SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1284        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1880

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to identification cards..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 8E of Chapter 90, of the Massachusetts General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the last sentence the following new paragraph:-

An identification card or any renewal thereof issued to an applicant shall expire on an anniversary of the operator’s date of birth occurring more than twelve months but not more than sixty months after the effective date of such identification card. An identification card for any applicant under twenty one shall expire on the twenty first birthday of such an applicant. An identification card issued to an applicant born on February twenty-ninth shall, for the purpose of this section, expire on March first.

SECTION 2.  Section 34B of Chapter 138, of the Massachusetts General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking paragraph one and paragraph two and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Any licensee, or agent or employee thereof, under Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws, who reasonably relies on such an identification issued pursuant to section eight of chapter ninety, or on a valid passport issued by the United States government, or by the government, recognized by the United States government, of a foreign country, or a valid United States issued military identification card, for proof of a person’s identity and age shall not suffer any modification, suspension, revocation or cancellation of such license, nor shall he suffer any criminal liability, for delivering or selling alcohol or alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age. Any licensee, or agent or employee thereof, under Chapter 138, who reasonably relies on such an identification card or motor vehicle license issued pursuant to said section eight, for proof of a person’s identity and age shall be presumed to have exercised due care in making such delivery or sale of alcohol or alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age. Such presumption shall be rebuttable; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall affect the applicability of section sixty-nine.