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Mass Audubon Releases Annual Legislative Report Card

Nineteenth Edition

BOSTON, MA—The Massachusetts legislature voted in 2003 on the highest number of environmental roll calls since 1989, according to Mass Audubon’s nineteenth annual Legislative Report Card. Mass Audubon’s Legislative Report Card is a compilation of the roll call votes by state legislators on environmental bills or funding measures. It is the only objective rating of Massachusetts legislators on environmental issues.

For 2003, House members were rated on 23 environmental roll call votes, and Senate members were rated on 26 environmental roll call votes. Overrides of Governor Romney’s fiscal year 2004 budget vetoes dominated the 2003 Legislative Report Card, with 18 environmental overrides in the House and 16 environmental overrides in the Senate.

The average score in the House was 78 percent. The average score in the Senate was 86 percent. Several legislators missed votes in 2003 due to military duty, personal, family, or medical issues.

Debate on Beacon Hill in 2003 centered on efforts to manage the Commonwealth’s fiscal crisis and reorganize state government agencies. Controversial roll call votes included:

• The House voted 130-25 to require the Commonwealth to implement an $800 million annual capital spending plan—which would reduce the current $1.2 billion bond cap by thirty-three percent and devastate state environmental programs;
• The House voted 108-44 to require state environmental agencies to complete a regulatory impact statement (cost-benefit analysis) before any environmental rule or regulation could become effective, impairing state efforts to protect air, land, and water resources and shifting the burden of implementation to municipalities;
• The Senate voted 7-32 to reject Governor Romney’s state government reorganization plan, which would have established a new layer of bureaucracy and reduced the position of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs within the cabinet;
• The Senate voted 28-6 to direct state environmental agencies to study the feasibility of wind power generation in order to develop appropriate planning and regulatory mechanisms for wind farm siting and design.

"We are grateful that the legislature overrode many of Governor Romney’s vetoes of critical environmental program funding, and enacted responsible reforms of state environmental agencies," said Jack Clarke, Mass Audubon’s director of advocacy.

Christopher Hardy, Mass Audubon’s director of legislative affairs, said, "We urge the 183rd General Court to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of land conservation by passing three top reform bills—An Act to Protect the Natural and Historic Resources of the Commonwealth, An Act Amending the Conservation Restriction and Agricultural Preservation Restriction Statutes, and An Act Relative to the Taxation of Forest, Farm, and Recreation Land—before adjournment in July. By passing these bills, the legislature can support Smart Conservation: reducing deficiencies in current law to preserve taxpayers’ investments in a natural legacy for future generations."

Since 1985, Mass Audubon has compiled the environmental voting records of the Massachusetts legislature to inform citizens of their state legislators’ performance. Legislators received two points for voting in favor of environmental protection, one point for not voting, and zero points for voting against environmental protection. The scores of individual legislators are calculated by dividing the total points a legislator earned by the maximum possible score.

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