By Grey Lee, Executive Director
This morning, the USGBC MA joined with our colleagues in the environmental advocacy community to garner support for legislation which will advance our mission. The event is organized by the Environmental League of Massachusetts. At the opening of each legislative session, there is a period after the deadline for filing bills (which was this past Friday) and the assigning of bills to committees, during which legislators can demonstrate their interest to a bill by becoming a co-sponsor. The more co-sponsors a bill has, the “stronger” it is.
Many of our comrades attended, including the Climate Action Business Association, Conservation Law Foundation, Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, Transportation For Massachusetts, Acadia Center, Audubon, Environment Massachusetts, and the Nature Conservancy.
It was great to meet up with legislators such as newly-elected Mike Connolly (of Somerville & Cambridge)(left, below, with nice pin on lapel). Mike was the instigator of the Citizens Petition for Net Zero Buildings in Cambridge – which has resulted in that city's new net zero building policy plan. We're going to be following Mike a lot in the coming months as he get used to his new role as a State Rep. Congrats again, Mike!
Here we see Chapter Member, and all-star advocate staffer of Clean Water Action, Amanda Siebert, ready to meet legislators to pitch them on carbon pricing. This is one of our priorities and we have with joined her organization to be a part of the Clean Energy Future coalition in MA.
All in all, a great opportunity to see a lot of legislators in a short amount of time. Also good to see what our colleagues are up to and figure out ways we can help each other move forward with sustainability in Massachusetts.
If you're interested in becoming more engaged with advocacy, attend our next roundtable on February 9th.
PE | Associate, LeMessurier
Vice President, AEW’s Architecture & Engineering group
Interior Designer, Jacobs, Boston
Senior Vice President, Market Transformation and Development U.S. Green Building Council
AIA LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate, Gensler Boston 
LEED Fellow, WELL AP | Founder and Principal, Ecoworks Studio
LEED AP BD+C | Environmental Sustainability Manager, Armstrong World Industries
Sustainability Director, Steven Winter Associates
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science | Director of the Healthy Buildings program
Managing Director, Harvard University Office for Sustainability
Principal & Director of Certifications and Consulting, Epsten Group, Inc.
Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Jamestown
Founder and Principal, Linnean Solutions | LEED AP, O+M; EcoDistrict AP
Associate Principal, BuroHappold Engineering
Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
Co-Founder, Facilitator at The Laurentia Project | LEED AP BD+C, LFA
Founder and President, Board of the Healthy Building Network
Building Technology Director, Kingspan North America
LEED® AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL® AP, WELL Faculty and Fitwel Ambassador
Workplace Strategy Expert and Researcher, EYP
Principal, Integrated Ecostrategy
Senior Vice President, International WELL Building Institute
AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP
Principal, Bruner/Cott
Architect, Associate, and Sustainability Design Leader, Stantec Architecture and Engineering
FAIA, LEED Fellow, Long Green Specs
Products & Materials Specialist, BuildingGreen
Director of Acquisitions and Development
Director of Restorative Enterprise, Interface
Vice President of Sustainable Development, Shaw
Sustainability Manager, Consigli Construction Company
Global Head of Sustainability, Superior Essex