MASSACHUSETTS IS POISED to adopt sweeping climate legislation that will set ambitious goals for the Commonwealth to reduce emissions by 2050. No one doubts the importance of this effort or the need to make commitments to the adoption of clean energy. The question, rather—particularly when it comes to housing—is how do we get there. For […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inThe Download
Legislature slowly restarts with rules, new committees
The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the urgency of business before the state Legislature, but the 2021 legislative session has started at its usual slow pace. Lawmakers quickly passed a climate change bill – basically a holdover from last session when they passed the bill too late to override a gubernatorial veto. Otherwise, a month […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Legislature slowly restarts with rules, new committees
THE COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the urgency of business before the state Legislature, but the 2021 legislative session has started at its usual slow pace. Lawmakers quickly passed a climate change bill – basically a holdover from last session when they passed the bill too late to override a gubernatorial veto. Otherwise, a month […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Lawmakers creating more paid leadership positions
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE CREATION of three new legislative committees to focus on the state’s COVID-19 response, racial equality and cybersecurity will come at a cost of $137,672 to taxpayers, according to a calculation based on the 2017 pay law. House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka announced Wednesday night that they […]
Posted inEnvironment
Let’s try this (climate change bill) again
WITH LITTLE FANFARE and no drama, the House and Senate on Thursday enacted and sent to the governor the same climate change bill he vetoed on January 14. The Senate approved the bill on a series of voice votes and the House enacted it by a vote of 144-14, with 13 of the 31 Republicans […]
Posted inOpinion
No rules? No problem on Beacon Hill
THE VERY IMPORTANT rules debate is soon to be upon us, where lawmakers set forth the framework under which the entirety of the two-year legislative session will take place. Just like in sports, teams must establish rules before they can take to the field and compete. Under the leadership of Senate President Karen Spilka and […]
Posted inOpinion
Pass the climate change bill again
IN VETOING An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,Gov, Charlie Baker contradicted his stated commitment to climate leadership, undermined the state’s clean energy sector, and dealt a[nother] blow to environmental justice communities in the Commonwealth. The explanation provided in a five-page letter falsely pits economic growth against climate, health, and equity in […]
Posted inEnvironment
Theoharides explains $6b cost figure
THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE between Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature on climate change legislation comes down to an issue where the two sides don’t seem very far apart at all. Baker, in his roadmap for getting to net zero emissions by 2050, set a target for 2030 of a 45 percent reduction in emissions below […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Voters hold Beacon Hill in high esteem
POLITICS IS NOT all toxic. Here in Massachusetts, voters hold political leaders in very high regard. The state Legislature has climbed to 65 percent approval in a poll we released last week, the highest we have seen in our polling going back over a decade. Gov. Charlie Baker sports a 73 percent approval rating and […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mariano, Spilka take defiant tone on climate change
HOUSE SPEAKER Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka on Tuesday set in motion passage of the same climate change bill that passed the Legislature last session and was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Baker. The two leaders issued a statement with a defiant tone, taking issue with several of the points Baker made in his […]