proposed amendments to Calendar #1

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL Quinton Y. Zondervan City Councillor Dear colleagues, Please see attached amendments to Calendar Item #1. The amendments, drafted with assistance from Clerk Wilson, align the home rule petition with the desired formatting of the legislature and further clarify the ask. I recommend that we amend by substitution with the attached language. Sincerely, Cambridge City Councillor Quinton Y. Zondervan WHEREAS: The Cambridge Net Zero Action Plan adopted by the City Council in 2015 requires the City to establish a net zero standard for new construction, starting with small residential construction and major renovation in 2022, large residential and commercial in 2025 and laboratory buildings in 2030; and WHEREAS: Per the Attorney General's ruling regarding a proposed ban on fossil fuel use in newly constructed buildings (Case #9725), such a net zero standard may be preempted by the State Building Code, by the Gas Code and G.L. c. 142, 813 and by G.L. c. 164. WHEREAS: The Commonwealth process for delivering a Net Zero Energy stretch code is unlikely to deliver in time to meet this deadline; and WHEREAS: Net Zero emissions building construction is now an established and achievable standard, practiced by Cambridge's own municipal construction, and in various proposed and constructed private sector buildings in Cambridge, utilizing a combination of passive house, LEED or other energy efficient building design, ground source (geothermal) or air source heat pumps, building electrification (no on-site combustion of fossil fuels), renewable energy (solar PV and/or hot water) systems, and 100% renewable electricity purchasing contracts; and ORDERED: That the attached home rule petition establishing "NET ZERO EMISSIONS STANDARD FOR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED BUILDINGS" in Cambridge in accordance with its Net Zero Action Plan, adopted in 2015, be sent to the entire state legislative delegation for immediate adoption. CITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139 Email: [email protected]

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE TO ESTABLISH A NET ZERO EMISSIONS STANDARD FOR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED BUILDINGS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary, the City of Cambridge is authorized to establish a net zero standard for newly constructed buildings, starting in January of 2022. Such a standard may impose limitations on the combustion of fossil fuels in such buildings, as well as limit the installation of equipment that combusts fossil fuels, in order to ensure reductions in building emissions congruent with state and city climate change goals. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.