Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Honorable Mark J. Cusack, House Chair
The Honorable Michael J. Barrett, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
State House, Boston
Dear Chair Cusack, Chair Barrett, and distinguished members of the committee,
The Massachusetts Municipal Association writes to express our strong support for H. 3449 and S. 2292, An Act to Empower Local Climate Action. This legislation, filed by Chair Christine Barber in the House and Chair Patricia Jehlen in the Senate, would empower 10 additional municipalities to participate in the Department of Energy Resources Municipal Fossil Fuel-Free Building Demonstration Program. As the organization representing all 351 cities and towns of the Commonwealth, we request your support for this reasonable expansion.
Thanks to the great leadership of the Legislature, An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind was signed by the Governor during the 192nd General Court. This legislation was developed over months of careful review, and contained the enabling language for this program. With the passage of the law, DOER set off to implement this section of Chapter 179 of the Acts of 2022. But, even before the passage of this law, cities and towns across Massachusetts brought forward home rule petitions requesting approval to limit fossil fuel use city- and town-wide.
As you know, the final spot for the Municipal Fossil Fuel-Free Building Demonstration Program was highly competitive. Additional communities considered applying for the program, but were hesitant to, knowing there was only one available opportunity left.
In 2022, the Massachusetts Municipal Association deliberately supported the section containing this demonstration program as a meaningful way to enable local governments who wish to go above and beyond traditional energy efficiency or decarbonization actions to do so. We knew that additional municipalities would want to participate, and encouraged the Legislature to remain open to the idea of gradual expansion.
Three years later, we supported filing this bill to reflect our membership’s desire to revisit the enabling legislation and the existing constraints of this program.
With 10 communities committed to participate in this process and report data to DOER, they set off to implement what might be an imperfect program. Through these pilot communities’ efforts, the Department was able to release its first report on the program in September. In that report, the department stated that “continuing the Demonstration Project will enable DOER to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of its impact and potential policy implications.”
The MMA knows that local governments are laboratories for good policy. They constantly seek to redesign service delivery, test solutions, and identify best practices other cities and towns can learn from. The enabling legislation permitted just 10 municipalities to find a way to successfully ban fossil fuel use in new building construction and major renovations. Neither the law nor the regulations prescribed exactly how these bans would be implemented, and our communities have responded in slightly different ways.
The program’s participants represent just 10 municipalities, in four counties, with the participating communities sharing certain attributes, like relative geographical proximity and financial capacity or wealth. Much more could be learned from a slightly expanded program put forward in this bill, such as the differences in exemptions and the needs for adjustments to be politically feasible in different regions of the Commonwealth.
It is important to note that this expanded program remains a local option. Additionally, this law does not remove the application process and review process managed by the Department of Energy Resources. The program remains one with clear expectations and obligations that participating municipalities will need to meet and comply with over the lifetime of this demonstration project.
We believe this legislation is a fair and reasonable next step toward reaching our shared climate goals over time, enabling local climate progress during times of federal uncertainty. We urge the Committee to give H. 3449 and S. 2292 a favorable report.
Thank you very much for your review and consideration. If you have any questions or desire further information, please do not hesitate to have your office contact me or MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Josie Ahlberg at any time.
Sincerely,
Adam Chapdelaine
MMA Executive Director and CEO