Over 225 citizens, business leaders, and elected officials from across the state packed a Beacon Hill hearing room on Tuesday in Massachusetts to show their support for legislation to put a price on carbon pollution. The hearing was held by the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE), Senate Assistant Majority Leader Michael Barrett and Representative Thomas Golden. For almost three hours the hearing was standing room only, with some 70 additional people left outside.

Political Context

Currently, more than 60% of state lawmakers in the House and Senate (representing a supermajority of Democrats in both chambers) support the two carbon pricing bills before the committee (H.2810 and S.1924). The hearing also served as an opportunity to hear from the Governor’s chief climate and energy officials who started the event off with an overview of their latest Emissions Report, as well as an update on the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). The regional carbon market, focussed on transportation emissions, is set to be finalized in 2020. You can read more about Governor Baker’s announcement and regional support for carbon market policies here.

The hearing offered a chance for the state’s carbon pricing coalition to inform and push for a number of legislative efforts, including a forthcoming climate bill expected to be released by the Senate by the end of January. The Senate, which successfully passed carbon pricing in the last session, looks to build off of previous language and offer a comprehensive legislation package later this month. Ahead of the hearing, there was a surge of unprecedented support for the policy — which has been introduced in the legislature for the third session in a row. Each session, the bill gained more momentum in the media and support from among rank-and-file lawmakers.

Support Grows for Carbon Pricing

The successful hearing comes on the heels of an announcement last week that more than 150 business leaders from 57 communities across Massachusetts, which employ over 4,000 people in state, called on lawmakers to pass a climate bill by July 2020 [read the full list of business supporters here].