 Welcome everybody. My name is Amy Coolidge and I chair the Arlington Democratic Committee and did nothing to make this all happen. However I'm the lucky one that gets to tell you a little bit about who brought you here and give credit where credit is due. As I mentioned I chair the Arlington Democratic Democratic Committee and as part of our work this year we made it a point to make an important decision about talking about issues. So we formed a committee the issues committee and they have actually put together over the last year about four different forums. We've had some climate change there's a real interest on our committee about climate change and we did some a voter forum as well but we are the committee in this town that is elected every four years by Democrats to represent the Democratic Party and we have two goals to support the mission and to get Democrats elected and in a little bit you're gonna get to hear from some of those two electeds but this is the commercial for the Arlington Democratic Committee. So I'm on it but a whole bunch of people in this room are on it and I want you to see who they are. So anyone who's on the committee could you please stand up for us. All right this is the leadership in this town for the Democratic Party so if you want to get involved have a chat with them later. Anyway as I mentioned tonight our focus is to really take a look at some important piece of legislation that two of our legislators are sponsoring up at the State House both Rep. Sean Garberley and Rep. Dave Rogers who are in the House their representatives in the House have prioritized this issue and have been working on some pieces of legislation so you're gonna hear more from them and they'll be introduced in just a minute. Also I mentioned that we have Rep. Rogers and Garberley here but also wanted to thanks Cabell Eames did I say that right? Your name? Cabell. Like a rabble rozzer with a C. She's working with a very important group called Mass Power Forward and doing some good work. You can do good work without being elected to do it but the electeds really appreciate when some of these groups are there either supporting or agonizing or organizing so they're doing some great work and you're gonna hear about that tonight. Speaking of good work there are a bunch of other good groups want to give a shout out to mothers out front from Arlington and the 350 Massachusetts. They've got some literature in the table in the front so if you hadn't had a chance to look at it on your way out please add a McNeil from the Arlington Democratic Committee is going to be our moderator tonight and I'm gonna hand it over to him. Thank you Amy. Thank you. Hello. Thank you all for coming. Thank you Amy for setting the stage and of course thank you to the excellent speakers we have arranged tonight. We are so glad that you can all with us tonight for this forum on climate change legislation. I'm sure that everyone here is aware of the enormous impact right now of climate change and its growing effects. Our focus tonight is on important and impactful state level actions to combine combat climate change but I do think it is important to briefly center why we are fighting this when we look across the country and across the world. It is more apt than ever to say we're facing climate destruction, climate emergency and even climate crisis. Unimaginable wildfires in California and Australia, destructive hurricanes in New Orleans, Houston, Puerto Rico, typhoons in the Philippines and Indonesia, wars axirated by climate change and desertification in the Middle East and even in our own neighborhoods we see mosquito board diseases proliferate and our physical infrastructure take more strain every year. The crisis intersectional universal and international and each individual life seems small against eight billion people and the world we live in but here in Massachusetts we have a real actionable ability to make significant strides in our non-negligible statewide impact and as a leader as an example for other states internationally and hopefully soon our national government. It takes relatively few committed people to massively change society and we are absolutely not alone in this. I encourage everyone to take personal action such as opting up to 100% local renewable energy through the town CCA if you live in Arlington and most of Massachusetts has similar programs. The explore activism groups that might interest you and there are many varied ones including some wonderful ones tabling tonight and to engage with the legislative members and elected officials of all stripes. That last point can be intimidating but a single informed and heartfelt letter email or phone call can have a significant impact more than you might think entering it and that's why we have organized this forum tonight so you can be informed on this. We'll start on a positive note. Historically the Massachusetts legislature has been one of the most forward-looking legislators across the country to working to address climate change and representative Dave Rogers will start off this evening talking about some of the issues our legislator has addressed and some of the bills that has already passed. Dave Rogers is represented for the 24th middle sex district, a district that includes Belmont and parts of Arlington and Cambridge. Dave has been a strong progressive leader across issues and very much so in the climate crisis. We're glad to have Dave here tonight. Welcome everybody what a great turnout. It's wonderful to be here and thank you for your presence and your advocacy. I often say that you know my work as a representative isn't worth a lot unless I have the energy and the enthusiasm behind me and I take that with me down to the state house so your presence here is really appreciated. I want to thank Adam for the introduction and for his remarks and of course Amy Coolidge the leader of the Arlington Democrats and everything that she does for the Democratic Party and for Arlington in general. I would echo what Adam said about the climate crisis I don't think we need to I need to expand on that very much your presence here alone tells me how much you care you know and the data keeps getting worse. 13 federal agencies a little while back published data showing acceleration the intergovernmental panel on climate change from the UN almost concurrently very close in proximity to when the federal agencies published data also published frightening data and so particularly with what's going on in Washington and the American government pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord and more importantly really the rolling back of the Clean Power Plan because the Paris Climate Accord was really aspirational and left to the member states how they were going to achieve the goals set out in the Accord the way the United States primarily was going to reach those goals was under the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan that plan is being unwound now by the administration in Washington. The problem is so overwhelming that we really need federal action and you know this is I guess a non-partisan event but you probably don't need me to tell you but I'll tell you anyway if you're a climate activist cares about the environment the single biggest thing you can do is pour all of your time all of your energy all of your money into defeating Donald Trump and if that means going to New Hampshire once we have a nominee and knocking on doors I've done it for every Democratic nominee for the last I don't know how many years it's actually kind of fun you go up there in a bus or a carload of folks it's usually there's camaraderie you go out to lunch together and build a closer relationship with your friends and your fellow activists but turning out the vote in New Hampshire giving money we need the power of the federal government to engage on this issue with all that said as a backdrop I'll talk a little bit about what we're doing and what we already have done in Massachusetts and keep me on track time wise and let me know how I'm doing we have undertaken significant action here in the Commonwealth we always need to be forward-leaning we always need to be doing more but we've done a lot and sometimes when I engage with climate activists and those who care about the environment they're not always aware of everything we've done and one thing is we've taken major action on gas leaks the gas leaks are prioritized based on their threat to human safety so if it's near a school or where it could explode or cause harm to to humans we fix that as a priority but what about more remote leaks category four or five leaks that are that are lower down we have now passed legislation that forces the utilities to prioritize fixing those leaks and the dangerous methane in an act relative to solar energy in 2016 we lifted the net metering cap in the act to promote energy diversity in 2016 we did major legislation to expand wind power and geothermal we have 800 megawatts going in off our shores the vineyard wind project that's being held up by the federal government right now for an environmental review but up to 3200 megawatts has been authorized and working with my staff I said well when I'm talking to people I can't say 800 megawatts and leave it at that because unless they're an electrical engineer or have detailed knowledge then what does that mean 800 megawatts is enough to power 400,000 homes 3200 megawatts multiply by four 1.6 million homes it's a huge project that's been authorized off our shores and puts us at the forefront of wind power in the United States and I see other states are rushing to get in and that's a competition I'd love to be a part of so that's important we have passed legislation to incentivize energy storage as you know when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining you get solar and you get wind power but if you can't store it it becomes problematic and so we have passed a clean peak standard it's called the CPS standard which will incentivize the storage because we tend to use highest levels of energy for instance in the evening when you get home from work well there's no sun so the clean peak standard is designed to look at peak usage times and energy storage so we're using the least dirty fuels at the moments of peak demand we also include increase the RPS that's the renewable portfolio standard that's the percentage mix that utility companies the IOU's investor-owned utilities have to get from clean energy the push was to get that up to it increase it 3% every year we got it to 2 I advocated for 3 but we still doubled it because it wasn't 1% so we went from 1 to 2% on RPS read the renewable portfolio standard there's a number of other things we passed this session we we passed the greenworks bill which is $1.3 billion we passed it in the house it's a waiting action in the Senate a billion of which would go to local governments for climate change initiatives energy efficiency and again that's over on the Senate side I've been talking to folks about senators and I hope they'll attach things they want to do to that bill because what I've learned in the legislature is once you have a moving vehicle it becomes a way to move to move something and so we'll see what the Senate does with that bill and then a priority of mine is the DEP and the great recession of the Department of Environmental Protection took massive cuts we went from 1200 employees there down to 800 so a significant reduction and what happened in a recession is representatives fight for schools they fight for a lot of projects and as a result energy projects and the Environmental Protection Agency took a hit and working with like-minded colleagues we've now gotten huge increases for the DEP in the last two or three years 10% each year so we're also funding and they do incredibly important work on water testing and countless other issues so we're doing a lot of good things there are many good bills pending this session so we need to keep the momentum and I'll be doing that and I know we're going to be talking about some of the legislation that's pending right now I look forward to that conversation and your questions with respect to the wind project what can be done to put it in a position where the moment we get rid of the idiots blocking it it can go forward immediately well I think it's being reviewed by I might get the acronym wrong bone the Bureau of Energy Management and I believe that they're looking at fisheries you know these are huge projects in the middle of the oceans looking at fisheries probably migratory bird patterns it's funny I have folks who really care about the environment but are also birders or ornithologists and cared a lot about wildlife and birds particularly and they don't they're very skeptical of wind projects and so there is a study how much of it is just legitimate science looking at the fisheries looking at migratory bird patterns versus an agenda coming out of Washington we don't fully know but to answer your question I think as soon as that review is done the project can move forward and I hope it happens soon because the people financing the project with the time value of money are worried about the financing stream for for vineyard wind I mean they have investors they have shareholders and so that's a factor we're very pleased to have a cabo Eames with us tonight Cabo is a legislative manager and political director for 350 Massachusetts she's here this evening representing mass power forward which is a massive coalition working on environmental issues across the state she'll discuss how the mass power forward coalition came together what hopes to accomplish regarding climate change bills with our legislators in this session all right cabo will share our thoughts of us and we'll take a couple questions for the audience thank you hello everyone thank you so much for having me and as a vice chair of the Belmont Democratic Town Committee which is my committee I'm really appreciative to see this crowd here tonight because it shows that you all care and it's debate night so I know we're all super anxious to get out the door so I probably won't take 15 minutes but I do want to kind of start from a place of hope before I get into our bills I have been a climate advocate for a really long time it kind of got put on me because of the neighborhood that I grew up in I had Philip Morris on one side of me and Dupont on the other and my mother had multiple sclerosis and there was a lot of other really weird illnesses happening in the neighborhood and so it's one of those things that fell on me when I was in elementary school and by the time I was in high school I was doing work with the Sierra Club going door to door and have been in every community that I've been in I have been part of some local kind of climate group that was you know trying to advocate for recycling or you know small changes so I've seen a lot of progress over the last couple of decades and I'm really happy about that but what I haven't seen is coalitions coming together and I haven't necessarily seen the youth movement that we have now and I haven't seen a widespread amount of people that really care about climate when I started working on climate people thought I was weird so and now it's one of these movements that if you're not focused on climate you're weird so I'm really thankful for that and that's comes from that's a place of hope for me and it's why I do this work because I've seen it grow over the last two decades and I know it's just going to continue and so the coalition that I'm a part of now which is mass power forward that came together and their people it's like Sierra Club and its Toxic Action Center and its faith-based groups so it's all different it's green roots which is environmental justice it's a huge coalition of groups and the reason that they came about was because the legislatures were saying we're hearing a lot of mixed messages here you know you want this bill and you want that bill and I don't know how am I gonna go back and talk to my people about this and you know I just don't know what to do so the groups decided you know what we're just gonna form a huge coalition and we're gonna make sure that we're all in sync and we're gonna have phone calls where 30 people are on it and two people talk the whole time you know the drill kind of works that way sometimes and we're gonna just try to carry the message on together and so that's how mass power forward started and it was about two years ago and I can tell you that the people that are behind mass power forward are really smart people and some of them are policy people and some of them are organizers and some of them are reverends and some of them are activists and it's and some of them are young too I mean we have sunrise they show up for us as well and so today we had a mass power forward lobby day and we had nearly 300 people show up so it was it was really incredible and we had a lot of positive reactions and I know that some of our members met with the Sean garbally over here and he is a champion for us as is Dave Rogers and we have a lot of climate champions in the legislature so I there's a lot of hope to be had but we just have to stick together and we have to keep our thumb on them right and that means that's that's federal to that's people like Ed Markey and I know that there's a lot of I don't I'm not gonna get too much into that but we do want to pass a Massachusetts Green New Deal next year and that's something that we're gonna be focusing on and so the people that wrote the Green New Deal it's kind of important for us that they go back to the Senate because it gives the Republicans ammunition against us to say maybe it's just not that important so that's why the climate groups and that's why 350 has endorsed Markey because we really want to see a Green New Deal I know it's the most complex policy in my lifetime and it gives us all something to hang on nationally so for Massachusetts for him to be our senator that's why the climate groups are 100% behind Markey it's because the Green New Deal is imperative for us for generations to come we don't want this being used against us in five years 10 years 15 years so we want to send that message mass power forward has a way I have our bills back there so what we did today we had a carbon pricing hearing which was really cool we've been waiting for this for about a year and the room was packed I went in there I couldn't stand it it was like a sauna there is I mean it was so hot in there there was nowhere to walk it was really really fantastic to see so many people show up and both of these guys over here are co-sponsors and I want to add that they're actually co-sponsors for all of mass power forward bills of our priority so you know when I say climate champions we're really lucky to have them so we basically prioritized five bills if you look at our sheet and you go on the website there's like 20 bills but you know that's that's a lot but we still want to prioritize the five that we have so we had hearings in 2019 the only hearing that we had in 2020 was the carbon pricing hearing which we had today and it went really well I want to just reiterate that how well it did go and when we have a room that's packed like that and I've been in the room over the years right it doesn't it just keeps getting more and more and more people show up so that the carbon pricing bill is one of our bills the other one is renewable energy which is garbally is the sponsor on with Eldridge and Decker and I'm gonna let him talk about that but that's a really exciting bill and we also have environmental justice bills which I am personally very very excited about environmental justice is one of those issues that you know I think of Weymouth and I think of Saugus and I think of all wheel braider and you know how they just kind of show up wherever they want to show up and everybody just has to deal with it that lives in the neighborhood and there's they have no say so the environmental justice bill that we have which is there's two of them and they're actually in ways and means which is a really good sign they are its senator Eldridge is one of them and then we and the reps are Dubois and Medero and Miranda and senator Domenico I always did I pronounce that right is it D. Domenico okay D. Domenico so these bills would put protections on those communities there's two environmental justice bills they're they're both for protecting communities they're both putting in the smallest provision as language if you were if you're in Chelsea and you want to put a site in Chelsea you better have all of that information in Spanish and you better have a community hearing that's at a time when everybody can show up so there are small things like that that don't exist right now which is why these things just kind of show up where they do and no one can say boo about it so we have the two environmental justice bills they're in ways and means the renewable energy bill is still in the telecommunications utilities and energy committee so we need to get that out so that's an action steps but that would be later and the TUE so carbon is in TUE and then there's another one that's around TCI now I'm sure how many people have been hearing about TCI right so TCI transportation climate initiative and it is to kind of mobilize mid Atlantic states to all kind of decide on a gas tax basically and how they're going to fund their infrastructure because if you gas taxes by law have to be put back into transportation so there's no fighting over where that money goes so the governor right now is in charge of how that all rolls out and we have a bill that's a it's lesser in Eldridge that have the bill and it's Elrich sorry not elders but Elrich and again all of these papers are in the back because they're kind of weedy if you want to take them before you leave and this would employ a commission not the governor but a commission gets to decide how this money is spent because there's some equity issues which is around you know how it let's think of last summer when the T fare went up and I thought great so you're gonna you need to pay for the T something called on fire great so everybody that takes the T which depends on the T now has to pay an extra fee and there's nothing that we can do about it so there are a lot of equity provisions and all of these bills that say you know if you're a certain income you cannot put it on those people you have to figure out another way or you have to give it back the carbon pricing bill there's a rebate 70% of that money goes back to the households so some of these bills have those provisions in them and so I just yeah I guess I'll take questions now but I have action steps for you and thank you if anyone has a question come up to the microphone over here yes so the Benson bill that's a good thank you so first of all Benson is gone so Driscoll has it now and he's from Milton and he had a really strong testimony today Barrett so this is kind of the the fight that I've seen with the carbon pricing bill because I was with 350 three years ago when we were champion Barrett's carbon pricing bill the problem with that bill going forward is that there is no equity in it it doesn't go back there was no provision in it that it would 70% of that would go back to families so whereas the Benson bill had it in there which is now the Driscoll bill but that had all of those source of rebates in that bill so you know Barrett is he he thinks that carbon pricing is kind of his thing he introduced it I think maybe six years ago and so he really wants to have ownership of that so it's been really hard he was upset with the coalition that we went over to the house and was working with Benson on it he felt abandoned and you know so there's there's some eggshells that we all have to walk on but yeah so it is the Driscoll bill that is now the carbon bill that we had hearing on today no no and he is the chair of TUE so one of my action steps is that you guys are going to call him yes carbon yes it's a price so so here's the argument with a carbon price it's real this really should come from the federal government and climate it's CCL and so it's carbon I think it's like climate carbon lobby or no it's citizens citizens carbon yes thank citizens climate lobby thank you I think that they came about 12 13 years ago and they've been working at the federal level on carbon pricing and it didn't really go anywhere and so you know now that our federal government is insane states are trying to take on carbon pricing themselves but there's a lot of legal problems that we've been hearing that that could happen you could implement the bill and then lawyers come out and chew it up and it gets dissipated so we understand that as the carbon coalition of mass power forward and what we're really fighting for is a you know that we support a carbon fee so let you know we want to send the message that when the federal gods do come up and sweep us all up and enact climate legislation and we all survive and we live happily ever after carbon was something that we supported because when you're talking about fees with legislatures if they're running for office that's some for some it's a suicide mission that you're asking them to do I mean you know you do have to understand that they have a whole bunch of constituents and I'm not naive to the fact that not everybody cares about climate like I do so and that's something another action step that I'll tell you about later but give my name but it's about putting a price on it within the state within the state just the state yeah thank you very much thank you cavill so next up we've got Sean garbally Sean garbally is the state representative for the 23rd middle sex district representing Arlington West Medford he's been a progressive champion for a long time by successfully passing an act for social worker safety act an act mandating insurance coverage for hearing age for children an act for online voter registration an act banning tobacco products at pharmacies and work over start of work statewide and very much so in climate and he's going to come up to talk about a bill that cavill mentioned that he's sponsored okay good evening everyone thanks so much for being here the fact that you're here proves that you care about this issue and there are a lot of issues that we debate at the state house from education the higher education the health and human services to me this session actually for the last couple of sessions there is no issue more important to the survival of our species and our planet than climate change so first let me just thank the issues committee so much for putting this event on very appreciative and I want to thank my partners as well on the panel 350 I can't say enough good things about what organization stands for we have many 350 members here Arlington who are so passionate and advocate incredibly at the state house so it's just tremendous to be a partner with all of you and I do also want to thank my colleague rep Rogers for being the climate champion at the state house as well and specifically for his work around DEP in the budget it's very very important when the economy collapsed in 2009 it was very difficult to restore the funds for DEP and he really led the effort when he was elected to the house I could get the year he was elected he really made it his priority so thank you so much I am proud so I am proud to work with so many in the legislature we have over 100 co-sponsors in an act to repower Massachusetts to a hundred percent renewable energy by 2045 so I want to highlight the bill why it's important and then take your questions but first this past weekend many of us were in New Hampshire campaigning is around 75 degrees ladies and gentlemen that's not that's not normal it's not normal and it's funny we can laugh because people were outside but it's not funny it's dangerous it's scary of the future of our planet literally is in jeopardy our moderator started very eloquently and pointing to the climate related events in Australia the Gulf Coast of this country the Western part of this country the epic tornado events that have happened in record numbers over the last 10 years we are very close to the last opportunity we have as human beings in this country to stop this crisis and to me it can only be done with bold energy legislation at the state level when our president pulled when Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement he said to the whole world that climate change is a myth right and that states really have to go in on this alone and that's exactly what states did states from California New Mexico Hawaii just recently New York have passed ambitious climate legislation proposals that move us to a hundred percent renewable energy Massachusetts even though I would agree we have done some great things I was proud to vote for the original global warming Solutions Act back in 2009 which set the stage for ambitious climate legislation but we have lagged far too long from other states to really address this issue seriously and the only way we address it seriously quite honestly is to pass a comprehensive piece of legislation but my bill 100 percent renewable energy will call for all areas to move to a hundred percent renewable energy by 2045 that's home heating that's transportation that's all sectors there's also a provision in that bill around utilities moving to 100% renewable energy by increasing rps by 2035 so those are the targets and we mandate do we are the division of environmental resources to set standards and promulgate regulations okay by 2030 and 2040 to make sure the administration whoever is the governor at that time keeps the mandate for moving us in the direction for a hundred percent renewable energy that is what this bill does it is an incredibly exciting piece of legislation we have over 100 members of the House and the Senate who have signed on to it it's an ambitious proposal there might be a question that comes up a little later so I want to answer it right now because it's the truth and I need all of your help to to fight against it and that is why hasn't this legislation passed that's the question I get all the time and the reason I get that question is because there's over a hundred cosponsors right there's 200 members of the Legislature so if you have over 100 cosponsors why hasn't this bill passed and that is if this legislation passes there will be a whole lot of people who lose a lot of money right primarily utility companies from ever sourced national grid so they are doing everything they possibly can and spending millions of dollars to stop this bill at the state house as well as a number of other bills and that's the truth those are the facts I can't color it as clear as that so we need everybody continue to fight for this bill to fight for the environmental justice bill to fight for the carbon pricing bill and you do that by meeting with your legislators if I'm not your legislator if Dave Rogers isn't your legislator and you haven't called your legislature call them get to know them and ask them not just to support this bill but be a champion of it to be a climate change champion and what that means is you go to Speaker DeLeo you go to Senate President Spilka and you say to them that you want them to bring these bills to the floor for a vote quite honestly anyone can sign a piece of paper to say you support it right very easy to sign a piece of paper and say I support this bill but what are you actually doing to get this bill to the floor of the house the floor of the Senate and to Governor Baker's desk so I will leave you at that I look forward to your questions and thanks so much for being here does anyone have any questions for Representative Barbelian sounds like you were saying particular legislators are influenced by right and why DeLeo involved with that well I'm not naming Bob DeLeo I think there's a whole host of legislators but I think what you should do is look in the office campaign political finance and see where donations get contributed to I don't know this is not something I've done but I hope you do it I've been spending my time meeting legislators all across the Commonwealth trying to get them to support the bill and trying to get them to go to the Speaker go to the Senate President the bill hasn't passed either chamber so I don't want to lay blame on either branch but we have to do it we have to fight because this issue is so severe we need to pass a comprehensive bill similar to California similar to the one that New York just passed there is a reason these bills aren't getting passed and so I'm doing everything I can to push them through but I honestly believe the reason they haven't passed is because of the influence of some of these companies on decision-making on Beacon Hill any suggestions about how to bring some pressure to their own utilities I work in the investment realm and I've organized a number of people I'm part of the group that's organizing people that I've asked from fossil fuel industries I have to say too you also mentioned the exciting prospect of wind so this past August I took a trip as you know with several legislators to Denmark where we met with Orsted and represent writers mentioned this will be toward the over 100 term will wind turbine farm it is absolutely amazing so two pieces of legislation that we talk about a lot as pieces of actually laws that we've helped pass that we'll be proud of one would be the criminal justice reform bill and one would be the student opportunity act which reinvested 1.5 billion dollars right these two bills we celebrate today but I can tell you for being in the legislature since 2008 back then these were seen as impossible to pass the criminal justice reform bill was seen as impossible to pass because we had district attorneys across Massachusetts going into offices and demanding that we not touch minimum mandatory sentence reform that we don't touch restorative justice that we don't touch pre-trial bail reform and most of the legislators listen to the DA's and then there was a growing movement right it was a growing movement across this state to elect more progressive forward-thinking district attorneys and activists to really look at you know reforming minimum minimum mandatory sentence and that's what we did that's what we passed and 10 years ago it was seen as that's never going to happen so I look at this issue similar to that in terms of the influence and that is as was mentioned we had 300 people in the state house today going from office to office and I think the demand needs to be clear aren't on our elected officials and that is there's other people running for office we can choose to vote for them as well we want you to make this your top priority and I'm optimistic that that we will so let's talk first about the the opposition so what the opposition will say is that this is unrealistic the technology is not there this should be something that's done at the federal level we shouldn't do it here in in Massachusetts I'm trying to think what what else I've heard I've heard that this is pie in the sky that the one argument that I have heard that utility companies have made is that this is going to hurt people living in poverty that's what that's what I because they will have to convert their home here so this is something that is important obviously we do not want this enacting this legislation to have a detrimental impact on the poorest among us so one of the things that the bill does do and these are the regulations promulgated by division of environmental resource in the department right within the bill would set up a fund right to help the poorest among us it would be an income income driven pool where people can apply for a set of money that would be used to help them to convert to me that's the most important thing that we can do to help people who are living on a certain income before to make this switch and also try to push back against the argument the other thing the bill does do is try to make sure that as we move now the the home heating switch would come by 2045 so we don't necessarily know the technologies that will be available and that's one of the things that this bill sets up to have the DOER evaluate three different times now well when the bill gets enacted to 2045 how to implement this but one of the other things that the bill does do is as jobs get lost right because of the change to 100% renewable energy that those individuals to be the first in line to get retrained and be able to apply for those jobs that come because of this bill and the other bills as well not in the legislation you know I think we need to be realistic if you don't help nuclear right now Massachusetts only I believe is around six percent five six percent renewables right now so we're a far way off and so that's why I believe this bill is so important to pass so I met with the speaker two weeks ago on the bill I you know he did not commit he's meeting with a lot of legislators I'm sure he met with rep Rogers as well as we try to prioritize our legislation I'm working as hard as I can to get it out and so I'm one thing I'm asking my colleagues who also support the bill from those over a hundred of us I'm asking them to call the chair of the telecommunications committee I'm asking them to talk to the speaker to center president and really try to make a push to get this piece of legislation out of committee now and so I'm I'm an optimistic person I'm not going to try to pretend that this is an easy thing to get done but I'm also not going to stop until they tell me no this is the well it's been in different so this this is the second one it was a different iteration last time but I think that's important really kind of show the grassroots movement for climate change last session we had I think less than 40 maybe 30 people have signed up for the first time I filed the bill we had about 30 and they were from Newton Brookline Lexington see a common theme now we over we have over 100 and they're from chickpea Fall River new Bedford all over the common law and I I'm not taking credit for that I'm putting the credit to organizations like 350 and grassroots people who are holding their reps accountable by asking them to sign on the onto the bill now I'm asking them to talk to leadership to try to get this bill to the floor before our session ends on July 31st obviously trying to make that February deadline to get it out of committee if we can't get it out of the committee one thing I am asking the chairman is to give the bill an extension order which will give us more time to make the case why this is so important to pass now well I'm certainly not going to what you want to do on your own time I think you're energized I would say if you know somebody if your friends with somebody who's as passionate as you are on this issue who happens to live in another district your time would be more well spent calling them and asking them to ask their elected official to prioritize the solution come to some questions but that's a great question so I I was at a panel recently trying to remember the name of it but it looked at this issue globally and it measured policy changes that legislators can enact and it looked at everything from carbon pricing to 100% renewable energy to environmental justice bills to a whole host of things to try to lower our carbon emissions and it looked at you know we were and it looked at lessening the degree of heat of the planet and if we were to enact these bills how much of an impact would happen and the truth is you would have to enact a lot of legislation worldwide to make an impact and so that's what we're fighting for at the state house that's why I'm so strongly supportive of the carbon pricing bill and the other agenda items because I think it will at least have moved in the direction but right now 5% renewable energy as a state right some people say that it's unrealistic some people say you're not accelerating it enough and I understand that criticism but that's why I want to get it in statute and once it is in statute and the plan is up for implementation then we can look at trying to hurry it up hurry the schedule I think there was one more we have time for one more question so is that there? Yes I just wanted to ask you, do you think honestly that all the work that we do is actually going to move the bill forward? And what is it that pushes the opposition? And the reason I asked that It's a good question I'm working a lot with the ADR The Automatic and the rest of the government But Ted, if you knew what it is you wouldn't have had any up in it No It's found a common sense It took us over three and a half years to get it to Rio to present it and once it was presented we just had to find a place So I'm asking myself what is it? Other than money, I know money is there somewhere But is money so strong that no matter what we do I mean we have so many people go up there and see what it is everywhere Absolutely And I think that's one of the most frustrating things of being the legislator Is that things take a long time But it did get passed It did take a long time Except for those people I don't want 800,000 people who are on the road on the government to vote because they're not going to vote for me That may be the reason So I share your frustration So I filed the bill in 2008 to mandate insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids for kids And we had 300 kids who needed hearing aids come to the state house and testify It took six years to get the bill passed for a relatively small cost to the insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids And here's a shocker that I kind of got pretty angry I wrote a letter to one of the insurance companies and I said could you just cover the cost of this child's hearing aid It's a constituent of mine And they wrote back we don't cover the cost of jewelry That's what they wrote back And it took six years to get the bill passed because of money The first part of your question I think it's the most important thing that makes a difference And that is the influence of grassroots Absolutely We just passed a $1.5 billion investment K-12 over the next seven years That would not have happened If families, teachers, didn't go up to the state house And talk about how their child in chickpea or wool or spring field Was less advantaged for a child in a more wealthier community That wouldn't have happened And so I think grass obviously having dedicated legislators Like Rep Rogers makes a difference It really does But you need passionate advocates And you know how you mentioned AVR That wouldn't have happened without you Three and a half years It's frustrating, it is, but it's lost Do you think there's a strong correlation between How much pressure is put on, how much pressure is put on And how quickly that goes through? Is that what I'm hearing out of you? So it depends on the bill It depends on the legislation But I will say It puts it on the radar When legislators receive correspondence from constituents Walk in traffic from constituents Like we did today We had members from 350 knock on my door Come and meet with me That makes a difference And then 160 representatives Are getting that kind of traffic That kind of advocacy On specific legislation People notice So that is obviously an incredibly exciting bill A very important one So when I mentioned earlier That appeared Dave Rogers Had less time to speak than everyone else But that's because Representative Rogers Is coming back up again now To talk about a few other bills That are on the docket Thank you We're roughly on time So you've got about 10 to 15 minutes now Backing better than ever So I want to First of all I also want to thank Cavill And for her wonderful work It's a constituent of mine in Belmont And has really made herself A force of nature in her advocacy She worked on Bob Massey's campaign And now is a legislative advocate For 350 Masses doing great work And my partner in the legislature Sean Garbley who as you can hear And see is doing tremendous work On climate and other issues And I want to elaborate on a point He made and a question from the audience I happen to sit next to Frank Moran he's the rep from Lawrence And so he literally sits Right next to me on the floor It's like any other workplace You socialize or talk to people And I said Frank do you hear Much from your constituents About climate and environment And he turned to me he said Dave I represent Lawrence My schools are in receivership They've been taken over by the state No I don't hear a lot about climate And so what I've been telling advocates For five six years now I see Daly Kless in the back And he's such a champion on these issues And many of you who talk to me Is in some ways when you talk to me I used to work at the environmental protection agency In the criminal division Prosecuting polluters And I worked for a clean energy company So you're preaching to the convert I've been in this fight a long long time But it's very important And the hopeful thing that I see Is organizations like 350 Mass Are now organizing more and more In other districts And that's the key is that representatives Hear from constituents Because this is generally a progressive Democratic district The folks in this district Care about this issue I hear a lot about it But are all my colleagues Hearing a lot about it And they're not always doing that But that's happening more and more So that's another reason to be hopeful The other reason I think to be hopeful And this is kind of an off topic And then I'll get back on track What I'm supposed to be talking about Is we have right in Somerville An amazing, amazing place It's actually led by Emily Breikert From here in Arlington And that's Green Town Labs It's the largest green technology incubator In North America And after Ed Markey Announced the Green New Deal With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Washington He wanted to return to his home state To announce the Green New Deal here And where did he go to do it? Green Town Labs And I think we were all there with him Now why? And he makes the point As much as legislation And the role of government In legislation and regulation We need innovation in the private sector Energy storage I mean, if you look at Tesla They're famous for their cars But Tesla is now huge in energy storage And I've taken tours of Green Town Labs And you see all these entrepreneurs From Harvard and MIT And lots of other schools Who are full of, you know Great ideas You have venture capitalists Who see a chance to make money And see opportunity To create jobs, to create profits And so the other thing to keep in mind That we're not talking about so much tonight Is the innovations we need From the private sector And as I say It's led the CEO of Green Town Labs Right here in Arlington, Emily Riker And she's phenomenal And doing great work So I'm going to be talking about A handful of bills that I've been asked To discuss that are pending right now I talked when I first spoke About what we've already done in the past And there are two companion pieces Of legislation on environmental justice That are incredibly important And one of them is filed by Representative Adrian Madaro He's from East Boston An act relative to environmental justice And the other is filed by Senator Eldridge and Representative Dubois And Representative Miranda The Environmental Justice Act And environmental justice policies Already exist under Massachusetts law The problem is they're in our Regulatory law through executive orders And we have an executive order on the books It's in a fact sheet I think maybe in the back But it is not being very carefully Or strictly followed by state agencies And there's also another rulemaking From the Office of Energy And Environmental Affairs Again, it doesn't have the force Of statutory law And so the idea is to codify What currently exists as executive orders And give it more teeth So those bills as you heard Are now in ways of means What is environmental justice Is the right to be protected from pollution And to live and enjoy a helpful environment Regardless basically of your zip code Regardless of where you live So the one bill would look at Language or is it a community With folks who don't speak English As a primary language It looks at income levels In terms of median state income And finally it looks at The percentage of folks who are African American, Hispanic American Minorities and then designates them As environmental justice communities And in so doing Would limit the number of new facilities That can be built in these places That contain certain toxic chemicals It will appoint a director In environmental justice At the Energy and Environmental Affairs Department That's very important To actually have someone who is Sort of the captain of the ship Who will be following the issues all the time And so that's a very important bill The other bill that I referenced That's an environmental justice bill What that does is we have Books in Massachusetts, MEPA It's a companion to MEPA MEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act MEPA is the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act And what it does is any major project By state agency or that involves State land or state permitting Must get a review to understand What are the environmental impacts Of that project And then the permitting agencies That actually issue the permit Have an awareness of how they can reduce The environmental impact of those projects So those bills are both important And it's important to talk about environmental justice Because in the last decade or so There was almost a disconnect Or a schism, if you will Between folks pushing for renewable energy And climate awareness But not really fighting as much For environmental justice And let's be honest We heard some of the talents Sean rattled them off Lexington, Newton, Brookline If you look at a lot of the environmental movement If we're honest It's relatively well off white folks And the perception was in minority communities That those relatively well off white folks Were not really fighting For environmental justice issues So if we want to build a broad coalition We really have to care about both of these things We have to care about big picture climate Crisis issues But we have to care about our brothers and sisters Who may be in neighborhoods And they're not quite as well off So those bills are important I'm pleased to see they're moving And the next bill I want to talk about Is the carbon tax bill Carbon emissions bill That is Rep. Jen Benson She got a great job off her We're happy for her Sorry to lose her in the legislature Great leader Chair of the health care finance committee But Bill Driscoll from Milton Has taken over as the sponsor I was at a panel in Cambridge recently Where they had folks from the Sunrise movement And from lots of different environmental groups And then they had an MIT professor I don't know if you've heard of him Christopher Knittle He leads their environmental programs at MIT And he was the last panelist And he said, folks, I share the same goals As everyone on this panel The Sunrise folks and everybody else But until we put a price on carbon We will never solve this problem As quickly as we need to And he even talked about The Obama administration's clean power plan He referenced one big piece of that Was fuel efficiency standards And then he got into some very dense math Being a PhD from MIT Some of which went over my head But basically explained Fuel efficiency standards, he said Are about 1 7th or 1 6th As efficient as actually putting a price In the marketplace on carbon So there are a lot of bright people Who think that carbon pricing Is the key And what her bill would put A 20 dollar a ton charge on CO2 And that would increase every year By 5 dollars a month Over 5 years until ultimately It's 40 dollars a month I'll get to you in a second It's 2810 And I have We can connect after I'll get you Some handouts And what it would do Is then take the money And invest 70 percent of it Would be rebated to those At the lower income Lower end of the income spectrum And 30 percent would go into An infrastructure fund For environmental programs It's a complicated bill Because while there are carbon taxes When we fill up our tanks There's gas tax There's Reggie The regional greenhouse gas initiative This would be a system-wide Feed on all carbon And there are very few jurisdictions In the world that have done this So some of the questions Sort of centered on Why don't these things happen There are a lot of reasons In my opinion But some of them is Getting 160 reps and 40 senators To wrap their heads around Some of these concepts And to implement something That's never really been implemented Anywhere else My understanding Maybe some of you know Otherwise But I think British Columbia The province in Canada Is the only place on earth That has a system-wide carbon tax So why wouldn't the Massachusetts Legislature Become the second jurisdiction In the entire planet To have a carbon tax Well, that's a big lift That's a heavy lift To do that But I think it has more momentum Than it did in the past And it can take Some number of years To move legislation And in part sometimes Because it's complicated The final bill that I've been asked to speak about Is the formal name Is filed by Lori Ehrlich She's from Swamska She's wonderful A great champion On environmental issues It's an act to advance modern And sustainable solutions For transportation Many of you have heard About the TCI The Transportation Climate Initiative That's being advocated for By Charlie Baker The Baker administration And a number of other states Although you've probably seen Some other states are saying They don't want to do it That's a practical, New Hampshire Their governor said He wants no part of it But the idea is That distributors of gas And diesel fuel Would purchase allowances Credits through an auction For each ton of carbon That they emit And then those funds Are expended for Climate or energy programs For energy efficiency To enhance public transit To electrify public transit I have a bill to convert TA buses to electric buses, it's a thing of every money to do that. And what Lori Ehrlich's bill, though, does, is said, OK, where's all this money going to go, and how are we going to make sure that it's spent on what we want it to spend on? So it would establish a fund to distribute the money. It would appoint a 15-person panel with experts on energy, the environment, transportation to oversee the spending of the money. It would establish criteria for how programs and proposals would be evaluated, and it would create reporting mechanisms. So the public is kept abreast of how we're doing on our goals. So I covered a lot in a short period of time. I realized what I wanted to get through all of them. Those are four bills that are priorities for 350 masks. And for many environmental organizations, Sierra Club and many others, we're all pushing on them hard. I'm a co-sponsor of all of them, as is representative Garmely. And I'm hopeful. I mean, every year, since I've been there, we have done some significant environmental bill. Again, being forward-leaning, it's never enough when we're facing the crisis that we're facing. But I am very hopeful we're going to do another significant environmental bill this session. Are we going to do all of them? No. But I think we'll do something meaningful. I'm the chair of a committee for the first time this session. It takes a while in the House to get promoted to that position. And there was a question about process. And I'm doing it now, and I'm chair of the cannabis committee. Now that cannabis is legal, it's going to be a billion-dollar industry. There's a lot of legislation that will impact the cannabis industry. I'm sitting with my staff and going through and talking to my Senate counterpart Sonia Chang Diaz. She's the chair on the Senate side. So chairs of TUE, Telecom Utility and Energy, are doing the same thing. They're going through their bills. They have lawyers and policy analysts to go through them. And you can extend the deadline. There is a February deadline, but it can be extended. So I do know, is this also a bandwidth problem in the legislature? And what I mean by that is 6,000 bills have been filed in every session on education, transportation, on public health. Just endless. There's so many areas. So how many bills can we pass? Can we pass 300, 400, 600, 800? There is a limit to how much new law society can absorb. I was once in a meeting with the chairways of means back when it was Brian Dempsey. And we were problem-solving and discussing how to attack an issue. And I said, well, we can do legislation. He recoiled. He's like, legislation, oh, god. Just because every stakeholder weighs in, it's the opposite of the private sector. I've spent part of my career in the private sector, where the need for speed, the need to get to the marketplace, the profit mode, turn that on its head in the legislature. As the phrase I always use, it's deliberate by design. It is deliberately designed to be a very painstaking process. After all, we pass laws that affect the lives of 7 million people who live in the Commonwealth. We ought to be careful. But juxtaposed against that, of course, is this climate crisis and the urgent need for action. That's a little bit more about the process as well. So that covers the four bills that I was asked to speak about. And I'm happy to take questions, as I'm sure would be Cabell and Sean. I think that's Lori Ehrlich's bill on basically on heating. And actually, the ability to transition to using one. Yes. I believe that's Lori Ehrlich's bill that has to do with significantly to do with heat pumps, which I'm trying to learn more about. But this is only the first session that's been introduced, I believe. And often when it's the very first time, again, legislators are getting educated on it. They're trying to learn about it. I think it's a great idea. And but I don't necessarily see it passing this session because it's so new. It's brand new. And I am supportive of that bill as well. I don't know if Brucey is still here. But Brucey has done a great job advocating for the bill and how we need a coalition, from my perspective. So thank you for that. I think it's an important bill. I do agree with Rep Rogers. But I do strongly support it as well. I know the select board here in our weekend took a vote and supported the bill as well. This is really for both reps. When you get a chance to vote on climate legislation, will you agree to participate in the standing roll call vote, each of you? And how do you bring that about? And this is to make the votes transparent, obviously. Sure. I think we want to know who really supports these bills. Yeah. Absolutely. I always do that on environmental stuff. The real trick is, though, to get it to the floor at all. In other words, by the time, and one thing I've learned is that we'll have an amendment strategy. Oh, we're going to file this amendment, file that amendment. But by the time it gets to the floor, it's been through committees, it's had policy analysts, lawyers, countless people have looked at it. It's pretty fully-baked. I can tell you now that I'm chair of a committee. I put enormous time into crafting the bill as best I can working with lawyers and policy analysts. Now it's on the floor, and Sean wants to amend it. I'm the chair. It's my bill. It came out of my committee. And another representative wants to amend it. Hold on. Time out. What is your idea? I've been working on this for four months. What do you want to do to it? And so the amendment strategies often aren't successful, because people who had a hand in crafting it don't want the bill changed radically at the end. So what I would say is the real fight, the real advocacy, happens long before a bill gets to the floor. And I tell that to some of the newer members who get elected, well, we'll file this amendment. No, go talk to the leaders of the committee or senior leadership now. By the time it gets to the floor, the fight's mostly done. You're not going to get many big amendments on the floor of the house. I don't know if Sean has it. I don't necessarily disagree. But what I will say is if the bill is good, meaning if it comes out of committee and amended on the floor, if it's a good bill, I will stand for a roll call. If it's a watered-down bill that has been presented by a utility company, basically, I won't stand for it. But if it's a good bill that I believe I'm passionate for, I will absolutely stand for the roll call. You can't provide any of those amendments. Yeah. Especially the environmental justice that's the one I'm looking for. I have to say, and Sean should weigh in as well, I've given up predicting what will happen in the legislature, even though I serve there, well, maybe particularly because I serve there. Yeah, so I will say, maybe many of you heard me say it before, I don't know, that Otto van Bismarck famously said, if you like sausage and respect the law, don't ever watch either one of them getting an egg. You know, there are bills I thought didn't have a ghost of a chance that are now the law of Massachusetts. There are bills that I absolutely thought should be law yesterday that still are not. It is hopeful that they've already in ways it means, because that gives all of us a chance to fight that much longer. And there is a growing movement that make no mistake. The energy, the enthusiasm, the number of representatives who don't frankly come from Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, who are hearing from at Fall River and Chickapee, who are hearing more and more. So there's good momentum. But Sean should also. I don't want to follow Otto van Bismarck. I would associate my feelings with Rep Rogers' comments. I think he makes an articulate point. I would just go back to the point that we need people to push. We need people to advocate. We need all of you to be in the state house, in the halls, flood our emails, flood our phone calls. Every rep has coffee hours. Show up at a coffee hour. Have a conversation with your representative, with your senator. If you have a friend who's equally as passionate, based on your question, have them go to a coffee hour and meet their representative face to face. Remember, they work for you, not the other way around. Thank you all so much. And I don't want to cut off where questions are still going. And hopefully, people can stick around if you talk about. We do want to briefly speak about more actionable items. You talk when people mentioned. And it's a very important point to talk to your friends and other districts. Talk to people that have them bring in. But I'll have what I was going to speak to about three specific actionable items that you could talk. Thank you. I'll make this quick because it's 8.30. Three things. So we know that renewable energy is in telecommunications utilities and energy. Call the chairs. Call Barrett. Call Golden, the chair and the vice chair. Tell them to vote it out favorably. That's one. Environmental justice bills, they're both in ways and means. You can call those chairs as well. You can ask your reps, which you don't really need to. But if you know someone that has a rep in another area that's a friend of yours say, hey, do you mind calling your rep and asking them to put a little pressure on ways and means? I had a meeting recently with their attorneys in ways and means. And I can tell you that we really hit hard on environmental justice amongst the other bills that were better in ways and means. But also, the other one that's in TUE is the carbon fee. So if you want to call Barrett and Golden on those two, have them voted out favorably. Can you give a number for that? Yes. Yes, I can. All right, so if you want numbers, so you've got the carbon bill is H2810. Driscoll is the Driscoll bill, formerly known as Benson. You've got the renewable energy 100% renewable energy bill. That's House Bill 2836, Senate Bill 1958. You've also got another one that's in TUE. No, I'm sorry, it's in the Transportation Committee. And that is the NAC to Advance Modern Sustainable Solutions for Transportation. That's H3008, Senate 2106. Transportation Committee, yeah. And the environmental justice bills. One is House 826, Senate 453. And the other is House 761, Senate 464. And so lastly, Mass Power Forward does educational forums on climate legislation and lobbying. So if you have a friend that's in a town like Springfield, we will go there, and we will hold an educational forum on climate legislation and teach them how to lobby. We will go anywhere in the state. 350 has 18 nodes. So we are pretty far-reaching. And we work with Mass Power Forward to make those education forums happen. 350 is also ramping up their 504, which means that we are going to be not only endorsing candidates, but working for climate champions. So look out for that. We have a sign-up sheet in the back. If you want a Mass Power Forward forum, or you know somebody that does and you just want us to reach out to them, please sign up for the back there on that table there. For the 350, you'll see it's a sign-in sheet. And if you want to get any updates with any further lobby days going on, please sign up. That's all I have for you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you all panelists. Thank you everyone for putting this together. Thank you to the audience very much. Like Abel mentioned, there's numerous literature in the back, tabling and sign-up sheets. Want to follow up? This is great. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, Adam.