BOSTON (SHNS) – The controversial MBTA Communities Act is a constitutional law that the attorney general can enforce with legal action, but the measure is “ineffective” until the Healey administration takes another pass at crafting regulations, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday.
In a 23-page decision with implications for state efforts to influence housing affordability by facilitating more housing production, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled the 2021 zoning reform law does not run afoul of the state Constitution and that Attorney General Andrea Campbell is allowed to sue cities and towns that fail to comply.
However, the court found that the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities did not follow state law when promulgating relevant guidelines, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”…