SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2078        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2305

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Julian Cyr

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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 mitigate the climate impact of private and corporate air travel.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2078        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2305

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act to mitigate the climate impact of private and corporate air travel.

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 90 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting in section 35 the following new definitions:-

(r) "Personal Aircraft", an aircraft owned by an individual for their personal air travel use and use by their guests with the permission of the owner.

(s) "Corporate Owned Aircraft", an aircraft owned by a corporation for air travel use by its officers and their associates and guests.

(t) “Aircraft Charter Rental Corporation”, a corporation that provides aircraft for private air travel needs to persons and corporations through a rental agreement.

(u) “Charter Rental Aircraft”, an aircraft rented by an aircraft charter rental corporation for private aviation travel needs to persons and corporations through a rental agreement.

(v) “Scheduled Commercial Passenger Air Transportation”, an aircraft that is operated by a commercial airline company to transport scheduled paying customer passengers to domestic and international locations.

(w) “Freight or Cargo Aircraft”, an aircraft operated by a corporation or non-profit organization, including courier service corporations, to deliver goods to domestic and international locations.

SECTION 2. Chapter 90 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 51N the following new sections:-

Section 51O. An airport commission governing a municipal or county owned airport or the board of directors of the Massachusetts port authority shall assess a climate impact landing fee of not less than one thousand dollars on personal aircraft, corporate owned aircraft and charter rental aircraft each time that any such an aircraft is to land at an airport in the commonwealth.

Nothing in this section shall pertain to public aircraft, scheduled commercial passenger air transportation, freight or cargo aircraft.

Section 51P. An airport commission governing a municipal or county owned airport or the board of directors of the Massachusetts port authority shall retain not less than 50 per cent of the proceeds from each climate impact landing fee received by such an entity. Not less that 50 per cent of the proceeds from each climate impact landing fee received by such an entity shall be deposited in the transportation infrastructure climate adaptation fund.

Section 51Q. There shall be established and set up on the books of the Commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the transportation infrastructure climate adaptation fund, which shall be administered exclusively by the secretary of the Massachusetts department of transportation. There shall be credited to the fund all revenue received pursuant to section 51P of chapter 90, sums received by the commonwealth or from the federal government as grants and appropriations, state grants and appropriations, funds made available by the secretary, and private contributions and gifts. The secretary shall report annually on January 1st by source all amounts credited to the fund and all expenditures by subsidiary made from the fund to the chairs of the joint committee on transportation. Amounts remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund and shall be available for expenditure in the next fiscal year and thereafter.

The fund shall be used by the Massachusetts department of transportation to invest in infrastructure owned by the commonwealth that requires repair and adaptation due to the effects of climate change.

SECTION 3. Section 2 shall take effect on January 1, 2022.