In 2021 then-Governor Charlie Baker enacted a law requiring Massachusetts to drastically cut its carbon emissions.
The law created three emission-reduction deadlines.
- By 2030 the state must cut its emissions by at least 50% of levels recorded in the 1990s.
- By 2040 emissions must 75% below 1990’s levels.
- Finally, by 2050, Massachusetts must have “net zero” carbon emissions.
These are legal mandates, not suggestions. And the state would certainly be sued if it failed to meet the required emissions levels.
Now there appears to be some wavering in the Democrat-controlled state house.
Representative Mark Cusack, a Democrat for 5th Norfolk House District, has authored a bill that may turn Baker’s legal mandates into non-binding advisories.
Under the proposed legislation, the state’s secretary of energy would have the authority to conclude that a mandate was not reached due to federal policy. If the secretary reached that conclusion, the mandate at issue would become unenforceable.
(To me, this seems like a way for state legislators to retreat from an asinine climate law and, at the same time, blame it on the Trump Administration.)
Additionally, the bill proposes a $500,000 budget cut for Mass Save. That program, which receives $4.5 billion annually, is funded by the state’s public utility customers.
Finally, under the proposed legislation, the state would end incentives for the 10 Massachusetts municipalities that require all new buildings to run on electricity.
Procedurally, the bill has a long way to go.
Today house members will give their opinions on the bill via an electronic poll.
The bill will then go to the House Committee on Ways and Means before (hopefully) making its way through the senate and then to the governor.