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Testify/Observe @ MA State House re BEV legislation, Thu 7/23, 1000-1200, Room A-2

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Pollux

Active Member
Supporting Member
Hi,

There are some significant EV/BEV-related bills coming up for discussion in the Transportation committee this coming Thursday, July 23, 10 am - noon, State House, Room A-2.


In short, I **think** what I’m seeing is:

+ HOV lane use by BEVs
+ parking for BEVs with the right to fine and tow offending vehicles
+ Changes to state building code for future charging provisions
+ 25% of vehicles purchased by Commonwealth by 2025 must be BEV
+ Mass Department of Energy Resources to study “electrification of all segments of the state fleet”
+ A fuel standard that would aim to lessen the carbon intensity of transportation fuels with a full GHG lifecycle emissions analysis.

Some additional details below, along with links.



I think it will be *very* useful to have some EV/BEV folks show up at the hearing to testify, as I don't know who else would show to speak in favor of these things. While some environmentalists may show to speak in favor of the fuel standard bill, I wouldn't want to rely on them speaking up with a loud voice for BEV HOV lanes or similar. And if the ICE crowd shows, or the auto dealers association, or the oil and gas guys it will be to testify AGAINST these things.



The hearing for all this is 10-12 am this Thursday, July 23, at the State House, room A-2.


I am planning to attend.


WARNING: I see two of these bills on the agenda for Thursday (H2969 & S1866); but an environmental organization claims that all four will be discussed.


Please feel free to pass all this along to whomever you wish.


Alan




The bills being considered on 7/23


These appear to be the House and Senate counterparts of the same bill:


James B. Eldridge, SB1824, "An Act Promoting Electric Vehicle Adoption”
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/Senate/S1824
Frank I. Smizik & Jonathan Hecht, HB.3085, "An Act Promoting Electric Vehicle Adoption”
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H3085
There are a lot of sponsors for both bills.


The bill texts are basically identical.


Issues:
(1) Permission for BEVs to travel in HOV lanes in MA.


(2) Parking / zoning for BEVs, including provisions for removal of offending vehicles and fines.


(3) Change state building code for electric vehicle charging, such as capacity to install EV charging stations. Not clear if this is for everyone in the state or specifically for state government buildings.


(4) Use of public EV charging stations not to require subscription fees, memberships. But owners and operators may have separate price schedules “conditional on a subscription or membership”.


(5) Owners and lessens of publicly available parking space may restrict use of parking space, such as limiting use to customers and visitors of the business.


(6) Any fee-based public EV station shall allow payment via credit card, mobile technology or both.


(7) The DoER may adopt interoperability billing standards for EV networks.


(8) Commonwealth to target 25% of motor vehicles purchased by the Commonwealth to be EVs by 2025. DoER shall study electrification of all segments of the state fleet.


Josh S. Cutler of Duxbury, H.2969, "an Act relative to electric vehicles in high occupancy lanes”
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H2969


Issues:
(1) Permission for BEVs to travel in HOV lanes in MA.


I’m not sure why this is a separate bill and wonder whether the committee will fold it into the bills above.


Marc R. Pacheco, SB1866, "An Act Relative to a Clean Fuel Standard”
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/Senate/S1866


Issues:
(1) DoER to develop within 1 year regulations for a clean fuel standard, to reduce carbon intensity of transportation fuels, while accounting of the full lifecycle greenhouse gas emission of all fuels.




Alan