On March 26, after lengthy negotiations between the governor and the Legislature, Governor Baker of Massachusetts signed landmark climate change legislation into law.
"An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy" (the Act) originated in the 2019-2020 legislative session as a collaborative effort to reconcile competing Senate and House bills. The original legislation, S.2995, was passed by the Senate and the House in the final days of the 2019-2020 legislative session, giving Governor Baker only a few days to sign, veto or offer amendments to the Act. Governor Baker vetoed the Act on January 14. Soon after this veto, on January 28, the Act was reintroduced as S.9, passed and placed back on the governor's desk. The governor returned the Act with amendments on February 8. The Legislature considered the governor's amendments and ultimately passed the Act, adopting the majority of Governor Baker's proposed amendments into the final version of the Act.
Governor Baker signed the Act on March 26, as Chapter 8 of the Acts of 2021. The key features of the Act are the following:
Most of the February 8 amendments proposed by Governor Baker were administrative in nature. The substantive amendments proposed were (1) that the emissions reduction target for 2030 should be within the range of 45 percent to 50 percent below the 1990 emissions levels rather than 50 percent below the 1990 emissions levels that were proposed in the Act; (2) that the sector-specific emissions targets should be "planning tools"; (3) that the environmental justice provisions of the Act should require the DEP to perform additional cumulative impact assessments before issuing certain permits; and (4) that the specialized stretch energy code (which is the energy code that emphasizes energy performance and sustainability) should be phased in as the existing stretch energy code is phased out to avoid excessive cost in the housing industry. The Legislature generally incorporated all of Governor Baker's administrative and substantive amendments in the final version of the Act, with the exception that the Legislature ultimately rejected Governor Baker's proposal to have the emissions target for 2030 be within the range of 45 percent to 50 percent.
The Act is the result of months of negotiations between Senate and House lawmakers and the governor. Its passage is a significant additional step toward the Commonwealth's goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, prioritize clean energy, reduce the impacts of climate change and affirm its commitment to offshore wind.
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