Municipal Activity

38 posts

In Final Ruling, New York Court of Appeals Greenlights New York City’s Building Performance Standards

Last Thursday, May 22, the New York State Court of Appeals – the State’s highest court – issued a decision upholding New York City’s Local Law 97 of 2019. Local Law 97 is one of the country’s most ambitious municipal climate policies, requiring the City’s largest buildings to comply with […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief in Support of New GHG Vehicle Emissions Standards

Following the 2007 landmark Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act. These emissions standards were significantly loosened in the last year of the Trump Administration. In 2021 the Biden Administration […]

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATIONS FILE BRIEF TO NINTH CIRCUIT IN SUPPORT OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA’S NATURAL GAS RESTRICTION

By Amy Turner, Michael Burger & Jennifer Danis Today, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National League of Cities, the League of California Cities, and the California State Association of Counties in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, a case before the U.S. Court […]

Emerging Local Legal Pathways for Building Electrification: Air Pollution and Land Use Regulation in New York City & Brookline, Massachusetts

By Amy Turner   This week marked significant growth for the building electrification movement, as the legal pathways in use by local governments to catalyze electrification doubled in number. Previously, local governments had pursued building electrification through building code provisions requiring or incentivizing electrification expressly, or through affirmative “bans” on […]

Net-Zero Stretch Code: A New Model for Municipal Building Decarbonization in Massachusetts

By Amy Turner This week, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed S.2995, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy (the “Act”), which sets sweeping climate policy for the state, including greenhouse gas reduction targets of 50 percent by 2030, 75 percent by 2040 (both relative to 1990 levels), […]

What Biden’s Climate Plans Might Mean for Cities

By Amy Turner The election dust has mostly settled, and with its drawn out conclusion has come much speculation about potential climate policy in a new Biden administration, particularly in light of President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris designating climate change as one of their four policy priorities. […]