Dear Friend,

Progress: The Massachusetts Legislature has reformed the internal rules by which it operates. Each branch is now freer to handle its priorities independently of the other. Something else: in debate on the floors of the Senate and the House, votes have always been recorded and public, but now the votes legislators take in the various policy committees that consider bills before they hit the floor will be public, too. Another: when committees hold their hearings, there will be more advance notice. And one more: committees will issue their final recommendations earlier, making it less likely that all the important stuff piles up at the end.

Already we're seeing a difference. In the Senate we just passed an update to the state's Shield Act, to further protect the identity of providers and patients, out-of-state patients included, who seek either abortion or gender-affirming care from Massachusetts sources.

Meanwhile, down in Washington, we have a President who conducts economic policy in a jealous rage. It's not about the economy, stupid. Or making America great. Or doing big beautiful deals. If Trump cared about the economy, he'd back solar manufacturing. If he wanted to make America great, he'd compete in battery technology. If he wanted big beautiful deals, he'd play in offshore wind.

Notwithstanding the long-term strategic considerations, Trump wages a campaign against clean energy that is all out and scorched earth, in this situation a tragically apt metaphor. Part of his base appreciates this, for sure, but in his over-the-top aggression Trump seems to have something more in mind. Clean energy is triggering for him. In place of a comprehensive vision, he has a malignant squint. Deals must carry the Trump brand or they are worse than nothing. If there are jobs but they are associated even remotely with his predecessor, he will destroy those jobs, rip them out by the roots, even if they are good jobs at good wages for thousands of his fellow citizens. Solar, electric batteries, electric cars, offshore wind: these sectors are crucial stakes in the race for the future against China but no matter; if they bear the Biden scent Trump will set the hounds of hell upon them.

And yet he's up against climate change itself, and so of course he will lose. Climate change packs infinitely more power than Trump does. It warms the ocean. It bakes the land. It summons the rain. It is not term-limited.

Because global warming will not go away, neither will the effort to contain it. While the federal funding and tax breaks will be missed, containing climate change happens mostly downstream, thanks to expert energy workers, grassroots organizations, universities, nonprofit philanthropy, and state and municipal government policy. Among entrepreneurs, the flame of clean tech will flicker and falter due to Trump and then regain its intensity, because worldwide demand is rising and American innovators want in on the action, no matter what a lame-duck president says.

Thanks for reading this. Onward and upward. Check out my Instagram page. It's new and improved.

Senator Mike Barrett

ICE steps up its deliberately careless, callous, and showy roundups, and my constituents respond by organizing. On June 14th, I spoke at the "No Kings" rally in Chelmsford, one of hundreds of demonstrations nationwide.

I don't want my constituents on the hook for new gas pipelines they'll be paying off for 30 years. I was delighted to say as much in an online conversation on energy affordability hosted by Contrarian Boston. Appreciated the lively discussion with Contrarian's Scott Van Voorhis, IBEW representative Mike Monahan, and former Water Resources Authority head Paul Levy.

People are deeply shaken by what's happening in the country. This spring I co-hosted a Town Hall open to all Democrats and Independents in the area interested in discussing what went wrong in 2024 -- and what needs to go right in 2026.

Friends, neighbors, and constituents are feeling re-energized. Chelmsford's Lawrence MacDonald, Lorena Betts, and Rebecca Gore lit up the session with good comments.



The Embodied Carbon Council, on which I serve, held its first ever public hearing in Lexington. Established by the Legislature in last year’s Clean Energy Act to find ways to reduce the carbon embedded in building materials, the Council shared some early research and heard feedback from members of the public. I was impressed by the smart comments from the audience.



Climate work in Massachusetts started before Trump, carries on during Trump, and will continue long after Trump is gone. He can obstruct it and slow it but he can't end it.

Massachusetts has an Ice Cream Trail and I am a frequent traveler. Great Brook Farm in Carlisle is a favorite stop. Recently I joined Rebecca Tepper, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary for Gov. Healey, at Great Brook, where the Duffy family showed us around the farm. Ice cream was excellent. Mark Duffy was an expert tour guide. Knew a lot, delivered it well. Much more charismatic than the cows.



Got some good advice from former governor Mike Dukakis, who came to the State Senate when we paid tribute to his beloved late wife Kitty.



"Mass. failed to properly preserve records for thousands of former residents at state-run institutions, report says"

The Boston Globe

John Scott was one of thousands of people institutionalized in state-run facilities whose stories are in danger of being obscured because Massachusetts has failed to properly preserve their records, according to a nearly 300-page report commissioned by the state Legislature.

Under consideration in the Legislature now is a bill that would make records from state institutions public after 75 years if those documents are in the custody of the state archives.

“If we lose sight of these stories people are going to grope their way toward re-institutionalization,” said state Senator Mike Barrett, a Lexington Democrat and sponsor of the legislation.



"Healey’s energy affordability bill gets support, tough questions on Beacon Hill"

Commonwealth Beacon

Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, the chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy who was the driving force behind the climate law which passed in November 2024, said that he was “impressed with the sheer intelligence and ingenuity of the fine print” of the bill.

But he also questioned whether Healey’s plan to allow the Department of Public Utilities to authorize utility companies to issue bonds to fund Mass Save would cost ratepayers more in the long run. “We would move from pay-as-you-go to an alternative that requires the payment of interest on long-term bonds,” said Barrett. “One would think that would be an additional financing cost, and that over the entire cost of the useful life of the project, more dollars might wind up being spent either by our taxpayers or by our ratepayers.”