JALSA Submits Testimony in Support of Make Polluters Pay Legislation

September 2, 2025

Dear Chairs Rausch and Barber:

The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) is a membership-based non-profit organization based in Boston, with thousands of members and supporters statewide. Guided by Jewish teachings and values, we are devoted to the defense of civil rights, the preservation of constitutional liberties, and the passionate pursuit of social, economic, environmental, and racial justice for all people.

JALSA wishes to offer its testimony in strong support of H.1014 / S.588, An Act Establishing a Climate Change Superfund, also known as The Make Polluters Pay Bill. This legislation, simply put, will require those who have polluted our environment to take responsibility and accountability.

For decades, fossil fuel corporations knowingly polluted our environment in the pursuit of record profits, while taxpayers were stuck footing the bill, along with absorbing the harm to our air, water, and health. The Make Polluters Pay bill will hold polluters accountable, raising billions of dollars from the twenty largest polluting companies to go into a superfund that will pay for needed investments in infrastructure and other climate change adaptation spending. An estimated 40% of the funding would directly benefit environmental justice communities, ensuring that those who have endured the most harm will be helped.

Holding polluters accountable in order to support environmental well-being is also consistent with our most fundamental faith-based values. The elemental Jewish tenet Tikkun Olam exhorts us to repair and heal the Earth, and to do so with an eye toward justice and equity. Psalm 24:1 (“The Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.”) reminds us of the vital responsibility of environmental stewardship. That those who pollute are required to fund remediation is all the more faithfully appropriate.

JALSA strongly urges the members of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources to report H.1014 / S.588, An Act Establishing a Climate Change Superfund, the Make Polluters Pay Bill, favorably out of committee.

Sincerely,
Cindy Rowe
President and CEO
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action