‘Erosion Of Local Authority’; Select Board Opposes Mass Ready Act

HARWICH – Town officials are opposing the Massachusetts Ready Act currently working its way through the state legislature out of concerns that the act will limit local regulatory authority and handicap the community when seeking state revolving funds for future wastewater projects. 

 The legislation put forward by Gov. Maura Healey in June 2025, also known as the Environmental Bond Bill, was billed as a comprehensive investment toward climate and environmental resilience. Funding in the bill has been estimated to be as high as $3.94 billion, and would be used to provide low- to zero-interest loans to municipalities for wastewater infrastructure administered by the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.

 The legislation is presently in a conference committee to resolve differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill. Cape and Islands Senator Julian Cyr, D-Provincetown, is co-chair of the conference committee along with State Representative Michael Finn, D-West Springfield. 

The select board is particularly concerned with two sections of the legislation. Section 60 of Senate bill S.3064 would exempt “priority housing” projects from local wetlands and wastewater regulations that exceed Title 5 and the state Wetlands Protection Act, according to Town Administrator Jay McGrail.

 “This is a direct reduction in the authority Harwich’s select board, board of health, and conservation commission currently exercise over local water quality standards, shifting that judgment to a statewide minimum that does not reflect our groundwater or coastal conditions,” McGrail wrote in a letter to the conference committee. 

Section 108 of the bill would direct the Executive Office for Administration and Finance to apply a grant “preference modifier” across all discretionary bond funding grants, favoring municipalities where zoning, wastewater and wetlands standards do not exceed state minimums, according to McGrail.

 “These grants are funded by Massachusetts taxpayers, including Harwich residents, and should be awarded on the merits of a project rather than used as leverage to induce a community to give up standards it has adopted locally,” wrote McGrail. “For Harwich, this provision would turn years of locally funded nitrogen-management work into a competitive disadvantage rather than a model worth supporting.

 “Harwich’s comprehensive wastewater management plan depends on the town’s ability to apply standards tailored to our groundwater and embayments, and a state-level override for a broadly defined category of housing would remove that tool at the moment we need it most,” McGrail wrote in the letter approved unanimously Monday by the select board.

Select board member Jeffrey Handler drew attention to the issues more than a week ago, telling the board that he read both the Senate and House bills and buried in them were waivers for affordable housing projects, reduced town oversight on health and wetlands issues, and impacting the town’s access to state grant monies. 

 “It takes our authority away,” Handler said. 

Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski said she has been told the provisions have been removed from the House version of the bill.

Select board member Donald Howell questioned why regulatory issues are in a funding bill, adding that the legislature is taking away quality of life issues and diminishing home rule. He cited recent changes in Chapter 40A, the state zoning code, benefitting housing development. Decisions are being made without public hearings or local input, he said.

 “It’s getting to the point where we don’t control anything anymore,” said Howell. “There is an erosion of local authority.”

Select board chair Peter Piekarski said he agreed with Handler and Howell, but added that there are components of the bill that are not all bad, including the funding for wastewater infrastructure. But he also agreed that funding and regulatory changes should not be “baked together.” 

 “I don’t like the bill in its entirety,” Handler responded. “We have to roll back our regulations in order to get the money.” 

 “If you take the state revolving fund money out, the whole thing stinks,” added McGrail. 

Select board member Mark Kelleher said the legislation will impact all of the towns on the Cape. He recommended that the town reach out to the Cape Cod Commission and the Barnstable County commissioners to build regional support for opposition to the legislation. The board agreed to invite Cyr and State Rep. Hadley Luddy, D-Orleans, to a future board meeting to discuss the legislation. 

 “As drafted, the town of Harwich does not support the Mass Ready Act,” the letter concludes. “If the committee nonetheless moves a final bill forward we ask that sections 60 and 108 be removed before it advances, so the final Mass Ready Act preserves the local control Harwich residents expect their government to exercise over water quality and environmental standards.”