350 Mass Legislative Agenda for 2023-2024
Press your legislators to support our campaign priorities. We need to renovate 1 million homes with clean energy by 2030, replace high emitting vehicles with electric ones, increase solar energy, and much more. To get there, we need support in the legislature, which we can only build through grassroots organizing in districts across the state. Meet with your legislator and ask them to support our campaign priorities.
If they don’t say yes right away, consider organizing an event, writing a letter to the editor, or organizing calls to their office to show them that their constituents care about these bills. You can provide your legislators a link to a printable summary of 350 Mass’s legislative priorities for the 2023-2024 legislative session here. See summaries of our priority bills here.
Our Top Priority Bills
Environmental Justice
H.2131/S.1382: Outdoor and Indoor Air Quality for Communities Burdened by Transportation Pollution (Barber/Connolly, Jehlen) (Bill Summary)– Mandates reducing pollution, including airborne particulates, especially in environmental justice communities.
H.3187/S.2113: Energy Facilities Siting Reform (Madaro/DiDomenico) (Bill Summary)– Gives communities greater say over energy facility siting with a focus on environmental justice and public health.
Buildings
H.3232/S.2365: Zero Carbon Renovation Fund (Vargas/Gomez) (Bill Summary) - Allocate $250 million or more of ARPA funds or other funds to create a Zero Carbon Renovation Fund.
H.2894/S.1799: HERO Act (Montaño/Eldridge) (Bill Summary) - Raises revenue through the Deeds Excise Tax for affordable housing, housing vouchers and rental assistance for extremely low-income families and for climate resiliency and mitigation.
H.3203/S.2105: The Future of Clean Heat (Owens/Creem) (Bill Summary) – To transition off gas and onto sources of non-combusting renewable thermal energy. It requires and supports the transition for gas companies, their customers, and their workers. Would ban the use of hydrogen and renewable natural gas in the gas distribution system.
Transportation
H.3392/S.2217: (Owens, Armini/Crighton) Setting Deadlines to Electrify the MBTA Commuter Rail – Starting with the Fairmount-Indigo, Newburyport/ Rockport (goes through Chelsea and Lynn), and Providence lines.
Other
H.872/S.481: Polluters Pay (Owens/Eldridge) (Bill Summary) – Better Future Project bill to require superfund-like payments from major polluters as measured by emissions from 2000-19, raising $75 billion over 25 years for adaptation projects statewide.
Other Bills We Support
Environmental and Labor Justice
H.1438/S.941: Access to Justice (Day/Crighton, Miranda) – Would require only that a project has actual negative effects on an EJ community rather than the current standard of intended negative effect.
H.1865/S.1179: A Just Transition to Clean Energy (LeBoeuf, Robinson/Feeney, Timilty) – Helps workers displaced by the transition from fossil fuels.
H.1864/S.1955: Clean Energy Workforce Standards and Accountability (Decker/Feeney) – Requires wage standards, training, & diversity in state-funded climate projects.
HD.3802/S.2127: Healthy and sustainable schools (Decker/Feeney) – Energy audits for all schools
Buildings
H.3236/S.2176: An Act sparking the construction of 21st century buildings (Vitolo/Payano) – The Spark Act ensures that newly constructed buildings have a reduced carbon footprint as compared to current building codes.
Electric Grid
HD.3317: Establishing Solar Neighborhoods/Increasing Solar Rooftop Energy (Connolly/Lewis) – Requires all new buildings be built to accommodate the installation of a solar energy system on their roofs and certain categories of new buildings be required to have a solar energy system.
H.3137: Intervenors and Utility Work (Armini) – Legislators, ratepayers, and the public living in the utility’s service area, as well as non-profit organizations with expertise in the law of utilities, will have intervenor’s standing in front of the Department of Public Utilities.
H.3219: – Supporting Load Aggregation Programs (Roy) – Requires the Department of Public Utilities to decide about approving municipalities’ community choice electricity applications within six months or else the applications are automatically approved.
Transportation
H.3272/S.2277: Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Advancement bill (Blais/S. Moran) – Increase regional transit accessibility in the Commonwealth; supports the RTA’s that provide public transit in parts of Massachusetts outside the Greater Boston area.
H.3315/S.2271: Electrification of the Fairmount commuter rail line (Fluker-Oakley/ Miranda) – Includes affordability, accessibility, and frequency improvements.
H.3366/S.2285: RTA Bus Electrification (LeBouef,Oliveira) – Complete bus electrification, in steps, by 2035
H.3139/S.2218: Fleet Electrification (Barber,Meschino/Crighton) – Require all publicly owned and leased fleets (state, municipal, school bus fleets with 25 or more vehicles) to be electric by 2035 and prioritize deployment in fleets serving EJ populations.
Other
H.755/S.2091: RESPECT – Reforming Energy System Planning for Equity and Climate Transformation (Blais/Comerford) – Acadia Center bill to reform energy planning by separating planning for and owning of utilities.
S.2082: Mass Save Reform (Barrett) – Move governance of Mass Save from the utilities to an appointed board. Rename Mass Save to Commonwealth Clean Heating Initiative.
H.2909/S.1866: Preventing High-income Tax Avoidance (O’Day/Lewis)-- A married couple must file a joint return for any year in which they file a joint federal income tax return.
H.2908/S.1865: Protect the Intent of the Fair Share Amendment (O’Day/Lewis) – Separate Fair Share revenues from regular capital gains revenues.
H.420: Establish fashion sustainability and social accountability (Rogers,Nguyen) – Require every fashion seller in the Commonwealth to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence for the portions of their business related to apparel or footwear.
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