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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1669 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 549
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Joanne M. Comerford
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act investing in natural and working lands.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and WorcesterJames B. EldridgeMiddlesex and Worcester2/10/2025James K. Hawkins2nd Bristol2/11/2025Jason M. LewisFifth Middlesex2/13/2025Michael O. MooreSecond Worcester2/20/2025Sal N. DiDomenicoMiddlesex and Suffolk2/20/2025 1 of 9
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1669 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 549
By Ms. Comerford, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 549) of Joanne M. Comerford,
James B. Eldridge, James K. Hawkins, Jason M. Lewis and other members of the General Court
for legislation to invest in natural and working lands. Environment and Natural Resources.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 448 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act investing in natural and working lands.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 21N of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022
2Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Nature-based solutions”
3the following definition:-
4 “Nature Services”, the processes and properties of both natural and human-managed
5ecosystems that provide human societies with benefits and resources of fundamental value.
6These services include: resources essential for life, public health, mental and physical health and
7economic prosperity, such as food, clean water, clean air, shelter, medicines and recreation;
8stabilizing environmental processes such as biodiversity, purification of air and water, ambient
9temperatures, flood control, carbon sequestration and storage and nutrient cycling; and cultural
10services not of direct material benefit. 2 of 9
11 SECTION 2. Said section 1 of said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby further
12amended by inserting after the definition of “Person” the following definition:-
13 “Reforestation”, the process of replanting trees in areas depleted by natural or unnatural
14disturbances such as wildfires, natural disasters, drought, insects, disease, logging, mining,
15agricultural clearing and development.
16 SECTION 3. Section 3A of said chapter 21N, as most recently amended by section 59 of
17chapter 7 of the acts of 2023, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 8, the word “and” and
18inserting in place thereof the words: “natural and working lands, and”.
19 SECTION 4. Section 5 of said chapter 21N, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is
20hereby amended by inserting after the word “policies” in lines 57 and 58 the following words:- ,
21and provided further, that the inventory, baseline assessment, plan and reporting requirements
22pursuant to this chapter shall also include information about expenditures, participation rates and
23results from the natural and working lands friendly communities program, as well as
24recommendations for administrative policies, programs and legislation to improve compliance
25and to meet these statewide goals;
26 SECTION 5. Said section 5 of said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
27striking out clause (xvi) and inserting in place thereof the following 2 clauses:-
28 (xvi) include recommendations developed in coordination with the division of local
29services within the department of revenue for updated expenditures and incentive rates for land
30conservation, stewardship and ownership programs to ensure they adjust with the value of the
31land and sufficiently reimburse or incentivize land conservation or stewardship to further these
32statewide goals; and (xvii) make recommendations for future policy action. 3 of 9
33 SECTION 6. Said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the
34following 2 sections:-
35 Section 13. (a) The commonwealth shall undertake actions under this chapter with the
36goal of preventing the degradation and loss of natural and working lands, as defined in Section 1
37of this chapter, as well as freshwater wetlands and coastal wetlands, as defined in section 40 of
38chapter 131, and promoting equitable access to nature services. The commonwealth shall seek to
39avoid, minimize and mitigate the impact of the loss, degradation or conversion of natural and
40working lands and freshwater wetlands and coastal wetlands, and to promote the full ecological,
41agricultural, natural, cultural, recreational, public health and economic benefits of the land.
42 (b) All relevant state agencies shall implement regulations under this chapter in alignment
43with this section and its policies, including:
44 (i) Funds and federal grants administered by the commonwealth shall not be used to
45permanently convert natural and working lands or freshwater wetlands and coastal wetlands to
46other uses when feasible alternatives are available;
47 (ii) Agency actions shall encourage the protection of natural and working lands as well as
48freshwater wetlands and coastal wetlands by avoiding, minimizing and mitigating against the
49permanent conversion of those lands, by promoting soil, tree and water conservation practices
50and by promoting public access; and
51 (iii) Agencies controlling state-owned land or undertaking projects that result in the
52conversion of natural or working lands to other uses shall coordinate with the executive office of
53environmental affairs to conduct permitting in a way that sequentially avoids, minimizes and
54mitigates impacts on people and nature in accordance with the goals of this section. 4 of 9
55 Section 14. (a) The secretary of the executive office of energy and environmental affairs
56shall establish a municipal opt-in natural and working lands friendly communities program.
57 (b) (1) The municipal opt-in natural and working lands friendly communities program
58shall advance state policy to: (i) prevent the loss of natural and working lands and freshwater
59wetlands and coastal wetlands; (ii) promote carbon sequestration and storage capacity; (iii)
60promote strategic reforestation and restoration; (iv) promote nature services, particularly in
61environmental justice communities; (v) increase food, agricultural, riverine, fishery and shellfish
62production; and (vi) promote nature-based recreation.
63 (2) The secretary shall adopt rules, regulations and guidelines for the administration,
64oversight, accountability and enforcement of this section including, but not limited to,
65establishing eligibility criteria, funding priorities, application forms and procedures and reporting
66requirements.
67 (3) The secretary may develop and implement the natural and working lands friendly
68communities program as a stand-alone program or combine the program with other municipal
69assistance programs related to environmental justice, climate adaptation, resiliency, mitigation,
70tree planting or biodiversity.
71 (c) The secretary shall collect revenues and distribute funds to support eligibility
72requirements under subsection (e) as provided in this section. Funding for the natural and
73working lands friendly communities program in any single fiscal year shall be available from
74sources including, but not limited to, the general fund, trust funds dedicated to climate change,
75land and environmental purposes, private investments as well as relevant federal programs; and 5 of 9
76any land management and restoration grant, loan and incentive programs administered by the
77executive office.
78 (d) Municipalities shall annually report to the secretary all expenditures of funding
79received under the program, as well as a summary of the status of bylaws or ordinances required
80by the program.
81 (e) (1) To qualify as a natural and working lands friendly community, a municipality or
82other local governmental body shall comply with a majority of the following eligibility
83requirements, as chosen by the municipality and approved by the secretary as an appropriate
84match for each municipality; provided that one of the eligibility requirements shall be the
85adoption of natural resource protection zoning ordinances or by-laws. The natural resource
86protection zoning ordinance or bylaw shall exempt the development of housing for family or
87family members, as defined in section 1 of chapter 188. The secretary shall establish other
88eligibility requirements, including but not limited to: (i) adoption of a municipal tree retention
89and replacement by-law or ordinance, as well as ordinances or by-laws to expand or conserve
90natural tree canopy outside of forests; (ii) adoption of a bylaw assigning a right of first refusal to
91a local or regional land trust or municipal board when lands protected under chapter 61 are being
92sold; (iii) having or establishing a local or regional agricultural commission that has the ability to
93comment on related matters; (iv) including agriculture as a category on all master plans, open
94space plans and other relevant land use plans; (v) adoption of a municipal right-to-farm by-law;
95provided that ordinances and by-laws enacted under this subsection may exempt the
96development of affordable housing, as defined in section 2 of chapter 40R; (vi) adoption of a
97groundwater protection regulation or a similar impervious surface zoning bylaw that limits the
98total area of land covered by impervious surfaces to reduce runoff, particularly in areas closest to 6 of 9
99waters; (vii) a stormwater utility program to fund upgrades to stormwater infrastructure; (viii) a
100fertilizer bylaw and lawns program that restricts fertilizer use on grass and educates the public
101and business-owners on proper lawn care to minimize adverse impacts to natural and working
102lands and waters; (ix) adoption of a water banking or conservation bylaw to require that either 2
103gallons of water be conserved for every gallon used in new development, or adoption of an
104outdoor water use restriction by-law; (x) adoption of a landscaping bylaw that reduces tree
105clearing, retains and promotes the planting of native vegetation, loam and rain gardens; and (xi)
106other municipal programs as determined in partnership between the municipality and the
107secretary.
108 (2) Eligibility requirements set under this section shall encourage and assist participating
109municipalities to achieve the goals under subsection (a) of section 13 of this chapter.
110 (3) The secretary may modify specified requirements based on a written finding that, due
111to unusual circumstances, a municipality cannot reasonably meet the requirements and that the
112municipality has committed to alternative measures that advance the purposes of the natural and
113working lands friendly communities program in a way that aligns with program requirements.
114The secretary may also modify requirements based upon municipal income factors or upon
115environmental justice criteria that make the program requirements overly burdensome for a
116particular municipality. The secretary may create alternative eligibility requirements that provide
117opportunities to those municipalities to achieve the goals of the program.
118 (f) The secretary shall accept applications from municipalities annually. Applications
119shall be noncompetitive and shall be accepted or denied based only upon whether municipalities
120have met the eligibility requirements. 7 of 9
121 (g) The secretary shall provide technical and financial assistance, including incentive
122payments, grants and loans, to municipalities that qualify for and opt-in as a natural and working
123lands friendly community under this section. These incentives, grants and loans may be used to
124finance all or a portion of the costs of studying, designing and implementing local ordinances or
125bylaws to prevent the loss of farmland, forest land, trees and freshwater wetlands and coastal
126wetlands. Upon acceptance into the natural and working lands friendly communities program,
127grants, incentives and loans may be provided annually. The secretary may also give preference to
128applications from natural and working lands friendly communities for existing grant programs,
129as well as waive any required local funding match requirements for those grant programs.
130 (h) The secretary shall, in coordination with the division of local services within the
131department of revenue, annually provide municipalities participating in the program a higher rate
132of reimbursement in lieu of taxes on state-owned land under sections 13 to 17, inclusive, of
133chapter 58, as determined by the secretary, provided that the additional reimbursement shall also
134consider the amount of land within that municipality that is state-owned, and shall provide a
135higher rate of additional reimbursement to municipalities with a higher percentage of state-
136owned land.
137 (i) The secretary shall, in coordination with the commissioner of agricultural resources
138and the division of local services within the department of revenue, annually provide
139municipalities participating in the program an incentive payment for each parcel of land
140restricted under chapter 61.
141 (j) The secretary shall set requirements for recertification to ensure compliance with this
142section following the first year of acceptance, and 5 years after a municipality is accepted, and 8 of 9
143every 5 years thereafter. The requirements shall include, but are not limited to, submission of
144documentation on local bylaws or ordinances implemented and expenditures of funding received
145under the program. If a municipality was granted a waiver allowing alternative eligibility
146requirements, the ability of said municipality to comply with the eligibility requirements in
147subsection (e) shall be reassessed at each 5 year interval. If the secretary determines the
148municipality has developed the capacity to meet the eligibility requirements of subsection (e), the
149waiver will not be extended. This section does not preclude the secretary from determining a
150municipality is no longer able to meet the requirements of subsection (e) and issue said
151community a waiver to remain in the program, provided said community demonstrates the
152presence of equally effective alternative measures as required per subsection (e).
153 SECTION 7. (a) Not later than July 1, 2026, the environmental policy act office shall
154determine a meaningful review threshold, scaled for different types of environments, which
155would require projects engaging in a certain level of permanent conversion of natural and
156working lands as well as freshwater wetlands and coastal wetlands to undergo an environmental
157impact review and to sequentially avoid, minimize or, if impacts cannot be avoided or
158minimized, mitigate impacts to natural and working lands and freshwater wetlands and coastal
159wetlands. The review threshold shall further the goals under subsection (a) of section 13 of
160chapter 21N of the General Laws, as inserted by this act.
161 (b) Not later than July 1, 2025, the environmental policy act office shall develop
162methodologies for quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions implications of land clearing and
163farmland development, using regional and peer reviewed data when possible, and potential
164options for mitigation. 9 of 9
165 (c) Six months before finalizing the review threshold and methodologies under
166subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the environmental policy office shall publish a proposed
167draft review threshold and proposed draft methodologies and solicit public comment on the
168proposals. The office shall also solicit comments from the joint committee on environment and
169natural resources and the joint committee on agriculture. The committees may hold a joint public
170hearing on the submitted review threshold and methodologies.