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NextGen Roadmap Bill Will Step up Pace of Effort to Slow Climate Change
Today the Conference Committee on Climate is pleased to issue its report, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy (S.2995).
This bill is a climate toolkit. Reducing emissions to net zero is the contribution Massachusetts must make to the nation’s, and the world’s, larger climate effort. No question, doing our part is a big lift. With the tools the Legislature brings together here, we can construct the response we need and provide a blueprint to other states. The toolkit approach is not a vision statement. It is not abstract or general. It is detailed. It is concerned with the practical. It focuses relentlessly on the work of reducing greenhouse gases, creating jobs, and protecting the vulnerable. It’s about the ‘how’ of it, as in “Here’s how we get this done, one step at a time, starting now.”
Lawmakers release compromise climate change bill
Commonwealth Magazine
The climate change bill includes a host of provisions that spell out how the state should move forward and on what terms, but perhaps its biggest impact is that it gives those terms the force and durability of law.
“Without the force of law, it can all evaporate with the next governor,” said Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, the lead Senate negotiator on the bill, in a phone interview.
State Sen. Barrett obtains funding for local nonprofits
Waltham Tribune
The Massachusetts Senate and Statehouse recently gave final approval to the state’s budget for the current fiscal year, which included amendments written by State Sen. Mike Barrett, D-Waltham, aimed at funneling $225,000 to programs in the city.
State Sen. Mike Barrett obtains funding for Chelmsford Senior Center
Chelmsford Wicked Local
The Massachusetts Senate and House gave final approval to the state’s budget for the current fiscal year. State Sen. Mike Barrett, who represents Chelmsford, wrote an amendment to secure an additional grant of $25,000 for the Chelmsford Senior Center.
The $25,000 will go to support the Senior Center’s Nutrition Program. Since the start of the COVID pandemic in March, the Program has provided between 140-160 home-delivered meals per day.
Barrett, Gordon Secure Military Mitigation School Aid
Bedford Citizen
The Mass. Senate and House have given final approval to the state’s budget for the current fiscal year.
With help from local State Representative Ken Gordon, Bedford’s State Senator Mike Barrett secured funding to mitigate the costs the town incurs for educating children of families living on nearby military bases. More than one-hundred Hanscom Air Force Base students attend high school at local expense.
Waltham Field Station: Bill passed this week enables purchase by City
Waltham Tribune
With a week before Thanksgiving, the tenants at 240 Beaver St. have a major milestone to be thankful for: the approval of a bill at the State House that will enable the purchase sale agreement of the land between owner—UMass Amherst, and buyer—the City of Waltham.
UMass is a state agency which means that Waltham’s legislative delegation needed to pass a special law authorizing the sale, according to Senator Michael Barrett’s office.
Bad things happen to presidents who trash-talk Philadelphia, and other things we learned in the election.
New Massachusetts Law Enhancing Unemployment Benefits Supported by Rep. Gordon and Sen. Barrett
Bedford Citizen
Representative Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) and Senator Mike Barrett (D-Lexington) joined their colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature on Monday, October 26 to pass An Act relative to additional unemployment benefits for the neediest recipients currently excluded from the Lost Wages Assistance program, which enhances unemployment benefits for certain Massachusetts workers by as much as $1,800 each. The Governor signed the legislation into law last week.