TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

We here in Massachusetts are taxed enough already, in fact much higher than many other States. Our state government needs to be more accountable for how every existing tax dollar is spent and currently we believe the wasteful spending should be redirected within the existing budget. . This is why we oppose the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) gasoline tax. TCI is not only an unnessary added tax, it is an attempt to bypass the democratic process by pushing through a tax increase without forcing the legislature to take a vote. Eliminating legislative procedure is a very slippery slope for Massachusetts. I do not support this California style gas tax hike and it is wrong for Governor Baker to pursue a tax increase without a legislative vote. Lawmakers are being completely excluded from the process, despite this being the exact task they were elected to carry out.

My name is Jason Ahmad. I am an 11th grade student at University High School in Hartford, CT. I live in Hartford near the Children’s Hospital and I can quite confidently say that the air quality here sucks. Any time I walk anywhere in the city I can basically taste the pollutants in the air. While most of it is caused by car emissions there is still a large chunk of it caused by local power plants. I think the cap-and-invest plan would be very effective in lowering the air pollution here and New England as a whole. The money produced by this plan could be reinvested into infrastructure that would promote electric vehicles. This would help lower the ridiculous amount of pollutants here in Hartford. Another good thing about making companies pay for their pollutants is that it would make them try to find a more environmentally friendly way to do their business as it is the cheapest option for them. Now, unfortunately, companies sometimes just try to find loopholes or workarounds that usually end up being more harmful than the way they were doing it before. You would just have to leave it to some other organization to stop this, or even the government.

I think the best way to use the money made from the companies would be to increase the incentive the CT government gives to people who buy electric vehicles as CT already has a lot of the infrastructure for it. The reason we don't see as many electric vehicles is because people already have gas cars. If you give them more of an incentive for switching then people are more likely to switch. One of the big things is letting people know that these incentives exist. I didn’t know this existed until I found it while researching a completely unrelated topic. I also think that if you give a way for people to get out of car leases if they want to switch to an electric car, there would be a lot more people who switch. A car trade-in system could also work if it was done with used cars. Let someone trade their car in for an electric one at a cheaper price of maybe 40% of the original price of the electric car. I would do that if I knew I wouldn’t have to pay for gas in the new one.

I want to see a Transportation and Climate Initiative that makes bold changes to improve the usage of all modes of public transportation. Individual transportation is a climate & time-wasting disaster. Public transportation should be incentivized while individual transportation should be disincentivized. Housing development should have incentives that support improved access to public transportation. Denser housing focused around public transportation nodes will reduce the problems caused by the last mile of travel.

Connecticut’s largest GHG emitter is the transportation sector. And the state has a goal to reduce GHG by 45% by 2030. Thank you for that. But we can’t do this alone.

Please formally join the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), which will cap GHG emissions and place a fee on fossil fuel imports in the transportation sector (cap and trade). Fairfield County (in which I live) is in the lowest 5% of counties in the US for air quality. These GHG aren'’t all from Fairfield County emissions…air blows from other states.

Thank you for what you have done thus far, with regards climate change action and the regional design process. Now you must take action to set aggressive GHG emissions caps. I know you will get push-back, but don’t give in. The children of CT are relying on you. In fact, we all are. This is no longer a future problem. The problem is NOW. And I know you realize this.

And please keep equity at the forefront of your mind when you set into action these goals. Too often the less affluent communities are not considered. After all, Bridgeport, the largest and poorest city in CT is also in Fairfield County.

Please stop hurting our state with these laws that seriously affect rural Maine. How about opening your eyes and focusing on the other part of Maine that doesn't have a voice. We have no carbon footprint. Believe it or not, Maine is a pretty awesome place to live. If only politicians that think they know best would stop medaling. It's not what's best for Maine. It's what's best for the people who have an agenda. You are hurting hard-working people in the state you are supposed to be helping not hindering with senseless laws.

Please see attached NFIB comment letter dated January 9, 2020, on Transportation & Climate Initiative.

Once again Massachusetts is leading the region in yet another “ progressive” initiative designed to dupe hardworking taxpayers into what amounts to a thinly veiled tax that was ALREADY VOTED DOWN! Enough already...

Governor Mills will likely try to back door this tax as a “regulation fee.” If that is the case, the people lose their right to speak through their representatives in the way of a legislative vote. For those of us on a fixed income, it will be a hardship. Prices on groceries and goods trucked into Maine and throughout New England will go up in price. Every restaurant will most likely raise prices. And there we are - paying higher prices AGAIN. Face it folks - it’s another TAX!

Hard working Mainers live in a rural state. We need to drive to work, school, the store and any other place we need to go or be. We cant walk or ride a bike 20 miles to the doctor or pharmacy. I live in a small city, so I could walk to the store to buy a bag of chips, if its not snowing and if the sidewalks are plowed and free of ice(yeah right). Please think before you act.