HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3103        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2841

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Carolyn C. Dykema

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to expand the green communities program to mitigate climate change.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Carolyn C. Dykema

8th Middlesex

1/18/2019

Joan Meschino

3rd Plymouth

1/18/2019

Josh S. Cutler

6th Plymouth

1/22/2019

Steven Ultrino

33rd Middlesex

1/22/2019

Frank A. Moran

17th Essex

1/22/2019

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

1/22/2019

Dylan A. Fernandes

Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket

1/22/2019

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

1/23/2019

Maria Duaime Robinson

6th Middlesex

1/23/2019

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/24/2019

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

1/24/2019

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

1/24/2019

Natalie M. Higgins

4th Worcester

1/24/2019

James K. Hawkins

2nd Bristol

1/25/2019

Tram T. Nguyen

18th Essex

1/26/2019

Michael S. Day

31st Middlesex

1/28/2019

Danielle W. Gregoire

4th Middlesex

1/28/2019

Adrian C. Madaro

1st Suffolk

1/28/2019

Stephan Hay

3rd Worcester

1/28/2019

David M. Rogers

24th Middlesex

1/29/2019

Kevin G. Honan

17th Suffolk

1/29/2019

Jennifer E. Benson

37th Middlesex

1/29/2019

John C. Velis

4th Hampden

1/29/2019

Daniel M. Donahue

16th Worcester

1/29/2019

Ryan C. Fattman

Worcester and Norfolk

1/30/2019

Rebecca L. Rausch

Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex

1/30/2019

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

1/30/2019

Carmine Lawrence Gentile

13th Middlesex

1/30/2019

Carlos González

10th Hampden

1/30/2019

Daniel J. Hunt

13th Suffolk

1/30/2019

Denise Provost

27th Middlesex

1/31/2019

Mary S. Keefe

15th Worcester

1/31/2019

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/31/2019

José F. Tosado

9th Hampden

1/31/2019

James Arciero

2nd Middlesex

1/31/2019

Liz Miranda

5th Suffolk

2/1/2019

Tommy Vitolo

15th Norfolk

2/1/2019

Marjorie C. Decker

25th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Tami L. Gouveia

14th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Michael O. Moore

Second Worcester

2/1/2019

Richard M. Haggerty

30th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Jonathan Hecht

29th Middlesex

2/1/2019

William J. Driscoll, Jr.

7th Norfolk

2/1/2019

David Allen Robertson

19th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

2/1/2019

Bruce J. Ayers

1st Norfolk

2/1/2019

Mindy Domb

3rd Hampshire

2/1/2019

Michelle L. Ciccolo

15th Middlesex

2/1/2019

Alan Silvia

7th Bristol

2/1/2019

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

2/1/2019

David Biele

4th Suffolk

2/1/2019

Julian Cyr

Cape and Islands

2/1/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3103        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2841

By Ms. Dykema of Holliston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2841) of Carolyn C. Dykema and others that the Division of Energy Resources be directed to expand the green communities program to mitigate climate change.  Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act to expand the green communities program to mitigate climate change.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 25A of the General Laws is hereby amended in section 10 by striking subsection (b) in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following new subsection:--

(b) The division shall establish a green communities program. The purpose of the program shall be to provide technical and financial assistance, in the form of grants and loans, to municipalities and other local governmental bodies that qualify as green communities and or green plus communities under this section. These loans and grants shall be used to finance all or a portion of the costs of studying, designing, constructing and implementing energy efficiency activities, including but not limited to, energy conservation measures and projects; procurement of energy management services; installation of energy management systems; adoption of demand side reduction initiatives; deployment of energy storage, microgrids, or district energy systems connected to renewable energy generation; installation of zero-emissions vehicles, charging equipment or infrastructure, or related technologies; coordination of residential or small business clean energy outreach, technical assistance, or financing programs; and the adoption of energy efficiency policies. They shall also be used to finance the siting and construction of renewable and alternative energy projects on municipally-owned land.

SECTION 2. Said section 10 is hereby further amended by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection:--

(c ½ ) To qualify as a green plus community, a municipality or other governmental body shall: (1) file an application with the division in a form and manner to be prescribed by the division; (2)  establish an greenhouse gas emissions baseline inventory for residential, commercial and industrial buildings sited within the municipality, which may also include transportation and other sources of emissions within the municipality; (3) put in place a comprehensive program whose implementation begins within 1 year from the date of initial participation in the program, designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions baseline inventory by a percentage approved by the division that is not less than 20 per cent within 5 years of initial participation in the program; and (4) fulfill qualifications subsection 2 through 6 inclusive of the green community program as described in section (c). Preference shall be given to those municipalities that include additional sources of emissions within their greenhouse gas emissions baseline inventory. Not later than one year after the adoption of this section, the division shall adopt a tracking system for community-wide greenhouse gas emissions, to include but not be limited to the building, transportation, energy, and waste sectors that can be used by municipalities. The secretary may waive these requirements based on a written finding that due to unusual circumstances, a municipality cannot reasonably meet all of the requirements and the municipality has committed to alternative measures that advance the purposes of the green plus communities program as effectively as adherence to the requirements.

SECTION 3. Said section 10 is hereby further amended in subsection (d) by striking the figure “20,000,000” and inserting in place thereof “40,000,000 with not less than $10,000,000 going to green plus communities”.

SECTION 4. Said section 10 is hereby further amended in subsection (e) by inserting at the end the following sentence:--

“The division may also adopt regulations enabling those communities served by municipal lighting plants to participate in the green communities program through alternate means which shall include consideration of, but not be limited to, a funding match from municipal light plant on behalf of the served community.”