Legislature takes up climate resilience proposals

Gov. Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have each filed bills that would direct $1 billion in funding to the state’s climate change adaptation and mitigation priorities, though the funding mechanisms differ.

Both proposals would provide significant funding and technical assistance opportunities to municipalities.

The governor’s bill (S. 10) would raise the deed’s excise tax by 0.2 percent, from $2 to $3 per $500 in real property value, with the additional revenue directed to the Global Warming Solutions Trust to fund the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program and other climate resilience initiatives. Gov. Baker has estimated that the deeds tax increase would raise $137 million for the trust in its first year, and $1 billion over 10 years. The governor first announced the outlines of his bill at the MMA Annual Meeting in January.

S.10 had its first legislative hearing, before the Joint Committee on Revenue, in mid-June. The bill has not yet been reported out of the committee.

Affordable housing advocates have recommended doubling the deeds tax increase and splitting the additional revenue between climate resilience and housing initiatives.

Speaker DeLeo’s proposal, known as the GreenWorks bill, is a 10-year bond bill, at $100 million per year, that would fund a range of energy efficiency and climate adaptation measures. These would include investments in microgrid technology and electrification of transportation fleets; funding for sustainability coordinator positions within municipalities; and the creation of a GreenWorks infrastructure grant program modeled after the existing MassWorks economic development grant program.

The GreenWorks bill had its first hearing, before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, in mid-June and had a second hearing, before the House Bonding Committee, in early July. The MMA testified at both hearings in support of the GreenWorks bill.