Current News

/

ArcaMax

Major climate bill moves through Massachusetts Senate in rare out-of-session vote

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

BOSTON — The state Senate held a rare informal-session vote to accept a compromised version of a major new climate bill — just a day after Republicans blocked the proposal from moving forward — only to have the measure hit a House-sized speed bump soon after.

Upper chamber lawmakers accepted a newly revamped version of “An Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity and protecting ratepayers” on Thursday, after members of the Republican minority stopped the bill’s easy advancement through the legislative body while lawmakers are ostensibly out of office and unable to debate the merits of the law.

Ahead of the bill’s ultimate acceptance, Republican Minority Leader Bruce Tarr told his fellow senators that he would allow the vote and support the bill, but that he could not offer his blessings to circumvent the regular process on a regular basis.

“So I offer the order that is in the hands of the clerk, together with my good friend, the gentle lady from Salem, the chairman of the rules committee, so that — for this day and in this moment — we can achieve that which deserves to be achieved on behalf of the legislative process. But, I do so with the caveat that this is a mechanism for now. We should never let this practice be part of the everyday operation of this body or of the legislature more generally,” Tarr said.

The senators’ order allowed lawmakers to proceed with a floor vote despite the fact that their regular formal session ended on July 31. The order will allow lawmakers to take other votes through the end of the year as well, as long as they’re voting on a bill fresh from a joint conference committee.

The climate bill, as rewritten by a bipartisan joint committee of House and Senate lawmakers, was accepted by a vote of 38-2.

According to Sen. Michael Barrett, it’s a necessary step if the state hopes to maintain its position as a leader on climate change and meet self-imposed regulatory requirements to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

 

“We believe this keeps Massachusetts right in the leadership cadre of states, but it doesn’t go crazy. There’s nothing radical here. Everything has to do with balancing tests and taking multiple things into account, no mandates that will cause any of us to smart and to object to,” he said from the Senate floor.

The bill aims to move the state toward more clean energy resources and away from fossil-fuel based energy like natural gas. It aims to foster the installation of electrical vehicle charging stations, offshore wind projects, and electrical storage capacity, among other provisions.

The legislation was stopped short this summer over plans to legislate away the use of natural gas in new homes. That language is no longer part of the equation.

“In this statute, we don’t take away anybody’s gas, but we do say this, if you’re going to put new stuff into the ground, consider alternatives. Again. You’re not mandated to embrace them, just consider them, please,” Barrett said.

The bill could have had clear sailing through the out-of-session House, but it was held up there after Republican lawmakers pointed out there were not enough representatives present to constitute a quorum. House lawmakers will meet again on Monday.


©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus