Policy Priorities

Under the guidance of our Policy Committee, MLTC focusses its administrative and legislative advocacy on increasing state investment in land conservation and the work of land trusts, and maximizing the integrity and natural resource value of protected lands and unprotected lands of significant conservation value.

Legislative Priorities 

The 2025-2026 legislative session started on January 2, 2025. MLTC’s top priorities for the session are:

• The Nature for All Bill (H.901/S.597, Rep Blais, Rep. Montaño & Sen. Feeney)
  This bill would dedicate a portion of the existing state sales tax for conservation, restoration and improvement of lands and waters to benefit nature and people. See the Nature for Massachusetts website to learn more about this proposal and its growing list of supporters. The Joint Committee on the Environment held a hearing on the bill on July 1, 2025. Many of our Nature for Massachusetts Coalition partners testified in favor of the bill. MLTC submitted written testimony and signed on to the Coalition’s joint written testimony as well. While legislative action on the bill is pending, some members of the Coalition are mounting a parallel effort to place the matter before voters in November 2026 via initiative petition. On September 3rd, Attorney General Andrea Campbell approved advocates’ preferred version of the ballot petition, and signature gathering is underway. Supporters must submit nearly 75,000 certified signatures by December 3, 2025. If these signatures are verified, the Legislature will have until the end of June to pass the measure. If the legislature does not act, proponents must submit 12,429 additional certified signatures by July 1, 2026, to place the proposed law on the November 2026 ballot. MLTC has signed on as a supporter of the ballot campaign. To add your organization's name to the ballot coalition, fill out this form. Volunteers are also needed to assist with signature gathering.

  Environmental Bond Bill 
  On June 24, Governor Healey filed her long-awaited environmental bond bill as S.2542, An Act to build resilience for Massachusetts communities (also known as the Mass Ready Act). Every five years or so, the legislature passes an environmental bond bill to authorize future capital spending for a wide range of state programs essential to land conservation and other environmental programs. A variety of policy changes are attached to bond bills as ‘outside sections’ and become law when the bill passes. On July 15th, the Joint Committee on the Environment held a hearing on the bill, with MLTC Executive Director Robb Johnson and a large number of MLTC’s partner organizations testifying. Written testimony was submitted by MLTC and also by a large Coalition of which MLTC was a part.  As the bill works its way through the legislature, MLTC will work closely with our partners on potential amendments to strengthen it.

• An Act increasing the conservation land tax credit (S.2083/H.3147, Sen Tarr and Rep. Jones)
  This bill would expand the annual cap on the state's conservation land tax credit program, resolving a long-standing waitlist for landowners willing to permanently conserve their environmentally significant properties. For more information, see this fact sheet and WBUR coverage from Martha Bebinger on the importance of expanding the tax credit. The Joint Committee on Revenue held a hearing on the bill on July 15, 2025. Mark Wamsley testified on behalf of Kestrel Land Trust and MLTC’s Policy Committee, alongside Zach Sheldon from TNC and landowner Edith Wislocki, who spoke about her experience donating a CR to Rehoboth Land Trust. See MLTC's written testimony here. As of September 16, action on both versions of the bill is pending. 
   
• FY2026 State Operating Budget
  On July 4, Governor Healey approved a $60.9 million operating budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2025. The final budget reflects $130 million in vetoes from the version the Legislature sent her on June 30. Reflecting growing concern about looming federal budget cuts, the final budget is more than $1 billion lower than the version the Governor herself filed in January. As a further indication of concerns over fiscal uncertainty, the Governor said she would extend a recently imposed hiring freeze, postpone a 2% raise for executive branch managers, and delay some earmark spending with the option to cancel it entirely if conditions worsen. Environmental programs were among those adversely impacted by the conservative mood. The Department of Ecological Restoration, EEA Admin and the Department of Public Utilities Admin each saw cuts ranging from 8.6 - 9.9% compared to last year’s funding levels, while the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity was cut by over $2.5 million – nearly 29% of its budget. On the positive side, DCR State Parks and DFG Admin each saw increases of just over 2% compared to last year. In conjunction with signing the budget, the Governor also filed a supplemental budget bill that asks the legislature to grant her special authority to further cut state spending midway through FY26 if revenue collections fall at least $400 million below projections or federal funding cuts exceed $400 million. MLTC is a member of The Green Budget Coalition, which had submitted a letter urging the legislature to support line items of importance to the conservation community.

Other Bills MLTC Supports

• An Act investing in natural and working lands (H.1005/S.549 Rep. Meschino & Sen. Comerford) to promote acquisition and management of natural and working lands to reduce impacts from climate change. A hearing date before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has not yet been announced. Read more about the bill here.
   
• An Act relative to uniform partition of heirs property (H.1964/S.1239,, Sen. Lovely) to increase protection for legal heirs of property owners who die without a will in place. This bill was heard on April 22, 2025 before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. See a letter of testimony submitted by MLTC here.
   
• An Act accelerating wetlands restoration projects (HD.1619/SD.1066, Sen. Crighton) to facilitate expanded wetlands restoration. This bill is the centerpiece of a Mass Audubon to Accelerate Wetland Restoration across Massachusetts. Learn more about the bill here. The Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources held a hearing on the bill on June 3, 2025. See a joint letter of testimony that MLTC supported here. While Committee action on the bill is pending, aspects of this bill were included as an outside section in the Environmental Bond Bill (S.2542, aka “The Mass Ready Act”) filed by the Governor and now under review by the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee.

• An Act to reimburse the George L. Darey Inland Fisheries and Game Fund (S.579,), Sen. Durant) to consistently reimburse MassWildlife for revenue lost from providing free hunting and fishing licenses. A hearing date before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has not yet been announced.

  An Act relative to Urban Farmland, (S.61/H.121, Sen. Gómez, Rep. Duffy) to support conversion of vacant lots and underutilized land in environmental justice communities into urban farms, community gardens, and other agricultural enterprises. A hearing date before the Joint Committee on Agriculture has not yet been announced. See written testimony submitted by MLTC here.

• Proposal for a legislative amendment to the constitution relative to agricultural and horticultural lands (S.11/H.71, Sen. Comerford, Rep. Blais) to authorize lower tax rates for agricultural land regardless of the size of the agricultural parcel. A hearing on this bill was held before the Joint Committee on Revenue on March 25, 2025. See our written testimony in support here. The Senate bill was reported out favorably on May 1 2025, but on the same day, the House bill received an “ought not to pass” decision. Supporters are currently exploring next steps.
   
• An Act to report payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land (S.1939/H.3032, Sen. Comerford, Rep. Blais) to improve equity in the distribution of state payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to municipalities that host state land and facilities. The bill would revise payment formulas to provide additional reimbursement for the value of ecosystem services provided by state-owned land, such as drinking water protection, habitat for endangered or threatened species, outdoor recreation, carbon sequestration, and landscape connectivity. A hearing date before the Joint Committee on Revenue has not yet been announced.

MLTC's Priorities for Administrative Advocacy

Conservation Restriction Backlog
We continue to advocate for resolution of the long-standing backlog in Conservation Restrictions under review by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). MLTC met with EEA staff on March 19th to discuss on-going challenges and reached seeming agreement on a few matters, including a commitment from EEA to coordinate comments so that applicants would not face multiple rounds of evolving comments on the same CR. Meanwhile, we have proposed a process by which we could assist EEA with the process to update the state’s model Conservation Restriction, but are still awaiting word on when EEA will be ready to undertake that process. In the meantime, we agreed with EEA that it would be appropriate for them to update the current Model CR template with smaller edits that they routinely request of applicants. MLTC encourages those who are having persistent challenges with CR review process to reach out to Robb Johnson at robb@massland.org.

Open Space Act (“PLPA”) Implementation 
MLTC continues to monitor implementation of An Act Preserving Open Space in the Commonwealth (the "Open Space Act", formerly known as PLPA), which took effect in February 2023. Under the law implementing regulations were supposed to be promulgated by August 2024, but as of September 16, 2025, they have yet to be issued. EEA has offered three rounds of public comment period on draft regulations to implement the law. MLTC coordinated a group comment letter in January 2025, which can be viewed here. See our second comment letter from March 2025 here. The state’s Open Space Act webpage provides a variety of important resources on the Open Space Act, including a Tracker with information submitted about proposed Article 97 actions, and list of Article 97 change-of-use petitions that passed in the 2023-2024 legislative session. 

Regulatory Changes for Energy Facilities Siting

MLTC will work with partners to advocate for robust measures to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts on ecological and human communities in new energy-facility siting frameworks to be adopted under the 2024 Climate Act, which aims to accelerate the development of clean energy facilities.On September 12,2025, State agencies released a set of draft regulations and guidance documents to implement provisions of the 2024 law. The array of proposed changes is significant and multi-faceted. See this page for a complete overview, including a schedule of in-person and hybrid information sessions and public hearings to be held in October and early November, 2025. Documents released September 12th include:

• Draft Guidance on Site Suitability Assessments for Clean Energy Infrastructure, which describes the methodology for determining the suitability of sites for applicable energy infrastructure and provides recommendations on how permitting authorities should use the methodology. EEA will accept written comments on the guidance submitted to EnergyPermitting@mass.gov through October 24, 2025.

• Draft guidelines governing the potential use and applicability of Community Benefit Plans (CBPs) and Community Benefit Agreements, intended to ensure such agreements provide meaningful, measurable benefits to communities hosting energy infrastructure. Written comments on the guidelines submitted to ej.inquiries@mass.gov will be accepted through October 24, 2025. 

Meanwhile, on September 12, 2025, updated draft emergency regulations took effect for the SMART program, which governs state incentives available for the development of certain solar energy facilities.The regulations include a new approach to scoring parcels hosting eligible ground-mount projects, using environmental/land use/electric grid criteria and a system for mitigation fees. Details on final scoring and values will be described in a forthcoming guidance document, and a public comment period on the guidance is expected. Learn more. 

Fairness in PILOT Payments
On August 13th, Governor Healey issued an Executive Order establishing a Commission on PILOT for State-Owned Land. The Commonwealth owns over 500 million acres of land across the state, and makes payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to municipalities that host state land and facilities to help offset some of the revenue lost from having those properties on the tax rolls. Municipalities with the most state-owned land are primarily in Western Massachusetts, but under the current funding formula they receive lower payments than communities in eastern Massachusetts due to lower property values. The Commission will be charged with evaluating potential changes, with particular attention to geographic equity. MLTC believes that equity in state PILOT payments is important to preserve municipal support for conservation in communities that host a large amount of conservation land. 

Other EEA Initiatives
We will aim to represent land trusts on EEA-convened working groups, including those related to the Resilient Lands Coalition. We will also advocate for effective implementation of the Farmland Action Plan, Healthy Soils Action Plan and strategic actions to set and achieve statewide Biodiversity Goals. 

Federal Policy
We will also advocate on select high-priority federal policy matters, with guidance from the Land Trust Alliance and other partners. In this period of on-going uncertainty, MLTC has posted some resources on our website for federal grantees and others seeking to protect themselves. As things continue to evolve, we'll do our best to share relevant updates on that page.

Prior Policy Priorities >>