Two curves need some serious bending here in Massachusetts — the Covid-19 infection curve, and the state budget curve. Although there was a lot of push and pull going last week, it’s looking like the Covid Curve won’t trend downward until at least mid-January. And the state’s budget is unlikely to bend upward until mid-2022. Lawmakers wishes might come true with the news of a federal relief package coming our way, but it’s doubtful any of the funding needed will make it here in time to make a difference for the holidays.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts has lost its crown of Most Energy Efficient State in the U.S. to California. If you’re going to lose that crown to any state it might as well be the Golden State as it keeps the Bay State in good company.
The real news, however, is that Massachusetts is and likely always will be a heavyweight contender on clean energy. Gov. Baker has been cheerleading a collection of Northeastern states to pass the Transportation and Climate Initiative — a cap-and-trade program for fuel companies in the Northeast modeled after the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. It looks like we’re close to a deal that could save billions of dollars and countless lives in the coming decades.
And speaking of good company, Lowe’s Home Improvement has agreed to purchase 250MW of renewable energy from Massachusetts-headquartered Swift Current Energy in a 12-year power purchase agreement.
All this and a bag of chips in this week’s news.
Covid Might Not Bend Until Mid January
With civilian vaccinations still months away, an updated Covid-19 projection model out of UMass Amherst, predicts that the total number of new coronavirus infections will continue to increase well into January. The model projects more than 40,000 new cases by Jan. 2. At just over 33,000 in the first week of December, that’s an increase of about 25%.
In terms of deaths, the model — which is actually based on an ensemble of different models — predicts mortality will surpass 500 cases per week in Mass. before January with total deaths projected to hit 13,120 by Jan. 9.
In an attempt to stem the evil tide, Gov. Charlie Baker and some cities and towns continue to re-tighten restrictions. Amid rising COVID-19 numbers in Massachusetts, a number of cities and towns in the state announced they are reverting to more restrictive phases of reopening.
Gov. Baker announced last week that the state would turn back to Phase 3, Step 1 of its reopening plan. And officials in Boston, Arlington, Brockton, Lynn, and Somerville, and Newton have all begun to roll the pace of reopenings back to Phase 2, Sept 2 for at least three weeks.
If the public doesn’t heed the Governor’s new holiday safety guidelines, a full shutdown could become a reality before the year’s end.
Politics
What The New Federal Relief Bill Means for Mass.
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now surpassing 911 deaths on a daily basis. And nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since this summer. Nonetheless, Washington lawmakers have been in a Red vs. Blue tug-o-war over a second relief bill for weeks.
Now Congressional and Senate leaders might be close to hammering out a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package that would mean billions in aid to small businesses, extended federal and state unemployment benefits, direct payments to Americans, and additional funds to renters and people needing food aid. In fact, by now, the deal might be in the history books.
So what does this mean for Massachusetts?
Direct payments to individuals appeared to be off the table until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel realized that Republicans could lose their Senate majority if Georgia voters turned against the GOP before the senate seat runoffs on Jan. 5. Currently, Dems are willing to compromise on direct payments and are asking for one-time payments of $600 — half that of the previous round of checks called for by the CARES Act.
The bad news is, the direct payments are in lieu of financial assistance to state and municipal governments. However, Senate Ed Markey said Thursday he has high hopes that President-elect Joe Biden would facilitate a third relief package before winter’s end.
A $300-per-week federal jobless benefit would run until April 2021 — half of the $600 benefits provided by the CARES Act passed back in March. A $300-per-week extension runs out on Dec. 31.
The package also calls for $300 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program which attempts to stem the tide of layoffs by offering business owners with 300 or fewer employees forgivable loans to be used to cover employees' wages.
An eviction ban set to expire at year’s end will be extended for another month. (The Mass. eviction moratorium expired in October.)
Also, a report by Vox claims the package will provide $13 billion for a 15 percent increase in food stamps benefits as well as other food assistance programs.
And finally, to the relief of more than 40 million Americans paying back federal student loans, the package also calls for the deferral of payments until April 2021.
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Business
Mass. Economy Not Expected to Improve Substantially Until 2022
With the state’s fiscal health teetering on a cliff, economists are saying that things might not improve until fiscal 2022. A lot depends on how quickly vaccines can be rolled out and how effective the jabs will be at “bending the curve.” It also depends on the flow of federal stimulus money.
At a Tuesday hearing, Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan waxed poetic saying: “Happy holidays, here’s to the new year. We hope there’s a vaccine. We hope there’s federal money.” Okay, so it wasn’t so poetic.
Meanwhile, Department of Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder estimated that tax revenue for Fiscal 2022 will fall between $27 billion (a 1% decline) and $30 billion (and 8.8% gain). Several estimates from NGO experts also fell within the range of or slightly higher than the Department of Revenue estimate.
More details on the Mass. 2022 revenue projections can be found at Commonwealth Magazine’s website.
Check out last week’s news to learn more about the state’s fresh-squeezed 2021 budget.
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Energy
Mass. No Longer Most Energy Efficient State
For nine straight years, Massachusetts has held the gold medal for Most Energy-Efficient State In the Nation according to rankings provided by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The Bay State is now number two compared to California.
"In a year dramatically impacted by a global pandemic and associated recession, efforts to advance clean energy goals struggled to maintain momentum amid the loss of 400,000 energy efficiency jobs by the summer and disruptions to countless lives. Despite these challenges, some states continued to successfully prioritize energy efficiency as an important resource to help reduce household and business energy bills, create jobs, and reduce emissions. First place goes to California, which sets the pace in saving energy on multiple fronts with adoption of net-zero energy building codes, stringent vehicle emissions standards, and industry-leading appliance standards." — ACEEE annual scorecard
Massachusetts has been in the top 10 all 14 years that the ACEEE has published its annual scorecard. However, in recent years, California has spent millions of dollars to provide incentives for high-efficiency heat pump water heaters. And a recently signed executive order calls for phasing out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.
Here’s a more extensive report from the Boston Globe.
Lowe’s Taps Mass.-Based Swift Current Energy for 250MW of Solar
Massachusetts-headquartered Swift Current Energy is working on a 12-year power purchase agreement to supply Lowe’s home improvement with 250MW of renewable energy from its Black Diamond Solar park in Illinois.
Currently under construction, the facility will house over 1 million solar panels with a total capacity of 593MW. The new installation is expected to go online by the summer of 2023.
Swift Current Energy has developed and commercialized more than 1GW of clean energy projects with more than 3GW under development.
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Transportation
Northeast States Agree on Cap-and-Invest Plan for Autos
After years of negotiation, a collection of Northeastern states are expected to unveil a final agreement Monday on the Transportation and Climate Initiative. TCI, a cap-and-trade program for fuel companies in the Northeast, would set decreasing limits on carbon emissions from autos. The program is modeled after the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative being applied to power plants.
Under the agreement, fuel suppliers would be required to buy carbon credits to cover their emissions. Proceeds from the credits — estimated to be as high as $8.5 billion annually — would be earmarked for clean infrastructure projects.
Twelve states are involved in the pact championed by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. However, governors from Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine have expressed reservations about the plan. Other states involved include Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.
While some states may be required to adopt the program via their legislature, Massachusetts can do so through executive action.
A study by Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health claims the plan found the improvement in air quality alone would prevent up to 1,000 deaths annually and reduce emissions up to 25% by 2032.
Read all about it at EEnews.net.
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Real Estate
Blackstone is Now King of the Hill in Cambridge Biotech
Blackstone Property Partners Life Sciences is acquiring 2.3 million square feet of lab office buildings from a Brookfield Asset Management real estate fund. The deal, valued at $3.45 billion, puts Blackstone at the top of the heap of biotech space in Cambridge. The deal is expected to go down in the first quarter of 2021.
The life sciences real estate sector is booming. More than $16 billion has been raised from private investors during the first half of 2020. Cambridge is one of the fastest-growing biotech hubs in the country.
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Cannabis
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission has appointed two new members.
Nurys Camargo is a regional AT&T executive. Camargo previously directed youth violence prevention programs under the administration of former Governor Deval Patrick and founded a nonprofit to mentor Latinas. Camargo will assume the commission’s social justice seat for a five-year term beginning January 1.
Bruce Stebbins is a longtime Republican political operative who currently serves on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Stebbins will also be appointed to a five-year term on the cannabis commission as of January 1.
The new appointments to the independent commission were made jointly by the offices of Governor Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg.
MJ Biz Daily has more on this story.
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