HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5175        FILED ON: 7/8/2020

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4936

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Michael J. Moran

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act authorizing additional licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises in Boston.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5175        FILED ON: 7/8/2020

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4936

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act authorizing additional licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises in Boston.

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 17 of Chapter 138 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph the following:

Notwithstanding anything else in this section, and in addition to any other license authorized by this section, the licensing board for the city of Boston ("licensing board”) may grant up to 183 non-transferable liquor licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises pursuant to section 12 of said chapter 138. A license granted pursuant to this paragraph shall be nontransferable to any other person, corporation or organization and shall be clearly marked "nontransferable." For purposes of this paragraph, "nontransferable" means that licenses shall revert back to the licensing board between owners and cannot be sold on the open market. A license issued under this section, if cancelled, revoked or no longer in use at the location of original issuance, shall be returned physically, with all of the legal rights, privileges and restrictions pertaining thereto, to the licensing board which may then grant that license to a new applicant under the same conditions as specified in this section. No license shall be issued under this paragraph to any person, corporation or organization that sold or otherwise transferred any other license issued by the licensing board pursuant to section 12 of chapter 138 in the preceding twelve months. Any license issued under this paragraph shall be invalid and immediately revoked if the licensee sells or otherwise transfers any other license issued by the licensing board pursuant to section 12 of chapter 138 in the twelve months following the issuance of a license under this paragraph. The licensing board shall not issue more than 63 of the licenses authorized by this paragraph for the first time in any single calendar year.

The licenses authorized under the preceding paragraph shall be distributed as set forth in this paragraph. The licensing board may grant up to 6 non-transferable city-wide all-alcohol licenses and 9 non-transferable city-wide wine and malt licenses, provided that the licensing board shall issue either none or not more than 1 of such licenses within any one of the neighborhoods of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, or the North End, for the first time in a single calendar year. The licensing board may grant up to 6 non-transferable city-wide all-alcohol licenses and 9 non-transferable city-wide wine and malt licenses, provided that such licenses may only be granted to licensees certified as a minority business enterprise by the City of Boston and that the licensing board shall not issue more than one-third of such licenses for the first time in any single calendar year. The licensing board may grant up to 6 non-transferable all-alcohol licenses and 9 non-transferable wine and malt licenses for each of the following neighborhood zoning districts: Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill, Roxbury, Roslindale, and Charlestown. The licensing board shall not issue more than one-third of such licenses allotted to a particular neighborhood zoning district for the first time in any single calendar year. The licensing board may grant up to 6 non-transferable all-alcohol licenses and 9 malt and wine licenses for areas designated as Main Streets Districts by the Boston Redevelopment Authority doing business as the Boston Planning and Development Agency. The licensing board may grant 1 non-transferable all-alcohol license for the Boston Center for the Arts; 1 non-transferable all-alcohol license for the Bruce C. Bolling Building, and 1 non-transferable all alcohol license for the Huntington Theater.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2020.