Massachusetts Senate Passes $3.6 Billion Environmental Bond Bill 36-3

BOSTON -- April 15, 2026, Massachusetts Senate passes $3.6 billion environmental bond bill 36-3 after marathon amendment debate. The chamber voted Tuesday to engross Senate No. 3050, the Mass Ready Act, authorizing spending on climate resilience, coastal defense, and water infrastructure. A drought management amendment by Senator James B. Eldridge passed 38-0 after he described juvenile herring perishing in a dried-up Jones River in 2024 and 2025; the amendment gives the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs authority to impose regional outdoor watering restrictions during declared droughts and codifies the Drought Management Task Force in statute. An amendment by Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr to strip a mandatory 10-cent paper bag fee failed 5-10 on a standing vote; Tarr called it a "Rube Goldberg contraption" that taxes consumers already facing the highest electricity rates in the continental United States. Senator John F. Keenan withdrew an amendment that would have provided $50 million in bond funding for the already-enacted Massachusetts Healthy Homes Program, promising to seek money instead through the budget process. Three senators voted against final passage; the bill heads toward a House-Senate conference.