On June 24, Governor Maura Healey filed An Act to build resilience for Massachusetts communities, or the Mass Ready Act, an environmental bond bill that will invest in the state’s natural and working lands, waterways and watersheds, and in our communities to make them ready for and resilient against the impact of climate change.
This is a can’t miss opportunity for our region. Between Connecticut River flooding, inadequate payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land, farms and farmers grappling with high costs and climate change, the Quabbin Reservoir and watershed, PFAS contamination, and hundreds of culverts and dams — environmental protection and climate resilience is particularly important for our district.
Although the legislature has passed major clean energy and climate legislation each session that I have served in the Senate, we have not passed an environmental bond bill since 2018.
So I was more than ready for the Mass Ready Act to be filed. I started meeting with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) about this legislation nine months ago, sending this initial memo in September 2024, followed by this memo in October 2024.
In November 2024, municipalities, legislators, and regional planning associations all along the Connecticut River joined together to request the creation of a Connecticut River Resilience Fund in the environmental bond bill.
As 2024 turned to 2025, I kept the advocacy going, meeting with the Climate Chief, the EEA Secretary, and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance — asking them to include our priorities in the bill filed by the Governor.
On Tuesday, my Chief of Staff Jared attended the Governor’s announcement of this legislation. Constituent Ben Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farms spoke at the bill filing about the importance of this bill for helping farmers grapple with the impacts of climate change.
The bill filed by the Governor is a very good start. An overview of the bill is here, as well as policy briefs on:
I want it to go further on reforming payments in lieu of taxes for state owned land, equity for the Quabbin Region, Connecticut River resilience, and ideally it would also include a no net loss of forests and farmland policy.
Now that it has been filed, it will be sent to a Joint Committee where it will have a public hearing, and I am looking forward to digging in further and to hearing your ideas for how the bill could be made even stronger. Stay tuned for a July hearing date and time!
