Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Another round for happy hour

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Another round for happy hour

ON TAP — Last year wasn’t last call for the push to bring back happy hour.

Two bills seeking to end the nearly four-decade prohibition on drink specials are getting another shot on Beacon Hill this session, starting with today’s consumer protection and professional licensure committee hearing .

One measure, from state Sen. Julian Cyr , would give municipalities the option to let restaurants and bars offer drink discounts, so long as the deals are announced at least three days in advance and don’t run past 10 p.m. Another, from state Rep. Mike Connolly , would create a commission to revisit happy-hour rules. It would also make permanent popular pandemic-era policies such as outdoor dining and to-go cocktails.

Sound familiar? Senators passed Cyr’s proposal as an amendment to last year’s end-of-session economic development package. But the bill stalled amid the chaos of Chapter 62F and the drink deals didn't make the final version amid a veto threat from then-Gov. Charlie Baker. Meanwhile, Connolly’s legislation never made it out of committee.

Now a new governor is giving Cyr and Connolly a new argument: lift the ban for the sake of the state’s competitiveness.

“This is another example of where Massachusetts is an outlier,” Connolly told Playbook, taking Gov. Maura Healey’s reasoning for raising the estate-tax threshold and cutting the short-term capital gains tax rate and turning it into a pitch for restoring happy hour.

Cyr is floating drinks deals as a way to both entice people to stay in the state and to draw them back to downtowns that have struggled to rebound from the pandemic. He also pointed to support for the idea in past public polling .

“Massachusetts has a fun problem and it doesn’t help that it’s absurdly expensive to live here,” Cyr said. “A big piece of fixing this is building 200,000 housing units. … But [it’s] also enabling our downtowns and our Main Streets to be more vibrant destinations.”

The Massachusetts Municipal Association is on board. Geoff Beckwith, the group’s executive director, said local-option happy hours would give communities “one more tool” to aid their economic recovery.

But the Massachusetts Restaurant Association is still sour on the idea. “There are some people in industry that see a benefit to doing it. There are others who are really opposed to it,” Steve Clark, the association’s president and CEO, told Playbook. “If the Legislature is going to take efforts to help restaurants, we would hope it would be around credit card costs and health care costs.”

And Doug Bacon, an association board member whose restaurants include Allston’s Hopewell Bar and Kitchen and The Avenue, warned that lifting the ban could create a “race to the bottom” on prices that would not only cheapen drinks but also the customer experience.

Should either bill clear committee , lawmakers would need to gin up support from the Senate again, as well as from the House and Healey.

Speaker Ron Mariano said in a 2021 Bloomberg Radio interview that he was open to “taking a look” at happy-hour legislation but that safety — the 1984 ban was designed to crack down on drunk driving — remains a “real concern.” His office cited that clip when asked for an updated comment yesterday. Healey was similarly noncommittal: a spokesperson said she’ll review any legislation that hits her desk.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Tips? Scoops? Drink recipes? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .

TODAY — Healey attends the Mass. Commission on the Status of Women's advocacy day at 11 a.m. at the State House and joins Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll for a NAGE event at 4:30 p.m. at Carrie Nation. Driscoll attends the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s annual meeting at 9 a.m. in Boston and is on GBH’s “Who’s Reppin’ You?” Instagram series at noon. Rep. Jake Auchincloss is on WBUR’s “Radio Boston” at 11 a.m. to talk about the debt-ceiling deal. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hosts a media availability at 11:30 a.m. at Charlestown High.

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— SUFFOLK SPECIALS: South End Democrat John Moran and West Roxbury Democrat Bill MacGregor can finally call themselves state representatives-elect after cruising through their uncontested general elections yesterday. No word yet on when they’ll be sworn in to the 9th and 10th Suffolk seats, respectively.

— “Supporters of sex ed bill say it's time for Massachusetts to act,” by Katie Lannan, GBH News: “[A]s states around the country pursue new restrictions on abortion and LGBTQ rights, supporters of the Healthy Youth Act say the time is right for Massachusetts to act on sex education. They also see a potential ally in Gov. Maura Healey, whose campaign platform last year featured a pledge to back ‘comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive, consent-focused, and medically accurate sex education.’"

— “How Massachusetts Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago is working to rebuild trust,” by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: “With nearly 100 days under his belt as the state’s first cabinet-level secretary of veterans services, Dr. Jon Santiago said Monday his office has hired nearly 40 people, doubling its capacity. By the end of this week, he’ll have visited each county in the state and has convened meetings with town and city veteran service officers."

— “What’s Driscoll’s role in new administration?” by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Magazine: “Though [Lt. Gov. Kim] Driscoll seems to be taking on a jack-of-all trades role in the new administration, she speaks most passionately, and wonkily, about the need to aggressively take on the state’s housing crisis and 200,000-unit shortfall.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Healey signs bill extending Boston Council election deadlines,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Originally submitted by Mayor Michelle Wu, the home rule petition allows candidates additional time to pick up and file nomination papers, June 13 and 23, respectively, and clarifies signature-counting procedures, in light of this month’s federal court ruling that threw out the city’s prior redistricting map."

— “Unions, former District 3 councillor throw support to FitzGerald,” by Gintautas Dumcius, Dorchester Reporter.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Eng sees FTA letter as no big deal,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “On May 19, the Federal Transit Administration emailed a letter to top officials at the MBTA telling them a plan the agency developed for addressing the safety of workers performing repairs in and around subway tracks was ‘insufficient’ and had to be redone. ... None of those officials chose to share the FTA letter with the MBTA board of directors, which met on May 25, or with the public. … [GM Phillip] Eng said he wasn’t hiding anything — that he viewed the latest FTA letter as just another in a very long series of correspondence with the federal agency over ongoing safety issues.”

— “Man dies after falling under Green Line trolley at North Station,” by John R. Ellement, Boston Globe.

YAHD SIGNS AND BUMPAH STICKAHS

— ANOTHER MAYOR’S RACE TAKES SHAPE: Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove has pulled papers to run for a third term . So have two potential challengers: John Proctor and past mayoral hopeful Ted Semesnyei , the Daily News of Newburyport’s Matt Petry reports.

— “42 candidates could be on the ballot in Worcester municipal elections,” by Marco Cartolano, Telegram & Gazette: “Every City Council seat will be a contested race, while four School Committee seats will be uncontested.”

— “Fire in Hull put election in danger. Judge says town will get another chance to vote,” by Peter Blandino, Patriot Ledger: “A Plymouth County judge has authorized Hull's extension of voting hours during its May 15 town election, which was disrupted by a fire, and permitted Town Clerk Lori West to count the 80 votes cast after regular hours. The judge also ordered polls to reopen for two more hours in case anyone wasn't able to vote because access to the polls was restricted due to the fire.”

— “4 candidates in Rochester elections filed no campaign finance statements,” by Colin Hogan, New Bedford Light: “School Committee candidates Joe Pires, Anne Fernandes, and Greg Hardy, as well as Select Board candidate Adam Murphy, failed to file required campaign finance reports, a review by The New Bedford Light has found. All of the candidates prevailed in their races last week, except for Hardy. A representative of the Mattapoisett Town Democratic Committee, Nicole Demakis, also said she had alerted the Office of Campaign and Political Finance about potential coordination between three of the candidates — Pires, Fernandes, and Hardy — and an Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee.”

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DAY IN COURT

— “Automakers sue to block right-to-repair update,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Auto manufacturers are seeking to block a move by the state Attorney General’s office to begin enforcing a voter approved update to the state’s right to repair law. In a filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation requests a temporary restraining order preventing the AG's office from enforcing the updated law until a federal judge has issued a ruling in [a] pending lawsuit.”

— “Andrew Baker, son of former Mass. governor, strikes plea deal in OUI case,” by Tonya Alanez, Boston Globe: “The 29-year-old son of former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday struck a plea deal in a drunken driving case and will serve one year probation, lose his license for 45 days, and must attend a 16-week alcohol education program, according to Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office.”

FROM THE DELEGATION

— BARGAINING WITH THEMSELVES: Some members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation say they’re voting for the debt-ceiling deal brokered by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy even though they don’t like it. Katherine Clark , the No. 2 House Democrat, is whipping votes in favor of it. Reps. Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss say they’ll support the compromise to avoid a “catastrophic” default , per the Eagle-Tribune’s Christian M. Wade .

Yet Rep. Jim McGovern, the House’s leading anti-hunger advocate and the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee that decides what legislation gets to the floor, is pushing back on the new work requirements for SNAP benefits in the deal, my colleague Meredith Lee Hill reports. He joined the committee's Democrats and two Republicans in voting against advancing the bipartisan agreement that's now headed for a House vote today .

And Rep. Ayanna Pressley filed an amendment to preserve the Biden administration’s power to halt student loan payments, in the face of language that would prevent the president from extending the current pause past Aug. 30. The administration has already said it plans to resume collecting payments in September, but has repeatedly reversed course on ending the pause in the past.

— “Sen. Elizabeth Warren probes abortion access amid states’ patchwork plans,” by Sarah Owermohle, Stat: “Warren and three other Democratic senators sent letters late last week to five major health care worker and pharmacy groups interrogating how last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing national abortion rights has affected health care access and providers’ treatment of patients.”

FROM THE 413

— "These books cited as examples in support of proposed Mass. school library’s book removal policy," by Luis Fieldman, MassLive: "Such titles as 'Smoke,' by Dan Vyleta, 'People Kill People,' by Ellen Hopkins, and 'Burned,' also by Hopkins, were stacked in front of School Committee member Joao Dias, who introduced the controversial book removal policy, at the most recent meeting. Dias said he got the idea of the book removal policy from Central Buck School District in Pennsylvania, which approved the policy last summer and is now the subject of a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. But don’t call the proposed policy in Ludlow a book ban, Dias said."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Massachusetts hospitals, doctors, medical groups pilot ChatGPT technology,” by Jessica Bartlett, Boston Globe: “Hospitals, doctors, and medical companies are experimenting with different facets of its application, and even hiring staff dedicated to using state-of-the art AI language technology in what could become a pivotal moment in medicine.”

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Jess Wysocky is now legislative director for Rep. Jake Auchincloss.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to WPRI's Ted Nesi, Katie Sagarin and Gena Mangiaratti.

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