{"id":146,"date":"2026-06-18T13:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:35:20","slug":"house-committee-strips-senate-policy-plans-from-environmental-bond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

IN NEARLY ALL RESPECTS<\/mark><\/strong>, the roughly $3 billion environmental borrowing bill the House expects to pass Wednesday is more narrow than the version that cleared the Senate two months ago.<\/p>\n

Read more New report urges state to think small on housing crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

The House Ways and Means Committee slimmed the Senate\u2019s bond authorizations (S 3064) down by more than 20 percent, advancing a new draft Tuesday that would authorize $3.078 billion in borrowing compared to the Senate-supported $3.94 billion. And the policy end of things is lighter as well, with representatives backing a bill that does not include Senate policy riders like the ban on single-use plastic carryout bags at all retailers or restrictions on disposable utensils and other plastic food service products.<\/p>\n

A committee spokesman said the version that will hit the House floor Wednesday (H 5510) hews more closely to the $2.9 billion proposal Gov. Maura Healey filed a year ago, particularly when it comes to policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is perhaps no responsibility more fundamental to the role of government than ensuring that residents have access to clean drinking water and are breathing clean air. This legislation is the latest example of Massachusetts\u2019 ironclad commitment to protecting our environment and to leading the fight against climate change,\u201d House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said in a joint statement. \u201cAt the same time, the bill takes steps to ensure that the Commonwealth\u2019s environmental regulations aren\u2019t unnecessarily burdensome when issuing permits for new housing developments and other critical infrastructure projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s so-called Plastics Reduction Act was not the only policy rider that representatives stripped out. House Ways and Means also cut from the Senate-passed bill provisions dealing with public shade tree laws and arborist licensing changes, restrictions on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, a section addressing ocean acidification, the framework for a statewide paint recycling program that would be financed by a fee tacked onto the sale of cans of paint, and a series of Senate-created commissions or studies.<\/p>\n

The House preserved some Senate tweaks to Healey\u2019s idea to speed up permitting involving waterways and environmental reviews, including by allowing the secretary of energy and environment to exempt specific housing and natural restoration projects from requiring an environmental impact report under the MEPA process and allowing certain public waterfront projects to advance on a single general license instead of being put through individual licensing processes.<\/p>\n

When Healey filed her proposal a year ago, she said she had specifically tasked her administration with finding ways to get projects through the permitting maze faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a charge to our team: streamline those regulations, streamline the permitting. We\u2019ve got a lot to do, and we\u2019ve got to get after it and get it done as quickly as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a speech to business leaders last week, Senate President Karen Spilka decried barriers to progress on housingsuch as \u201cpermitting processes, approval timelines, outdated rules, and systems built for a different era.\u201d She said she wanted to \u201ctake on the maze of procedural hurdles, inconsistent review processes, duplicative approvals and uncertainty that drive up costs and delay construction.\u201d <\/p>\n

Like Healey\u2019s original filing, the House Ways and Means bill would also launch a \u201cResilience Revolving Fund\u201d that could provide low-interest loans to municipalities for resilience projects that are recommended by an advisory board created alongside the new fund. The fund would be administered by the Clean Water Trust board, which the bill would empower to issue special-obligation bonds to capitalize the fund.<\/p>\n

The House did add some policy ideas of its own to the advancing bill. Among them is a new DEP program to provide grants \u201cto support municipal flood risk protection programs,\u201d with priority allowed for \u201cflood control projects that pose the greatest risk to public health or safety, or to the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Powerful real estate group says it\u2019s open to rent control compromise<\/a><\/p>\n

The House is also looking to funnel $50 million into the Healthy Homes Program, created by the 2024 housing law to \u201caddress residential habitability concerns and create a healthier environment for residents, including, but not limited to, rehabilitating existing housing or making homes lead-safe.\u201d That program is administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.<\/p>\n

On the bonding side, the House Ways and Means bill includes authorization of $1.03 billion for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs at the secretary\u2019s office level. That includes $315 million for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program, $250 million for coastal infrastructure and resilience, and $120 million for conservation and open space projects. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere within EEA\u2019s organization chart, the bill includes $292.9 million in authorizations for the Department of Environmental Protection, including for PFAS remediation and municipal flood-risk protection grants. There is also $385 million for the Clean Water Trust, also including for PFAS remediation. It would also authorize a total $838.46 million across Department of Conservation and Recreation accounts, to cover things like maintenance of state-owned dams, coastal infrastructure resilience, work on parks and trails, and work at properties like parks, rinks and pools.<\/p>\n

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said when Healey filed her plan a year ago that about 200 of the state\u2019s 3,000 dams are in \u201cpoor condition,\u201d and warned that many of the 25,000 culverts and small bridges sprinkled across Massachusetts \u201care too small for the kind of rain that we are now getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House committee took its eraser to some sections of the Senate-passed bill, stripping out almost $180 million worth of Senate earmarks (look for much of that pot to be replaced Wednesday by House earmarks), a $25 million outlay for PFAS-free firefighter turnout gear grants, $22 million for a municipal grant program, a $15 million pot for grants related to clean thermal energy systems on public property, and more.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance the new draft, no one voted against its advancement, eight Republicans responded but did not take a yes or no stance, and five Democrats did not respond to the committee poll. By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, representatives had already filed more than 470 amendments they would like considered.<\/p>\n

Once the bill clears the House, as is expected Wednesday, its next stop will be a six-person House-Senate conference committee. Conference panels are currently in place in an effort to come up with consensus bills addressing immigrant protections, public higher education infrastructure, student cellphone use and social media restrictions, and the fiscal 2027 annual state budget. <\/p>\n

Beacon Hill typically approves an environmental bond bill once every several years to authorize state borrowing for near-term projects. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the prior iteration, a $2.4 billion package, in 2018.<\/p>\n

However, like other bond bills, not all of the approved dollars actually get deployed because the state faces a lower cap on annual borrowing. The most recent state capital investment plan for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 lists a five-year bond cap of just more than $1.18 billion for energy and environmental affairs.<\/p>\n

Read more At Massport\u2019s urging, Healey signs tax break for sustainable aviation fuel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House Ways and Means Committee slimmed the Senate’s bond authorizations (S 3064) down by more than 20 percent, advancing a new draft Tuesday that would authorize\u00a0$3.078 billion in borrowing compared to the Senate-supported $3.94 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nHouse committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The House Ways and Means Committee slimmed the Senate's bond authorizations (S 3064) down by more than 20 percent, advancing a new draft Tuesday that would authorize\u00a0$3.078 billion in borrowing compared to the Senate-supported $3.94 billion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worcester Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0\"},\"headline\":\"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146\"},\"wordCount\":1171,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146\",\"name\":\"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg\",\"width\":1198,\"height\":1082},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?p=146#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Worcester Moving Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worcestermovingreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report","og_description":"The House Ways and Means Committee slimmed the Senate's bond authorizations (S 3064) down by more than 20 percent, advancing a new draft Tuesday that would authorize\u00a0$3.078 billion in borrowing compared to the Senate-supported $3.94 billion.","og_url":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146","og_site_name":"Worcester Moving Report","article_published_time":"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0"},"headline":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond","datePublished":"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146"},"wordCount":1171,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg","articleSection":["Environment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146","url":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146","name":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond - Worcester Moving Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-18T13:35:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0876b97133d65e32e36917afa906df0.jpg","width":1198,"height":1082},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=146#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House committee strips Senate policy plans from environmental bond"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/","name":"Worcester Moving Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/690f2c82d115bde885a331998fa0eae0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}