Massachusetts Lawmakers Need to Weigh in on Policy that Bans Products in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance released the following statement today following news that on December 30, the day before New Year’s Eve, the Baker administration adopted California’s accelerated climate goals that will result in higher costs for medium and heavy-duty trucks. These are the types of vehicles that typically deliver freight and goods, and are used in everyday life such as municipal trash-pick up, construction vehicles, and snowplows. The change in policy will result in higher prices for consumers and higher costs of living and doing business in Massachusetts. These regulations are aimed at instituting a ban on internal combustion engines (ICE bans), in order to artificially change market conditions to benefit electric vehicles (EVs) through ICE bans. On December 30, lawmakers were not asked to debate or adopt this major policy change. Instead, the Governor’s staff simply took it upon themselves and adopted the accelerated California ICE ban by fiat, in hopes that no one from the public would notice.
When questioned, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides described the policy as “aggressive” action and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) acknowledged the change in policy will result in higher costs.
“The only reason for rushing through this policy change the day before New Year Eve is because you are trying to hide it from the public. The same unelected bureaucrats in the Baker administration that tried and failed to adopt the TCI gas tax scheme are now trying to adopt California bans on certain vehicles that perform crucial roles in the everyday lives of everyone in our Commonwealth,” stated Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
“If Massachusetts wants to mimic California policies and regulations, that is something the legislature should address on a case-by-case basis. However, what happened the day before New Year’s Eve is that unelected bureaucrats in the Baker administration unilaterally began the process of accelerating the ban of sale for certain vehicles in Massachusetts based off similar bans in California. That cannot stand. Major policies that ban the sale of entire categories of vehicles is a decision that should be debated by the legislature and not rushed through by unelected bureaucrats before a major holiday,” concluded Craney.