Gov. Maura Healey pushed Beacon Hill Democrats to return to the negotiating table and pass legislation reforming siting and permitting for renewable energy projects during a time when lawmakers are typically finished with formal business for the year.
A clean energy bill fizzled out last week after House and Senate lawmakers could not bridge stark divides between two competing versions before they entered into a months-long stretch where, historically, only local matters move forward.
But Healey on Tuesday cited $389 million Massachusetts and other states in New England received from the federal government for transmission and energy storage infrastructure as one key reason why Democrats in the Legislature should take another shot at hammering out a compromise.
Healey said implementing energy infrastructure will help “realize the power of renewables and lower people’s bills.”
“This is really, really important, and I continue to encourage the Legislature to continue to work with us on getting both permitting and siting done and also the economic development bill,” she told reporters. “I’d like to see it happen as soon as possible.”
Formal legislative business is supposed to end on July 31 of the second year of a legislative session but top Democrats in the Legislature are facing calls to keep working until the end of the year on matters that faltered last week, including a separate economic development bill.
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have already said they are ready to take up high-profile matters like the clean energy bill during informal sessions — where record votes cannot be taken and any one lawmaker can block advancing legislation.
“The House was prepared to pass the permitting and siting language agreed upon between the administration, the Senate, and the House at the end of formal session and continues to be prepared to pass it in an informal session if the Senate agrees,” a spokesperson for Mariano said in a statement Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Spilka did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry.
Talks on the clean energy bill fell apart last week in dramatic fashion — well after the Senate passed a bill that touched on larger issues related to climate change and the House approved legislation focused on permitting and siting reforms.
In the final hours of formal sessions, Rep. Jeff Roy, a Franklin Democrat who helped negotiate the bill, accused the Senate of “going back on its word” by not advancing language around siting and permitting that he said had been previously agreed to by each branch and the governor.
In an interview with the Herald Tuesday afternoon, Roy said he was “thrilled” Healey was calling on Beacon Hill to take up the siting and permitting reform measures.
“The governor is now talking about the ($389) million she is getting from the federal government, that just heightens the importance of this siting and permitting reform. And you’ve got two branches now that are out there saying we need to get this done, I don’t understand why the third branch won’t get on board,” Roy said.
