Gov. Charlie Baker. Photo by Sam Doran | State House News Service/file
Gov. Charlie Baker is seriously considering a veto of climate legislation that would commit Massachusetts to going carbon neutral by 2050, according to multiple sources, raising deep fears within the environmental community that the bill’s failure could send a troubling signal to other states looking to Massachusetts as a guidepost. Business groups and the real estate industry have raised significant concerns about the bill.
Baker has not yet decided what he will do, but members of his administration have told stakeholders that there is a possibility he will pocket veto the legislation by taking no action on the bill. The governor has until Thursday to act on the legislation that was passed Jan. 4, and if he doesn’t sign it the bill will simply die.
Baker, according to sources, agrees with most major elements of the legislation (S.2995), including the statewide requirement of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the advancement of offshore wind. Baker set an identical emission reduction goal by executive action earlier this year.
The governor, however, has concerns with some of the interim reduction targets set by the bill, and would prefer a less prescriptive and cost-conscious approach to reducing carbon emissions than the sector-by-sector approach outlined in the legislation.
“Some grave concern setting in,” said one person familiar with the administration’s process, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
An advisor to the governor said Baker was “still reviewing” the legislation.
Feasibility of Net-Zero Buildings Questioned
The pressure to sign the bill is coming from many lawmakers and environmental groups, though the real estate industry and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce have flagged areas of concern to them as well.
In addition to committing the state to net-zero emissions by 2050, the bill would establish energy efficiency standards for appliances and authorize additional purchases of offshore wind power, solidifying wind as the backbone of the state’s transition to clean energy transition. If Baker signs the bill into law, Massachusetts would have the most ambitious timeline for reducing carbon emissions in the country, surpassing even New York and California.
Without directly asking the governor to veto the bill, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney last week wrote a letter to Secretary Theoharides asking the administration to “carefully consider” the short-term and long-term impact of a municipal opt-in stretch energy code for new construction.
Rooney said that even while “well-intended” the stretch energy code provision would create a patchwork of building codes around the state.
“Where technologically feasible, constructing net-zero buildings is costly and sometimes cost prohibitive. Whether it is commercial or residential construction, the costs of implementing this provision will immediately be passed along to buyers and renters, threatening to exacerbate our housing crisis and undermine our economic recovery,” Rooney wrote.
Baker did not file an equivalent bill to the mash-up that landed on his desk, though he did declare his support for going carbon neutral by 2050 in his State of the Commonwealth address last January.
Instead, Baker last session proposed to raise $1 billion over the next decade by increasing the real estate transfer tax to invest in climate change mitigation projects. The higher tax would have raised $137 million a year. Former House Speaker Robert DeLeo responded with his own “Green Works” bill to instead borrow more than $1 billion over the next 10 years, but neither proposal gained traction in the Senate.
‘A Real Betrayal’
Baker is said to be frustrated with the legislature that they would send him a bill with so many complex pieces so close to the end of the session, giving him few options to respond.
The governor and his team also feel they were “boxed out of the conference committee negotiation process,” despite lawmakers knowing how the lateness of the bill would tie his hands, according to someone who has spoken to officials in the administration.
At the tail end of a two-year session, House and Senate negotiators struck a deal and passed the climate bill just days before they ended their session. Now, Baker can either sign the legislation or let it die on his desk, but no longer has an opportunity to offer amendments.
“A veto now would feel very odd and be very unfortunate. A real betrayal,” Sen. Michael Barrett, the lead negotiator for the Senate on the bill. “It would also feel a little bit like a setup since they had time to approach us about a meeting in the middle.”
Barrett said that Baker had a year since last January when the Senate passed its original bill to raise those concerns, but never approached him. He said it’s no excuse that the administration only late last month published its “roadmap” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The level of anxiety with respect to the future of the bill reached the point Tuesday where one environmental group told the News Service conversations were already underway about what a campaign might look like to revive the bill in the new session.
“I am nervous. I think Governor Baker may not sign this and I empathize with what I imagine is his frustration with receiving this bill at the last moment. Climate change is an issue he cares a lot about,” said Environmental League of Massachusetts President Elizabeth Turnbull Henry. “It would be tragic if the timing and some of the smaller differences in policy opinion between the administration and the legislature lead to the whole bill being scrapped.”
