New Legislative Session Begins

The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, aka the Massachusetts State Legislature, began a new two-year session in early 2023. Committee leadership has been appointed, and hearings have begun. The LSPA recently submitted two letters of written testimony.

We wrote a letter of support for S. 1765 and H. 2913 “An Act to extend the Brownfields tax credit” to the Joint Committee on Revenue.  These two identical bills propose to extend the Massachusetts Brownfields Tax Credit program for five years, thereby ensuring liability relief and financial incentives to clean up and redevelop contaminated properties. 

The LSPA also wrote a letter of support for S.495 “An Act relative to crumbling concrete foundations” to the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Early in the bill drafting process, Senator Gobi outreached to the LSPA for suggestions and the expertise of our members who are professional geologists. This bill focuses on prevention and relief. For prevention, it proposes an approach whereby qualified professionals are tasked with helping to keep deleterious sulfide minerals out of concrete aggregates. For relief, it provides a process for residential property owners with concrete foundations to follow when flawed concrete has failed. 

The LSPA’s Legislative Committee is tracking bills that could impact LSPs and the waste site cleanup practice and will keep LSPA members apprised of our advocacy as the legislative session progresses. If there is legislation you think we should be following, or if you want to join the committee, please contact the co-chairs Tim Clinton or Katie Kudzma.