Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 164 § 149

Current through Chapters 1 to 249 and Chapters 253 to 255 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 164:149 - [Effective 3/1/2026] Intervenor support grant program

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise,:-

"Director", the director of the division of public participation.

"Division of public participation", established in section 12T of chapter 25.

"Fund", the Department of Public Utilities and Energy Facilities Siting Board Intervenor Support Fund established in section 12S of chapter 25.

"Governmental body", a city, town, district, regional school district, county or agency, board, commission, authority, department or instrumentality of a city, town, district, regional school district or county.

"Grantee", an organization, entity, governmental body, federally recognized tribe, state-acknowledged tribe or state-recognized tribe that has received a grant award under this section.

"Office of environmental justice and equity", established in section 29 of chapter 21A.

"Prospective grantee", an organization, entity, governmental body, federally recognized tribe, state-acknowledged tribe or state-recognized tribe that has applied or plans to apply for a grant under this section.

(b) The department may make available as grants funds deposited into the fund to parties that have been granted intervenor status by the department or the board pursuant to clause (4) of the second sentence of the first paragraph of section 10 of chapter 30A and corresponding department and board regulations, and that are:

(i) organizations and entities that advocate on behalf of a relevant subset of residential customers defined geographically or based on specific shared interests;

(ii) organizations and entities that advocate on behalf of low income or moderate income residential populations, residents of historically marginalized or overburdened and underserved communities; or

(iii) governmental bodies, including regional planning agencies, federally recognized tribes, state-acknowledged tribes or state-recognized tribes. Any grants awarded pursuant to this section may be used only in proceedings before the department or the board, and not for any judicial appeal of such agencies' final decisions.

(c) The director, in consultation with the office of environmental justice and equity, shall establish criteria to determine whether, and to what extent, a prospective grantee shall be eligible to receive a grant award pursuant to this section. Such criteria shall include, but shall not be limited to, whether the prospective grantee:

(i) lacks the financial resources that would enable it to intervene and participate in a department or board proceeding absent a grant award pursuant to this section; and

(ii) previously intervened in department or board proceedings prior to the establishment of the intervenor support grant program pursuant to this section; provided, however, that a municipality with a population of less than 7,500 that is a prospective grantee for a proceeding pertaining to a facility, large clean energy infrastructure facility or small clean energy infrastructure facility, as those terms are defined in section 69G, within its boundaries shall not be required to meet the criteria pursuant to this paragraph to receive a grant award.

(d) A prospective grantee seeking funding under this section shall submit a grant application in a form and manner developed by the director demonstrating that the prospective grantee meets the criteria established by the director in accordance with subsection (c). Such grant application shall include:

(i) a statement outlining the prospective grantee's anticipated participation in the department or board proceeding, to the extent it is known at the time of grant application;

(ii) a detailed estimate of costs and fees of anticipated attorneys, consultants and experts, including community experts, and all other costs related to the preparation for, and intervention and participation in, the department or board proceeding; and

(iii) background information on the attorneys, consultants and experts, including community experts, that the prospective grantee plans to retain if awarded grant funding. The director may, at their discretion, make conditional grant awards to grant applicants that have not yet been granted intervenor status by the department or board; provided, however, that no grant shall be awarded until such intervenor status is granted.

(e) A grant awarded pursuant to this section shall not exceed $150,000 for any single department or board proceeding. The director shall, in the director's sole discretion, determine the amount of financial support being granted, considering the demonstrated needs of the intervenor and the complexity of the proceeding. The director may, in the director's sole discretion:

(i) upon the petition of a prospective grantee, award a grant exceeding $150,000 only upon a demonstration of good cause, including the complexity of the proceeding in which the grantee is intervening; and

(ii) upon the petition of a prospective grantee, provide grant funding in addition to the funding initially requested under section (c) upon a showing that new, novel or complex issues have arisen in the proceeding since the time the grant application was submitted pursuant said subsection (c). The director shall consider the potential for intervenors to share costs through collaborative efforts with other parties to a proceeding as part of determining the amount of funding awarded to any prospective grantee and such intervenors shall be expected to reduce duplicative costs to the extent possible in instances where the position or positions of multiple intervenors align.

(f) The aggregate grant funding for any individual department or board proceeding shall not exceed $500,000; provided, however, that where the aggregate amount of funding being requested exceeds $500,000, funding shall be allocated to prospective grantees based on their relative financial hardship. The director may, at the director's discretion and upon a determination of good cause, provide funding exceeding $500,000 for any individual department or board proceeding.

(g) Ten per cent of grant funds awarded to a grantee, or a greater percentage as determined by the director at the director's sole discretion, may be expended on non-legal, non-expert and non-consultant administrative costs directly attributable to the intervention and participation in a proceeding before the department or board. All remaining grant funds may be expended to retain qualified legal counsel, experts and consultants to assist in proceedings before the department or board; provided, however, that such funds may be used to retain qualified community experts, which shall include residential ratepayers and residents with lived experience that can inform such proceedings. Such funding may be expended for administrative, legal, consultant and expert costs associated with an intervention petition submitted pursuant to clause (4) of the first paragraph of section 10 of chapter 30A or section 10A of said chapter 30A and any department or board regulations, if applicable.

(h) All grant payments to grantees shall be made from the fund. Such grant payments shall be made only for reasonable costs incurred and upon submission of a grant payment request by the grantee. Such grant payment requests shall be in a form and manner as prescribed by the director and grant payments shall be made within 30 days of receipt of such grant payment requests by the director to the grantee or to the entity designated by the grantee to receive grant payments. The director, at the director's discretion or as provided for in regulations promulgated pursuant to this section, may provide grant payments before such costs are incurred by the grantee upon a showing of financial hardship by the grantee. Within 30 days of the completion of any proceeding in which a grantee has received an award from the fund, each grantee shall submit a report that:

(i) identifies the use of the funds during the proceeding;

(ii) the substantial contribution provided by its participation; and

(iii) a demonstration that its participation and the use of the funding did not cause a delay in the proceeding.

(i) All decisions pertaining to the issuance of financial support shall be made solely by the director. The director shall have sole discretion to deny funding to a prospective grantee that demonstrates a pattern of repeatedly delaying or obstructing, or attempting to repeatedly delay or obstruct, proceedings or otherwise misuses or has misused funds. The director shall have full discretion as to whether to approve or deny a request for intervenor funding. Applicants shall have no legal right or privilege to funding and shall not be entitled to any further review if denied by the director.

(j) In the department's annual report required pursuant to section 2 of chapter 25, the director shall include a report describing all activities of the fund, including, but not limited to:

(i) amounts credited to the fund, amounts expended from the fund and any unexpended balance;

(ii) a summary of the intervenor support grant fund application process;

(iii) the number of grant applications received, the number and amount of awards granted, and the number of grant applications rejected;

(iv) the number of intervenors who participated in proceedings with and without support from the fund;

(v) an itemization of costs incurred by and payments made to grantees;

(vi) an evaluation of the impact and contribution of grantees in department and board proceedings;

(vii) a summary of education and outreach activities conducted by the division of public participation related to the intervenor support grant program; and

(viii) any recommended changes to the program.

(k) The director shall develop:

(i) accessible, multi-lingual and easily comprehensible web-based educational materials, including forms and templates, to educate prospective grantees and the public on the intervenor support grant program; and

(ii) a robust virtual and in-person outreach program to educate prospective grantees and the public about the intervenor support grant program.

(l) The department, in consultation with the board, shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 164, § 164:149

Added by Acts 2024, c. 239,§ 82, eff. 3/1/2026.