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 Legislative Priorities
Strategy
The time has come to reinvigorate the spirit and ethic of stewardship among elected and appointed officials, citizens, and advocates-a collective responsibility to protect, manage, restore, and enhance the natural resources of the Commonwealth-in keeping with the natural beauty of Massachusetts and the eloquent promise of our state constitution. The actions taken and not taken over the next decade by public agencies, private non-profit organizations, and the private sector to meet these challenges will permanently shape the future of the Commonwealth's landscape. Mass Audubon's Beacon Hill Legislative Affairs Office serves both as a leader and a catalyst for conservation by stimulating legislative action to protect the nature of Massachusetts.
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State
Mass Audubon challenges the Patrick Administration and the Massachusetts legislature to restore overall spending for conservation to a minimum of 1% of the total operating budget. We urge Governor Deval Patrick to continue his commitment to reinvest $50 million per year in land conservation. We will work with the Patrick Administration and the Massachusetts legislature to better steward the environment through zoning reform, updates to the Community Preservation Act, improvements to the way we manage our water resources, and stronger oversight of off-highway vehicles..
2009-2010 State Conservation Legislative Priorities
2009-2010 Other Critical State Conservation Reform Initiatives
State Legislation Generally Opposed By Mass Audubon
An Act to Sustain Community Preservation: Amendments to the Community Preservation Act(CPA) that allow for capital improvements to existing open space, housing, parks and recreational facilities not purchased with CPA funds; create a new CPA exemption for non-residential uses; allow the use of up to 3% of CPA funds annually to pay for a city or town’s CPA – related administrative expenses; allow cities and towns to delegate ownership of real property interests (land or buildings) acquired with CPA funds to town boards and commissions, certain nonprofit organizations, or in the case of housing, housing authorities, community development corporations, regional housing non-profits and other special purpose housing entities; create incentives for city adoption.
An Act Relative to Sustainable Water Resources: Amends Water Management Act to ensure adequate water flow and water levels for community water suppliers and fish and other species as developed by the Department of Fish and Game; authorizes water suppliers to implement "waterbanking" under which they could charge a small fee to residents and businesses for any new water withdrawal capacity to offset and remedy ecological impacts of water withdrawals, such as: land acquisition for wellhead protection, local recharge of storm/waste water, reuse of water, retrofitting existing development with low impact development methods or water saving devices; and, augments the options offered to dam owners by the Office of Dam Safety within the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to include dam removal. DCR’s existing authority currently only extends to repair of failing dams.
An Act to Protect the Natural Resources of the Commonwealth: Establishes statutory framework to ensure no-net loss of conservation land through dispositions under Article 97 of the Amendments to the Constitution.
An Act Relative to Land Use Partnership: Makes major structural changes to the enabling laws (M.G.L. chapters 40A and 41) governing local zoning and subdivision review to improve communities' ability to guide development by reforming loopholes, including approval not required measures, and grandfathering provisions, and by requiring consistency between local zoning and master planning efforts.
An Act Relative to the Regulation of Snow and Recreation Vehicles: Increases penalties for illegal off-road and all terrain vehicle riding and violations on municipal and state conservation lands; dedicates penalties and registration fees towards education, enforcement, and development of designated trails. The recommendations in the bill come from the Department of Conservation and Recreation OHV working group, of which Mass Audubon was a part.
Our Endangered Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program
The Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program mission is to protect the rare species of Massachusetts, their habitats, and the full range of natural community types to conserve the biodiversity of the Commonwealth. Heritage produces widely used conservation planning tools, such as BioMap and Living Waters, and a wide range of state agencies, non-profits, and municipalities regularly tap their expertise, e.g. by providing rare species information about potential land conservation projects and guidance incorporated at the local level by Conservation Commissions.
In 2007, Mass Audubon and The Nature Conservancy launched a successful campaign to restore state funding to the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. In 2008, state funding was restored at $250,000 per year. We will continue to advocate for increased funding for this program, which needs $1 million annually to do their job.
In 2004, the Heritage line item was struck from the state budget, leaving Heritage funded only by project-specific bond monies, federal aid - which covers wildlife but not natural communities or plants (of the 442 listed species, 264 are plants), a small but appreciated number of voluntary individual contributions on state income tax forms, and fees from Environmental Review under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. This left Heritage in a tenuous position, leaving rare plant and natural community protection poorly supported and with uncertain and limited funds for rare species research and restoration. With part of their funding restored, they are in a much better position, but work remains to be done.
Mosquito Control Reform
Protection of the public from mosquito-borne diseases, including Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus, is a priority public health issue. Mass Audubon supports state and local efforts to protect the public health while also protecting the Commonwealth's environmental health.
Today, the state mosquito control system is broken. Due to an outdated and incomplete organizational structure, it is a fragmented quagmire that does not adequately include the voice of public health. Result? Each mosquito control district makes ad hoc decisions on public health and the environment with no oversight from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, except in cases of extreme emergency. This lack of a coordinated effort is not the best way to protect the public health or the environment.
Change is needed! Legislation has been filed that would improve protection of public health through better mosquito control and increased public awareness. The bill provides the Commonwealth’s public health agency, as well as the Department of Fish and Game, a seat at the table that manages the state mosquito control program, while keeping mosquito control under the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Existing regional mosquito control districts would be improved and coordinated, with enhanced roles for local boards of health and municipal representatives. Updated mosquito management practices would be incorporated, and Massachusetts’ citizens better protected from mosquito-borne disease.
Overview of State Mosquito Control Practices
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Municipal
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long history of granting authority to local communities to manage their own affairs. As a result, Mass Audubon's municipal legislative advocacy is focused on encouraging municipalities to take advantage of available policy tools and statewide enabling acts to conserve natural resources of local significance.
2009-2010 Municipal Conservation Legislative Priorities
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Federal
During the last administration's dramatic rollbacks of America's environmental laws, regulations, policies, standards, and Executive Orders, protections for our nation's natural resources were weakened significantly. Mass Audubon will continue to work with the Massachusetts congressional delegation and the Obama administration to defend and restore America's conservation legacy, and to guide the nation to a healthier and more sustainable future.
2009-2010 Federal Conservation Legislative Priorities
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