Energy Bill Runs into Storm

Bruce Tarr, a Senator from Gloucester, put the kibosh on advancing g a huge bill with so few members present.

Chris Lisinski | SHNS

A compromise clean energy and climate bill filed Monday night will not receive a Senate vote until at least Thursday after the top Republican in that branch asked for another day to review the bill.

After hours of back-room talks, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr moved just before 3:15 p.m. to postpone consideration of the 139-page conference committee report (S 2967) until Thursday.

Tarr said he wanted more time to review the massive bill, which stretches across topics including clean energy siting and permitting reform, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, nuclear power purchase and more.

Democrats, who only had a couple of members in the Senate chamber at the time, allowed Tarr's motion to prevail without objection.

Legislative fair-notice rules call for a conference committee accord to be filed by 8 p.m. the night before lawmakers take it up -- a target met for the clean energy bill, which was filed after 9 p.m. Monday ahead of a planned vote Wednesday.

"It certainly meets the minimum requirement. The question is, does it meet what's needed?" Tarr said in a brief interview after session.

The Gloucester Republican linked the uncertainty about next steps for the bill to the Legislature's chaotic end to formal business for the term, when top Democrats adjourned without reaching deals on many high-profile bills.

"This is the consequence of what happens when we don't finish business in a timely fashion. We have a set of rules, and those rules are intended for us to complete business so that the full legislative process can be applied to that business," Tarr said. "What you're seeing right now is what happens when we don't meet those rules. So we are in uncharted territory, and like everyone else in the Senate chamber and in this building, we're trying to understand the ramifications of every action that we take, because we are not in a normal situation where the safeguarding rules are there to protect us."

The Senate will return to session at 11 a.m. Thursday. Two Republicans voted against the Senate bill that was used to develop the accord, and it's not clear if Republicans will try to block the bill and force Democrats to take other measures to get it through to the House.