March 2025 Legislative Update

Legislative Leaders Make Leadership and Committee Assignments

During the last week of February, Speaker of the House Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka made their leadership and committee appointments for the 2025-2026 legislative session. On the Senate side, the top leadership will stay the same with Senator Cynthia Creem as Majority Leader; Senator Will Brownsberger as Senate President Pro Tempore; Senator Joan Lovely, Senator Sal DiDomenico and Senator Michael Barrett as Assistant Majority Leaders; and Senator Mike Rodrigues as Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The House side saw the need to replace senior leaders who retired or joined the Healey-Driscoll Administration. To that end, Representative Mike Moran returns as Majority Leader; Representative Kate Hogan as Speaker Pro Tempore; Representative Alice Peisch returns as Assistant Majority Leader with Representative Paul Donato and Representative Frank Moran as Second Assistant Majority Leaders. Representative Aaron Michlewitz returns as House Ways and Means Chair.

With respect to subject matter committees, a number of changes also occurred throughout both House and Senate committee assignments. Of particular note to UCANE members, Representative Christine Barber will assume the responsibility of the House Chair for the Joint Committee on the Environment; she will be joined by Senator Becca Rausch. The Joint Committee on the Environment hears the variety of bills related to the funding of water infrastructure; this session the Committee will also hear the environmental bond bill, which will outline the state’s environmental capital plan. Representative Dan Cahill, formerly the House Environment Chair, will assume the mantle of the Joint Committee on Public Safety as former House Chair, Representative Carlos Gonzalez, moves up the ladder to the role of Division Chair. On the Senate side, Senator John Cronin moves over from the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure as Senate Chair to the Joint Committee on Public Safety, which often hears public safety measures related to construction and motor vehicles.

The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, which hears measures related to natural gas and other underground infrastructure measures, will be helmed by Representative Mark Cusack as Representative Jeff Roy also moves up the leadership ladder as a Division Chair. The Joint Committee on Transportation, which will tackle the funding of our transportation needs this session, will be chaired by Representative Adrian Madaro, replacing longtime House Chair Bill Straus, who retired at the end of last session. Senator Brendan Crighton will lead the panel from the Senate side as he did last session.

The Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development will see two new Chairs as Representative Paul McMurtry and Senator Jake Oliveira lead the committee focused on issues related to employment and wage issues. The Committee often hears the wage theft and offsite fabrication bills that would harm the construction industry. Speaking of the construction industry, the Joint Committee on State Administration will again be chaired by Representative Antonio Cabral and Senator Nick Collins. The Committee hears a wide variety of measures related to public procurement, construction related matters on state and municipal projects and an array of other topics.

With committee assignments and leadership positions now made, the respective House and Senate Clerks will start to distribute the slightly over 7,000 filed matters to the respective committees. Once bills are received by the committees, public hearings will begin starting in mid-March towards early April.

To review the assorted leadership appointments, please visit, https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Joint. A listing of top leadership appointments in both the House and Senate, including minority party appointments, may be found at: https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/Leadership.

 

UCANE Weighs in on Draft IUP List

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Division of Municipal Services, has released the calendar year 2025 Draft Intended Use Plans (IUPs) for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). While the purpose of the CWSRF is to assist communities in implementing the requirements of the Federal and State Clean Water Act; the purpose of the DWSRF program is to assist Public Water Suppliers to implement the requirements of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

As you may know, the Draft IUPs list projects by priority ranking that the MassDEP will recommend being financed through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust (CWT) in calendar year 2025. The Draft IUPs list those projects determined to be the most significant in terms of public health and environmental protection. In anticipation of reduced federal funding, both the Clean Water and Drinking Water Draft 2025 Intended Use Plans reflect a reduction in spending over the next year and, unfortunately, preparation for a federal Administration that does not prioritize federal funding for states. The proposed IUP lists put a cap of $50 million on project size while preventing carryover from one project to the next for the same awarding authority. In commenting on the Draft IUPs, UCANE wrote:

“At the outset, UCANE would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the employees of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Clean Water Trust (CWT) and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance (A&F). Without the commitment of the individuals working at these entities, the Commonwealth, its municipalities, businesses and residents would not be able to recognize the full potential that the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) present. The Commonwealth continues to have one of the Nation’s best programs for leveraging this federal funding into tangible results.

Unfortunately, the 2025 Draft IUPs for the CWSRF and DWSRF, with reduced funding opportunities for municipalities and regional water authorities, represents a clarion call for state and local action to provide greater funding for water infrastructure. Between the America’s Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), we have experienced a funding surge that allowed the Commonwealth, as a whole, to truly begin tackling the ever-growing funding gap for replacing and maintaining our aging water infrastructure while addressing identified contaminants. From what we see and hear from our federal partners, however, it looks as though we cannot continue to expect this continued level of support in the short term.

With that in mind, UCANE urges the MassDEP, CWT and A&F to recognize that the 2025 Draft IUPs for the CWSRF and DWSRF programs may have a chilling effect on our municipal and regional water authorities. Due to the reduced funding allocation overall, lack of the ability to carry over costs to subsequent related new projects or the project cap of $50 million, municipalities and regional water authorities may choose to defer needed water infrastructure improvement projects indefinitely. To counter the potential for municipalities and regional water authorities to defer needed work, there must be a concerted effort to find creative ways to finance future projects, reduce administrative burdens and raise non-federal funds. Without doing so, we risk losing the progress that the recent influx of federal funding under ARPA and BIL has made possible.”

The reduction in federal funding further highlights the need to strengthen other funding sources – whether from states, municipalities or the private sector – to provide funding for water infrastructure projects. The DEP, which held a virtual hearing on the Draft IUPs, will finalize the lists in the coming month or so. To review the IUP lists as they are configured today, please visit: https://www.mass.gov/state-revolving-fund-srf-loan-program.

 

Advanced Clean Truck Rule Stalls Medium- and Heavy-Duty Truck Sales in Massachusetts

A wide variety of media throughout the Commonwealth covered the fact that the Commonwealth’s adoption of the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule has led to a complete stagnation of the medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) truck market in Massachusetts. As highlighted in the Boston Globe, “a showdown between state regulators and truck manufacturers has brought the market for new heavy vehicles in Massachusetts to a virtual standstill, challenging businesses from landscapers and long-haulers to the dealers who supply them.” The Boston Globe article, which cited the work of UCANE member, WL French, noted that the cost of electric MHD trucks, the lack of infrastructure, and, in many cases, lack of a workable application make the purchase of electric MHD trucks unrealistic.

MassLive, which also reported on the lack of electric MHD truck sales, covered the issue from the perspective of a western Massachusetts MHD truck dealer, Allegiance Trucks, another member of UCANE. As reported by MassLive, “a new state regulation meant to clean the air — and lower childhood asthma rates in pollution hotspots like Springfield — is making it harder for buyers to get heavy and medium duty diesel trucks.” The article then highlights many of the same issues identified by the Boston Globe – namely, no cleaner diesel trucks have been sold to replace aging, dirtier trucks as the ACT rule essentially strangles the MHD truck market.

As states that adopted the ACT rule weather its consequences, recent focus has also been directed towards potential federal action from the Trump Administration. Specifically, the federal effort to roll back the California emissions standards has begun. On February 14^th, Secretary of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lee Zeldin submitted a review of the ACT and Heavy-Duty Omnibus (HDO) rules to Congress under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA requires federal agencies to submit final rulemaking decisions to Congress. If Congress agrees that the CRA was not followed; it can issue a joint resolution revoking an agency’s action. However, nothing is ever simple. While the CRA may not cover the decisions made by the EPA under the Clean Air Act, according to the United States General Accountable Office (GAO), any action to revoke the California waivers by Congress will likely generate issue movement.

For its part, UCANE has been continuing its activities with other members of the stakeholder group of end-users of MHD trucks. In addition to providing resources for member education and advocacy, UCANE has worked with other organizations to recuit additional cosponsors for legislation filed by Senator Mike Moore and Representative Angelo Puppolo to delay the ACT and HDO rules until July 1, 2027. To support this effort, please visit: https://mstr.app/006557c0-9051-4a9c-8606-a3136db93989.

Finally, to read the Boston Globe’s coverage of this issue, please visit: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/19/business/trucks-diesel-electric-vehicles-massachusetts-regulations/. For the MassLive article, please visit: https://www.masslive.com/westernmass/2025/02/ev-rule-halts-mass-truck-sales-but-green-groups-say-manufacturers-are-dragging-feet.html.

News in Brief

House and Senate Pass Transparency Rules. In an effort to address concerns raised by certain advocacy and media groups after last session’s later than anticipated schedule, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate passed a series of rules governing the operations of their respective branches and those of the legislature’s joint committees. While the two branches must come to an agreement on joint rules, notable proposals included, but were not limited to: legislation being acted on within sixty (60) days of a public hearing by the committee of first referral (House); requiring in-person attendance by legislators to vote on proposals before committee (House); the ability of each respective chair to “poll” matters originating from their branch (Senate) and requirements for the conclusion of the business by committees on timely filed matters. (House – March of the 2^nd year / Senate – December of the 1^st year). It is widely thought that the House and Senate will come to an agreement on joint rules this session after failing to reach an agreement in the two previous sessions.

#Mapoli Mourns Loss of Representative Doherty. State Representative Carol Doherty of Taunton died in mid-February after battling pancreatic cancer. She was 82 years old and was an educator and school committee member before being first elected to the House in 2020. Doherty was the daughter of immigrant families from the islands of Madeira and Cape Verde, and she lived in Taunton since 1965. She taught at Taunton's Bennett Elementary School and later worked as a guidance counselor. She was elected president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and served in that position for two consecutive terms in the early 1980s, according to her legislative biography. She later worked for 18 years at Northeastern University, including as Director of Professional Development in the school of education. Despite her relatively short tenure on Beacon Hill, she was liked and respected by members on both sides of the political aisle.

Change to Vocational Schools Admissions on the Way. The Healey-Driscoll Administration will be proposing regulatory changes to improve access to career technical education (CTE) programs across Massachusetts. According to a press release announcing the same, these changes will strengthen CTE recruitment efforts and require lottery admissions at all CTE schools and programs with a waitlist. The proposed regulations are part of the Administration’s larger efforts to “Reimagine High School” and promote programs that equip students with the skills they need to succeed in today’s job market through innovative, applied learning opportunities. Under the proposal, CTE programs may only use excessive unexcused absences and/or certain disciplinary conduct as selective criteria for students to enter the lottery process. Further, middle schools located in sending districts would be required to maintain a districtwide policy on how students are made aware of and gain exposure to CTE in their district, regional, agricultural, and other public high schools. Together, it is thought these changes will enable more equitable CTE access for all students. For information about this initiative once the regulations are formally released, please visit: https://www.doe.mass.edu/bese/regs-comments/default.html.