SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1824        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 566

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Pavel Payano

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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 support better commuting.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1824        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 566

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to support better commuting.

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. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection shall revise

310 Code of Massachusetts Regulation 7.16 as follows:

(1) Section 7.16 (1)(f) shall be amended as follows, replace ‘1,000’ with ‘250’

(2) At the end add:

“(11) beginning January 1, 2024, for the purposes of section 7.16 the term ‘affected facility’ means an employer who employs more than 250 individuals in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts”

“(12) employers who are members of transportation management associations are exempt from the requirements of section 7.16”

“(13) transportation management associations are required to submit reports for ‘affected facilities’ so long as they are members of such organization. Transportation management associations may submit consolidated reports for employers within its geographic service area”

“(14) employers and transportation management associations with drive alone rates less that 75% are only required to submit reports required by the section every two years”

SECTION 2. REPORTING – The Department of Environmental Protection shall consolidate reports and release to the public, at a minimum, the following information:

(1) Statewide drive alone rate

(2) Percentage of affected facilities that have drive alone rates below 75%

SECTION 3. INTERGOVERNMENTAL DATA SHARING – The Department of Environmental Protection shall share with the Department of Transportation all reported data and the Department of Transportation shall share any data, reports or statistics regarding commuting trends and drive alone rates within the commonwealth.  The Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation shall collaborate to analyze such information on a bi-annual basis.

SECTION 4. CARBON REDUCTION PLAN – The Department of Transportation shall take into consideration data and information provided by the Department of Environmental Protection when developing a carbon reduction strategy as required by United States Code Title 23 Section 175(d) and as appropriate, provide funding from such program to transportation management associations projects and programs aimed at reducing drive alone commute rates.