Omnibus Climate Bill Tabled as House and Senate Fail to Reach Consensus

During Massachusetts’ 2023-2024 legislative session, an 18-month period of extensive legislative activity, hundreds of bills were passed by both the House and Senate. The session concluded on the morning of Thursday, August 1, 2024, following a rigorous night of negotiations. Among the significant outcomes was the passage of the 2025 fiscal year budget, which allocated $20 million to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center—a $10 million decrease from the previous year’s $30 million allocation. One of the key legislative achievements was the passage of An Act Relative to the Affordable Homes Act (H4977). This bill authorized $4 billion in capital spending to support affordable housing and livable communities. It included $150 million for decarbonizing public housing through the installation of heat pumps and other energy efficiency measures and $275 million to fund sustainable, green housing initiatives. However, two major climate bills — An Act Upgrading the Grid and Protecting Ratepayers (Senate Bill 2838) and An Act Accelerating a Responsible, Innovative, and Equitable Clean Energy Transition (House Bill 4884) — failed to reach a consensus.  

The Senate first introduced its omnibus climate bill on June 25, 2024. Bills are considered “omnibus” when they consolidate multiple bills that are similar in topic. In this case, a variety of bills relating to the future of clean energy and a resilient climate in the Commonwealth to keep it on track to meet its 2050 climate goals of net-zero emissions were consolidated into the climate omnibus bill for this session. Key provisions included reforms relating to siting and permitting to streamline and accelerate the deployment of clean energy resources, a ban on residential competitive energy supply for consumer protection, and other emission reductions measures relating to gas decommissioning, clean transportation and building decarbonization. Three weeks after the Senate passed S2838, the House presented and passed its own, narrower climate bill.  

While the House aligned with the Senate on a substantial portion of its siting and permitting provisions, they proposed a version that deviated from that of the Senate, even changing the name of the bill as a whole to more accurately reflect the House’s intent to prioritize grid modernization. The bill included a more modest approach to gas reform, allowing gas companies to generate and distribute geothermal energy and other measures such as requirements for electric companies to procure more clean energy and storage instead of the State, grid modernization initiatives, and steps to increase the adoption of electric vehicles all of which would provide more opportunity for entities to decarbonize and save money on energy costs.  

After the House passed H4884 on July 18, a Conference Committee was appointed to reconcile the differences between both versions. Comprised of three members from the House and three from the Senate, the Committee faced a tight deadline to finalize a unified bill before the legislative session was scheduled to end on July 31. 

As the session wore on, the State House remained silent on the status of a final bill. Hopes were high amongst stakeholders that, at the very least, a bill addressing siting and permitting would be passed, since these measures were pre-conferenced, meaning they were discussed and agreed upon among delegates from both the House and Senate before formal Conference negotiations. However, the session ended without a climate bill being passed. There remains hope that the work accomplished in these bills can still be built upon, and there are several ways this can happen: 

A Special Session: Congress could reconvene in a Special Session, a decision that rests with the House Speaker and Senate President in order to pass climate legislation. There is no indication yet as to whether this will be considered but is being urged by Governor Healey and climate action groups. Calling a special session is not an easy decision as it asks legislators to reconvene outside of their regular schedule, posing additional hurdles considering many will be preparing for their upcoming elections.

An Informal Session: Another possibility is that elements of the unresolved bills could be voted on during an Informal Session this fall. While passage during informal sessions requires a unanimous vote, it is possible that the pre-conferenced siting and permitting reforms could be passed this way as they are non-controversial. Although needing a unanimous vote, calling an informal session is more feasible than a Special session as not all legislators have to be present to vote in an informal session.

Early Passage in the Next Session: Legislators could decide to pick up where they left off at the start of next session in January, pushing for an early passage of a climate bill, but there is no indication yet as to whether this would be seriously considered.

Start Anew: The final option would be for the House and Senate to start the legislative process from the beginning in the next legislative session starting on January 1, 2025.

PowerOptions remains closely engaged, monitoring developments, and advocating on behalf of Members like you in matters occurring on Capitol Hill and in other policy arenas. To support this effort, we’re excited to offer Office Hours for PowerOptions’ policy team, on September 12^th at noon to answer your questions relating to the Climate Omnibus Bill or other topics relevant to the 2023-2024 Massachusetts Legislative Session. This event is only open to PowerOptions Members.

If you have additional questions or comments, please contact Sophia Gosselin-Smoske, PowerOptions Regulatory and Policy Analyst.