Bill
S 646
Creates an 11‑member board to regulate hazardous waste site cleanup, with specified professional, stakeholder representation and staff/tribunal authority under EOEA.
Purpose
- Establishes and codifies a restructured Board of Registration of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Professionals within the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) and defines its membership, qualifications, duties, staffing, and transition timeline.
Key provisions
- Creates an 11‑member board (one ex officio chair plus 10 gubernatorial appointees) by replacing existing Section 19A of Chapter 21A of the General Laws.
- Specifies detailed professional and stakeholder representation on the board (see “Membership and qualifications”).
- Requires the EOEA secretary, subject to appropriation, to provide staff (including administrative law judges) to assist the board and to conduct adjudicatory proceedings; the board retains final decision authority in those proceedings.
- Limits members to one four‑year term (with limited exceptions for alternates/partial terms) and provides continuity rules for members whose terms expire.
- Directs the governor to remove current board members except for three hazardous waste site cleanup professional members and reappoint new members meeting the new qualifications. Provides that the current chair may remain for up to three years at the chair’s discretion; the commissioner may appoint a co‑chair.
- The act takes effect six months after enactment.
Membership and qualifications (high‑level)
- Chair: commissioner of the department (or a full‑time departmental designee with administrative/judiciary experience or experience with the Attorney General’s environmental crimes strike force).
- Ten gubernatorial appointees including (among others):
- Three licensed hazardous waste site cleanup professionals (must include a hydrogeologist, a Massachusetts‑licensed civil engineer with cleanup experience, and a professional experienced in petroleum UST and distribution industry site remediation).
- A homeowner who has owned a single‑family residence heated by petroleum.
- A representative of a public‑interest environmental nonprofit.
- A licensed construction supervisor representing the homebuilding industry.
- A banking official active in mortgage lending (can include a full‑time environmental due diligence officer).
- An active Massachusetts attorney with real estate or environmental compliance experience.
- A municipal fire department chief or fire prevention official with UST removal experience.
- A full‑time employee of the Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup with investigative experience.
- Governor must also appoint an alternate hazardous waste site cleanup professional to ensure three licensed professionals are always available to serve.
Who is affected / potential impacts
- Regulated community: hazardous waste cleanup professionals, consultants, engineers, hydrogeologists, and firms conducting site remediation.
- Government agencies: EOEA and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)/Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (administrative staffing and adjudication processes).
- Stakeholders: homeowners (especially petroleum‑heated), lenders performing environmental due diligence, homebuilders, municipal fire departments, environmental nonprofits, and legal practitioners involved in environmental or real estate compliance.
- Impact: formalizes stakeholder representation, tightens membership qualifications, centralizes adjudicatory staffing resources, and mandates a transition to a reconstituted board.
Legislative status and timeline
- Filed: 1/12/2025 (Senate Docket No. 348). Introduced and read twice: 02/20/2025.
- Referred to relevant committees (Judiciary; Environment and Natural Resources); hearing scheduled 06/17/2025.
- Current text provides a six‑month post‑passage effective date and a gubernatorial reconstitution requirement upon enactment.
Notes / inconsistencies in submitted materials
- The provided bill text and sponsors/metadata include some inconsistencies (e.g., title line referencing liquidator’s permits, and a separate list of U.S. Senators as sponsors). The substantive summary above follows the bill text amending Chapter 21A, Section 19A as filed by Senator Patrick M. O’Connor.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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