Thread by @davabel

After vetoing a sweeping climate bill in Massachusetts, @MassGovernor received an identical bill passed by the Legislature last week and just sent it back to lawmakers with a series of amendments. Unclear what happens next. #mapoli

https://twitter.com/davabel/status/1358475409520746499/photo/1

Just got off a call with @BarrettSenate, and he said the Legislature is likely to accept some of the governor's proposed changes and resubmit a new bill. More to come.

Barrett, one of the bill’s chief sponsors and lead negotiators, said: “A lot of the proposed changes are technical and improving in nature, and I expect we’ll look respectfully at them,” he said. “Overall, this is a good faith effort to read a complicated statute."

Barrett said he appreciated the tone of the governor’s letter, compared with a previous letter that Baker sent vetoing the initial bill, which Barrett had called “concerning.”

Some of the governor’s proposed amendments, however, are likely to be subject to significant debate in the coming days.

Those include the governor’s proposal about revising the requirement in the bill to reduce emissions 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, compared with the governor’s original plan of reducing emissions by 45 percent in that time.

Cutting emissions more aggressively by 2030 would cost the state an estimated $6 billion more, Baker has said. In his letter, Baker called for establishing a range between 45 percent and 50 percent, allowing the executive branch more flexibility.

That would allow the executive branch to determine what would be the best target “that reflects the best available data and any changed circumstances that may make a more aggressive interim limit feasible and appropriate.”

In response, Barrett said Baker’s proposal “opens an entirely new policy suggestion, and it’s coming late in the game.”

He added: “I’m not going to prejudge the outcome. We’re going to look at these amendments with genuine care.”

As far as the next steps, Barrett said it’s unclear how long it will take for the Legislature to vote on Baker’s proposed amendments. He said he hoped it wouldn’t take months.

If the Legislature approves a modified bill, they will have to send it back to the governor, who can either approve or veto it. He won’t be able to offer amendments. If he vetoes the bill, the Legislature is likely to override it, given their supermajorities.

Here's our story in the Globe: Baker sends climate change bill back to Legislature, asking for changes and ‘common ground’ bostonglobe.com/2021/02/07/met…