The Legislature’s original bill would have allowed 10 communities — Cambridge, Newton, Brookline, Lexington, Arlington, Concord, Lincoln, Acton, Aquinnah, and West Tisbury — to adopt bans. To implement the bans, communities would first have to ensure at least 10 percent of their ...
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Massachusetts lawmakers OK compromise climate change bill – AP News
State Rep. Jeff Roy and State Sen. Mike Barrett, both Democrats, helped hammer out the compromise, combining elements of legislation approved separately by the House and Senate.“Massachusetts needs to open up huge new sources of green electric power if it’s to stay on course for ...
Senate passes big climate bill focused on getting to net-zero – WBUR.org
"Last year's climate bill was about laying out a plan for tackling this formidable challenge of climate change. This year, in this legislation, we propose to begin to execute on the plan. If you like metaphors, last year was about laying out a roadmap, today we start traveling ...
Legislature amends climate bill, leaving its fate in Governor Baker’s hands – Boston Globe
The Legislature’s original bill would have allowed 10 communities — Cambridge, Newton, Brookline, Lexington, Arlington, Concord, Lincoln, Acton, Aquinnah, and West Tisbury — to adopt bans. To implement the bans, communities would first have to ensure at least 10 percent of their housing is considered affordable under state law. All life sciences labs and health care facilities would also be exempt from the bans — a response to concerns from NAIOP Massachusetts, a lobby for developers and building owners, said Senator Mike Barrett.
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Mass. Senate adopts expansion of dangerousness law – Lowell Sun
Barrett, who was first elected to the Legislature in 1979, argued his colleagues were focusing too closely on a handful of harrowing anecdotes that would lead them to “overlegislate just as we did during the Bill Clinton years.”
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Massachusetts climate bill heads to Gov. Baker’s desk after last-minute Senate, House approval – Utility Dive
Lawmakers “agreed to a common disposition of several amendments proposed by Gov. Baker to a groundbreaking new climate bill for Massachusetts,” Sen. Mike Barrett, D, said in a statement. “Important ideas of his are included, the most notable of which is abolition of the so-called ‘price cap’ on what developers of offshore wind farms can charge for the electric power they produce.”
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Lawmakers Preparing to Send Updated Climate Bill Back to Baker – WHDH.com
Sen. Michael Barrett, who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy with Rep. Jeff Roy, said just before noon that he and Roy had agreed on a way to respond to the governor’s concerns. He said the House would take the matter up first.
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Baker in take-it-or-leave-it position on climate bill – CommonWealth Magazine
Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, his branch’s energy expert, was the lead champion of continuing the price cap, a provision that requires that each successive procurement come in at a lower price than the previous one.
Barrett had argued that a price cap was needed to protect utility customers, but on Sunday he accepted Baker’s proposal to do away with the cap entirely. “We’re willing to take the chance that even more jobs can come if we do away with price controls,” he said.
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