Green lobby influences State House
The largest tax increase that most members of the Legislature will ever vote on was contained in late July’s “Climate Bill.”
The proposed legislation puts a price on carbon, further authorizes the Transportation and Climate Initiative, forcibly changes the behavior of almost every Massachusetts resident, and drives up the cost of doing business and living in Massachusetts immeasurably. The burden this legislation will place on working families is on par with the vote to establish a state income tax or sales tax. It’s that significant. The end goal is to create a carbon tax without calling it a tax. If passed, the scheme will eventually go from ideology to reality. When reality hits, expect an extreme increase in the cost of living and many new layers of regulation.
The bill in the House had a vote on July 31 in which a majority of the Republicans in the House voted against the bill along with one brave Democratic member. Unfortunately, Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-Reading, voted with the left-wing climate alarmists in the House. Jones is such an advocate for this Alexandria OcasioCorte-inspired Massachusetts version of the Green New Deal that he pressured his other caucus members to support the bill.
Of the 31 Republican House members, Jones, who is in a tough re-election fight himself this year, is the only Republican House member to be endorsed by left-wing environmental organizations like the Environmental League of Massachusetts. The only Republican in the state Senate to be endorsed by the ELM is Patrick O’Connor — coincidentally, he is also the only other Republican on the conference committee formed to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill and produce a final version of the legislation. Unfortunately, this means that conservatives will be deprived of a voice on the committee deciding the specifics of the largest tax increase in a generation.
Left-wing climate alarmists use many special interest organizations to pass laws to further their radical agenda and enrich their bottom line.
Real environmental problems like land conservation, the high cost of recycling in Massachusetts, and untreated sewage being dumped into the Merrimack River (where many municipalities obtain their drinking water) often don’t rise to the level of notice of these groups. Instead, these groups advocate for more taxpayer-subsidized solar fields on clear-cut forests and they create climate policy to forcibly change people’s behavior and raise taxes.
These special interests dominate Democratic primaries, as we’ve seen with the contested U.S. Senate primary between Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Kennedy. What is surprising to see is their level of influence on Jones. A majority of his Republican colleagues in the House voted against the bill, and instead of choosing one of them to be the Republican representative on the conference committee, he chose himself. We’ve come to expect this type of self-dealing from many on Beacon Hill, but seeing it come from a man who has served as House minority leader for over 17 years is quite disappointing.
MassFiscal is committed to making sure lawmakers and the public know the reality, not just the ideology associated with these harmful left-wing climate ideas. This won’t be the last climate debate at the State House.