Senate Moves Forward on Outdoor Lighting Bill to Save Towns Money, Protect Wildlife

(BOSTON—6/24/2026) Next week, the Massachusetts Senate will take up legislation to help cities and towns save money on electricity, support wildlife, and make stars more visible in the night sky.

The legislation—S.3145, An Act to improve outdoor lighting, conserve energy, and increase dark-sky visibility—would create a new, lower electric rate for low-wattage streetlights and parking lot lights, helping municipalities trim their electric costs.

The bill aims to reduce ‘light pollution,’ which is found in densely populated areas and stems from outdoor light fixtures unnecessarily shining up into the sky.

To do so, the proposal focuses on outdoor lights owned by local or state government, such as streetlamps. The specifications would require those lights to be ‘fully shielded,’ meaning a shade is above the bulb to ensure that a streetlight shines down and out—toward the area being illuminated—and does not burn upward toward the sky.

While the effects of light pollution are wide-ranging, many people experience it firsthand when they struggle to see stars at night due to sky glow, a result of excess lighting in densely populated areas. DarkSky International calls light pollution an ‘international concern.’

Keeping implementation costs low or negligible, the bill only rolls out the new specifications for newly-installed lights, which will then potentially lead to substantial energy savings for a city or town.

The bill also includes public safety exemptions, commissions a MassDOT study on how to cut lighting expenses, and adjusts new outdoor lights to be a warmer hue instead of cold light which disrupts wildlife.

Full details of the legislation are available in a fact sheet in the Senate press room.

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means redrafted the bill and reported it today to the full Senate, which plans to debate it at a formal session on Wednesday, July 1.

The bill is a new version of legislation unanimously recommended last year by Senate members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. The joint committee sought input from constituents and stakeholders at a public hearing on September 25, 2025, before reporting the bill with a 6-0 vote on November 25, 2025.

All votes taken at the committee and chamber levels are publicly posted on the Legislature’s website.

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