Mass. lawmaker files bill to promote renewable heating, cooling and hot water

Representative Mike Connolly of Cambridge filed House Bill No. 3465 on Jan. 16, 2025, proposing statewide changes to encourage use of renewable energy for heating, cooling and hot water. The bill would limit how local zoning bylaws and ordinances may restrict the installation of renewable energy systems, require renewable-energy feasibility plans with certain building permits, expand statutory language about allowable systems and create a 20-year property-tax exemption for heat pumps.

The bill text would amend Chapter 40A of the General Laws to state that “No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit or unreasonably regulate the installation of alternative and renewable energy systems for electricity, heating, cooling or hot water … except where necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare.” It would also allow municipalities to require, as part of planning-board approval or a building permit, “a plan that uses alternative and renewable energy sources and an analysis of the feasibility and cost of installing such a system” when a new structure is built, a pre-existing structure is replaced, or a renovation affects 50% or more of a building’s area.

House Bill 3465 would amend Section 23C of Chapter 184 to add an explicit reference to “an alternative or renewable energy system, powered in whole or in part by the sun, wind, water, biomass, alcohol, or any renewable, non-depletable or recyclable fuel.” The bill would also add language to Section 45B of Chapter 59 to allow a property-tax exemption for “any heat pump system being utilized as a primary or auxiliary power system for the purpose of heating or otherwise supplying the energy needs of property taxable under this chapter,” limited to 20 years from the date of installation.

The filing identifies Representative Mike Connolly as the petitioner. The legislative cover notes the bill was filed in the House and lists the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. The text indicates a similar measure was filed in the 2023–2024 session (House No. 3678).

If enacted, the bill would change the balance between local zoning authority and state policy encouraging renewable heating and cooling by narrowing grounds for local bans or “unreasonable” regulation and by offering a long-term tax incentive for heat-pump installations. The filing itself does not record any committee action, public hearing, votes or fiscal notes; those would be needed before the bill could become law.