In the Massachusetts State Senate bill S.2246 is currently moving through the legislative process. The bill, presented by Cynthia Stone Creem (D) - Norfolk and Middlesex, is titled "An Act aligning the commonwealth's transportation plans with its mandates and goals for reducing emissions and vehicle miles traveled." One of the petitioners of the legislation is State Senator Robyn Kennedy (D) - First Worcester. State Senator Kennedy told Spectrum News 1 that the bill addresses two important items. Kennedy, "One, it acknowledges that we're facing a climate crisis and car emissions are one of the leading factors driving the crisis that we're in. And so what it does is seeks to bring experts together to say, what are the goals we should be looking at to reduce driving. And I want to be clear on that goals, not mandates."

Kennedy continued by saying the second item of importance is the bill addresses the imbalance of public transportation funding for Greater Boston. "The other really important thing that this bill does is it pulls together a commission to talk about outside of Boston, which has the privilege of having reliable public transportation. Central and Western Mass, which may look very different than what's happening in Boston, to make sure that our drivers have alternative, feasible, reliable public transportation, other modes of transportation, so that they can choose to reduce the time that they spend in their vehicles."

Kennedy stressed that this bill will aim to set goals, not limit the citizens of the Commonwealth's driving miles. "That's the purpose of this bill, is to bring together and to set what is feasible, what are feasible goals, looking at things like vehicle miles traveled, which is a litmus that's used all over the country to determine how much time people spend behind the wheel of their cars. And so it does not right now prescribe, it does not set to prescribe any specific goals. It's about bringing together experts to say, you know, what should those goals look like But by first saying, what do we need to make sure that it's feasible to achieve those goals?"

State Senator Kennedy herself commutes to the State House from Worcester. She denied that this bill will affect residents of Central and Western Massachusetts more than residents of Metro Boston. "It's actually quite the opposite, quite frankly, which is why I support it, because it's quite the opposite. What it does, and particularly the second piece that's the task force, is about saying, Boston has, due to historic over investment in the city of Boston and the Boston region, and underinvestment in the rest of the state, Boston enjoys the privilege of a reliable public infrastructure and public transportation. We have not had that investment in Central and Western Mass. and what this bill does is says, We need to have that conversation because if we want to hit those goals, we actually need to make sure that other regions of the state have access to that same reliable transportation."

The text of the proposed legislation can be found on the Massachusetts Legislature's website.