{"id":92,"date":"2026-05-31T04:05:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T04:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=92"},"modified":"2026-05-31T04:05:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T04:05:56","slug":"political-notebook-a-notable-absence-in-the-nature-for-massachusetts-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worcestermovingreport.com\/?p=92","title":{"rendered":"Political Notebook: A notable absence in the \u2018Nature for Massachusetts\u2019 coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEARLY 90 ENVIRONMENTAL<\/mark><\/strong> organizations, nonprofits, and even some private companies have signed on to endorse a ballot measure poised to land before voters this November that would dedicate as much as $100 million a year from the sales tax generated on sporting goods purchases to expand land conservation efforts. <\/p>\n

Read more Senate\u2019s new audit compliance raises more questions than it answers<\/a><\/p>\n

The coalition, unsurprisingly, includes some of the bigger names in the state focused on environmental issues: Conservation Law Foundation, Mass Audubon, The Trustees of Reservations, The Nature Conservancy, and even outdoors retailer REI. <\/p>\n

You won\u2019t find the Environmental League of Massachusetts on that list. <\/p>\n

ELM, one of the state\u2019s oldest advocacy organizations given its founding in 1898, is instead sitting this one out. The organization\u2019s campaign arm formally endorsed Gov. Maura Healey for reelection earlier this month. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the decision to not weigh in on the Nature for All ballot question due to capacity,\u201d said Leigh Chandler, an ELM spokesperson. \u201cWe\u2019re directing our staff hours toward closing out a strong legislative session and, on the ELM Action Fund side, supporting climate candidates.\u201d <\/p>\n

The ballot question has no formal opposition but met somewhat of a chilly reception from lawmakers at a related hearing earlier this year. <\/p>\n

DRAFTING THE AG<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n

It might seem, at first blush, like state officials are generally rowing in the same direction on tech policy. But Attorney General Andrea Campbell this week delicately side-eyed the way her office is getting dragged into an enforcement role on policies it had no place in crafting. <\/p>\n

At a government affairs forum hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Chamber president Jim Rooney pointed to data privacy legislation on Beacon Hill. \u201cThat\u2019s under serious consideration in the Legislature,\u201d he said. \u201cYour office will have a large role in the implementation. So I\u2019m assuming that your office is at the table as the Legislature considers this.\u201d <\/p>\n

Campbell interrupted with a smile. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou assume,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m smiling, \u2019cause folks will just file bills and say, \u2018Who\u2019s gonna enforce it? The AG, of course!\u2019 And we never asked, were never engaged. They\u2019re like, \u2018You\u2019re gonna do this, you\u2019re gonna do this.\u2019\u201d She and her staff will look at each other when bills like the data privacy one arise, Campbell said, \u201cbecause literally, \u2018oh, we didn\u2019t know it was us.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

On a practical level, the AG said, this does impact the way the office plans and prioritizes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always mindful because we want to make sure when we enforce something, we have the lawyers, the staff, the team to give to it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Campbell also described the manner in which her office has to certify potential ballot measures as \u201ca pet peeve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more Yet again, legislative competition in Massachusetts will be woeful<\/a><\/p>\n

At no point in the certification process, she noted, is her team asked to weigh in on the constitutionality of a ballot initiative petition. After the Supreme Judicial Court issued an advisory opinion that a ballot measure on legislative stipends was likely unconstitutional, Campbell\u2019s office withdrew its certification. <\/p>\n

The lack off constitutional analysis \u201cis ridiculous\u201d and \u201chas to change\u201d she said. \u201cWe have folks voting on something where the implementation of it could be unconstitutional, or parts of it. And how do you explain that to a voter who\u2019s going and exercising their civil right to vote? How do you explain that after the fact?\u201d <\/p>\n

An interlude in the Mass Save debate <\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n

While we wait for the Senate response to the House-passed energy affordability bill that would slash $1 billion from the budget of the state\u2019s energy efficiency program known as Mass Save, Healey\u2019s administration appeared to come to the initiative\u2019s defense on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources, told lawmakers that Mass Save \u201cbenefits all customers\u201d by delivering \u201cimpressive\u201d energy savings through home weatherization and heat pump installations provided at low or no cost. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe program administrators have been successful in maintaining an appropriate level of demand for the programs to serve as many customers as possible, while staying within the approved budgets,\u201d she testified before the Senate Committee on Climate Change and Global Warming. <\/p>\n

Even though the House effort was never name-checked directly during Mahony\u2019s appearance at the hearing, its undercurrents were obvious throughout. <\/p>\n

Sen. Cynthia Creem, a Democrat who chairs the panel, asked Mahony to speak to Mass Save\u2019s marketing and administration costs. House Democratic leaders argue that the program\u2019s $4.5 billion budget spread across three years has become overly bloated and emerged as their top target in the legislation for lowering consumer energy bills, which are among the highest in the nation. <\/p>\n

Mahony said less than 5 percent of the program goes toward marketing and administrative costs, a favorable rate compared with other states. <\/p>\n

Months after the House advanced its measure, Mass Save beneficiaries are now pressing their case to the Senate, arguing that \u201cmid-cycle budget cuts would be deeply harmful to local businesses and to customers.\u201d Nearly 150 contractors, energy managers, HVAC technicians, and electricians across Massachusetts warned lawmakers in a new letter obtained by CommonWealth Beacon<\/em> that the House\u2019s proposed cuts would \u201cjeopardize\u201d tens of thousands of clean energy jobs. <\/p>\n

Read more Saying \u2018people are afraid,\u2019 Healey lays out ICE guidance<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Environmental League of Massachusetts, one of the state\u2019s oldest advocacy organizations, is sitting out a ballot campaign backed by some of the bigger names in environmental advocacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nPolitical Notebook: A notable absence in the \u2018Nature for Massachusetts\u2019 coalition - 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=92\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Political Notebook: A notable absence in the \u2018Nature for Massachusetts\u2019 coalition - 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