bags at retail stores, something that the chamber passed last session before it failed to advance in the House.
Senate President Karen Spilka pressed that issue in a press conference earlier Wednesday, arguing that she was “inspired to call for a decrease in plastic pollution after seeing the devastating impact on marine animals.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, famous for his use of props during floor debates, used plastic and paper bags to rail against that part of the legislation, which would also charge consumers 10 cents per bag provided by the retailer. Under the proposal, half of that money would go back to the state with the other half retained by the store.
“I hope that we won’t inflict that pain,” said Tarr, who ultimately voted for the bill. “I hope that we won’t make that mistake.”
The Senate also raised the amount the state can borrow for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, a popular initiative that aids local resilience projects to combat extreme weather like floods and droughts, from the $315 million proposed by Healey to $500 million. And it maintained the creation of a new revolving loan program to continuously fund these types of projects.
The bond bill, the state’s first for environmental efforts since 2018, is meant by and large to address the state’s adaptation to a changing climate, as opposed to mitigating the pollution that fuels climate change. Bond authorizations — which allow the state to borrow money — like the ones in this legislation generally last for five years.
The bill includes a slew of other provisions, including authorization for the state to borrow $120 million for remediation of so-called forever chemicals in water. It also authorizes borrowing to increase accessibility of trails around the state and support agriculture and fishing industries and would establish a drought management task force.
The state would also be able to borrow $200 million to execute its ResilientCoasts plan. That outlines infrastructure needs to improve seawalls, raise roads and homes, and restore natural salt marshes. The plan also sets the state on a course to implement a voluntary buyout program as rising seas continue to threaten flood-prone homes, something that is currently being studied by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
The Senate rejected a proposed amendment from Tarr to put $75 million toward such a buyout program.
Still, as transformative as supporters say the legislation will be in issuing a critical down payment on the work needed to insulate Massachusetts as much as possible from the effects of climate change, the state’s own projections indicate that the scope and scale of past investments and even this one will not come close to meeting the need.
Massachusetts will need to spend between $90 and $130 billion on resilience investments through 2050, according to a state report, and the state could experience a staggering price tag of more than $1 billion in coastal property damage each year by the 2070s.
That level of spending is seen as critical to avert the substantial economic risks posed by increased flooding and dangerous storms — especially in the Bay State, where coastal communities from Boston’s commercial Seaport district to low-lying downtowns in places like Scituate to high-value properties near eroding cliffs in Nantucket are vulnerable.
“New sources of revenue from a variety of stakeholders including local, state and federal governments and private property owners are needed to meet the full scale of the challenge,” according to the ResilientCoasts plan, which found that every $1 invested in resilience and disaster preparedness can yield up to $13 in cost savings.
The need for new and greater sources of revenue is a cause for concern for Dan Zackin, legislative manager for 350 Mass, an environmental group. He points to an assessment from the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, which notes that most bond bills do not wind up fully budgeted, something that is the case thus far with the housing bond bill enacted in 2024.
“The environmental bond bill is a good start, but legislators who are serious about protecting residents from extreme heat and flooding need to pass progressive funding solutions like a climate bank or making big oil companies pay,” Zackin said.
Senators did approve a watered-down amendment to study the feasibility of a statewide climate bank.
