Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government

Event Details

Status:

Completed

Event Date:

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Start Time:

1:00 PM

Location:

B-1 and Virtual

Event Description

Land Use, Zoning, Permitting, and Miscellaneous matters

The Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government will hold a hybrid public hearing to accept written and oral testimony on the below-listed legislation. This hearing will be chaired by Senate Chair Becca Rausch. Please be advised that the docket is subject to change by agreement of the Chairs.

Persons seeking to provide oral testimony, whether in person or remotely, are asked to pre-register by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 21, 2025, using this online form: https://forms.office.com/g/ZU4b7pJa4i. Persons seeking to testify remotely must pre-register by the stated deadline; further instructions on how to participate will be provided after registration. Oral testimony is limited to 3 minutes per person. Oral testimony from panels is limited to 8 minutes total, to be distributed at the discretion of the panelists. Individuals and panels may testify only once, and testimony may cover multiple bills; all testimony must be completed within the stated time limits.

Written testimony does not require pre-registration and may be submitted via email to: jointcommittee.municipalities&regionalgovernment@malegislature.gov. Written testimony should be submitted not later than two (2) weeks following the hearing date.

All above-listed matters filed in the House are required to be reported on by September 20, 2025, subject to extensions consistent with House Rule 27.

The public is invited to participate in this hybrid hearing, which will be livestreamed on the General Court website: https://malegislature.gov/. Hearings will be recorded and posted publicly on the Committee page: https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J10/Hearings.

At the discretion of the Chairs and per committee rules, written testimony received by the committee will be made publicly available. The committee may limit availability or redact testimony that includes sensitive personal information, information about minors, or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness, or safety of the testifier or others.

The Committee strongly prefers that written testimony be submitted by email, as specified above. If email submission is not possible, written testimony may be submitted in hard copy to:

Senator Becca Rausch, Senate Chair
Representative Jack Patrick Lewis, House Chair
Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
State House Room 215
Boston, MA 02133

Questions regarding the hearing, legislation, or reasonable accommodations to ensure people with disabilities can participate fully in the committee process may be directed to Clay Spivey with Chair Rausch at Clayton.Spivey@masenate.gov or 617-722-1555, or Geoff Richelew with Chair Lewis at Geoffrey.Richelew@mahouse.gov.

If you have Accessibility needs, click here.

Item Name	Start Time	Duration	Webcast
Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government	7/22/2025 1:00 PM	02:56:41

Land Use, Zoning, Permitting, and Miscellaneous matters 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Bill	Bill Title	Sponsor
H.16	An Act relative to county land disposition	Office of the Inspector General
H.2242	An Act providing for more efficient wetlands	James Arciero
H.2248	An Act relative to the building or rebuilding of bridges on land that falls under the jurisdiction of more than one municipality	Bruce J. Ayers
H.2254	An Act to establish local option fines for improper disposal of redeemable goods	Michelle L. Ciccolo
H.2261	An Act ending the criminalization of homelessness	Carol A. Doherty
H.2272	An Act authorizing remote participation at town meetings in the town of Wayland	Carmine Lawrence Gentile
H.2274	An Act authorizing remote participation at town meeting	Carmine Lawrence Gentile
H.2276	An Act relative to clinical or educational programs under the Dover amendment	Carlos González
H.2280	An Act to establish commonsense permitting reforms for businesses and landowners	Kevin G. Honan
H.2281	An Act reducing impervious surfaces	Kevin G. Honan
H.2282	An Act providing for safe subdivision ways	Kevin G. Honan
H.2283	An Act to safeguard municipal permitting	Kevin G. Honan
H.2286	An Act relative to property subdivision	Steven S. Howitt
H.2301	An Act relative to local option zoning voting thresholds	Kristin E. Kassner
H.2309	An Act relative to sanctuary cities and towns	Marc T. Lombardo
H.2312	An Act regarding municipal zoning powers	Paul McMurtry
H.2315	An Act relative to municipal publication of zoning by-law procedures	Michael J. Moran
H.2316	An Act to improve parking and pedestrian safety	Brian W. Murray
H.2317	An Act relative to zoning	Brian W. Murray
H.2325	An Act relative to ice cream truck vending	Orlando Ramos
H.2326	An Act to prevent nonprofit institutions from avoiding wetlands or natural resource protections under the so-called Dover Amendment	Sean Reid
H.2329	An Act to support the equitable utilization of third party consultants in land use determinations	Daniel J. Ryan
H.2330	An Act relative to equitable representation	Aaron L. Saunders
H.2331	An Act allowing municipalities to reasonably regulate solar siting	Aaron L. Saunders
H.2332	An Act relative to COVID-19 complications for public safety employees	Adam J. Scanlon
H.2353	An Act relative to hillside protection	Thomas P. Walsh
H.2354	An Act relative to the use of certain fairground properties	Thomas P. Walsh
H.3899	An Act authorizing reserved capacity billing in the town of Norfolk	Marcus S. Vaughn
H.4047	An Act relating to special permits	John Barrett, III
H.4152	An Act granting the city of Medford the authority to require the adoption of institutional master plans subject to the review and approval by the municipality	Christine P. Barber
H.4210	An Act relative to the town resident requirement for the town manager of the town of Dalton	Leigh Davis
H.4211	An Act changing the term of the elected office of moderator in the town of Holden	Kimberly N. Ferguson
H.4212	An Act authorizing the town of Lancaster to dissolve its animal control commission	Meghan K. Kilcoyne
H.4231	An Act authorizing the city of Cambridge to expand the options available to issue notices of violation for parking enforcement above the limits set forth in M.G.L. C. 90, §20A½ or other applicable state laws	Marjorie C. Decker
H.4232	An Act relative to the charter of the town of Fairhaven	Mark D. Sylvia
H.4233	An Act amending the charter of the city of Malden	Steven Ultrino
H.4243 A	An Act to amend the town charter of Ipswich	Kristin E. Kassner
H.4244	An Act authorizing the town of Hingham to utilize alternative methods for publication of legal notices	Joan Meschino
H.4245	An Act relative to the Mattapoisett select board	Mark D. Sylvia
S.1448	An Act relative to variances	John F. Keenan
S.1455	An Act relative to the use of certain fairground properties	Joan B. Lovely
S.1461	Resolve establishing a special commission on the Dover amendment	Michael O. Moore
S.1462	An Act to improve parking and pedestrian safety	Patrick M. O'Connor
S.2544	An Act relative to special town meetings petitioned for by residents of the town of Andover	Barry R. Finegold

Present (10)

Jack Patrick Lewis (HOU)

Michael S. Chaisson (HOU)

Mike Connolly (HOU)

Carmine Lawrence Gentile (HOU)

Homar Gómez (HOU)

Kristin E. Kassner (HOU)

Norman J. Orrall (HOU)

Lindsay N. Sabadosa (HOU)

Joshua Tarsky (HOU)

Richard G. Wells, Jr. (HOU)

Absent (1)

Samantha Montaño (HOU) *

	Document
	H.0016_Summary_InspectorGeneralShapiro_Relative to county land disposition
	H.2242 Summary_Arciero_Providing for more efficient wetlands
	H.2248 Summary_Ayers_Building or rebuliding of bridges on land under jurisdiction of more than one municipality
	H.2254 Summary_Ciccolo_fines for improper disposal of redeemable goods
	H.2261 Summary_Doherty-Hawkins_end criminalization of homelessness
	H.2272 Summary_Gentile and Linsky_Authorizing remote town meetings in Wayland
	H.2274 Summary_Gentile and Linsky_Authorizing remote town meetings
	H.2276_summary-Gonzalez-clinical or educational programs under Dover amendment
	H.2280 Summary_Honan_Establish commonsense permitting reforms for businesses and landowners
	H.2281 Summary_Honan_Reducing impervious surfaces
	H.2282 Summary_Honan_Providing for safe subdivision ways
	H.2283 Summary_Honan_Safeguard municipal permitting
	H.2286 Summary_Howitt_relative to property subdivision
	H.2301 Summary_Kassner_Relative to zoning voting thresholds
	H.2309 Summary_Lombardo_Relative to sanctuary cities and towns
	H.2312_Summary_McMurtry_municipal zoning powers-solar
	H.2315 Summary_MichaelMoran_muni publication zoning bylaw procedures
	H.2316 Summary_Murray_Improve parking and pedestrian safety
	H.2317 Summary_Murray_An Act relative to zoning
	H.2325 Summary_Ramos_Ice cream truck vending
	H.2326 Summary_Reid_Prevent nonprofits from avoiding wetlands or natural resource protections under Dover Amendment
	H.2329 Summary_Ryan_Equitable utilization of third party consultants in land use determinations
	H.2330_Summary_Saunders_Equitable representation on Springfield Water and Sewer Commission
	H.2331_Summary_Saunders_reasonably regulate solar siting
	H.2332_Summary_Scanlon_COVID-19 complications public safety employees
	H.2353 Summary_Walsh_Relative to hillside protection
	H.2354-S.1455 Summary_Walsh-Lovely_use of certain fairground properties
	H.3899 Summary_Vaughn and Rausch_Norfolk authorizing reserved capacity billing
	H.4047_summary-Barrett-relating to special permits
	H.4152 Summary_Barber_Medford Adopting Institutional Master Plans
	H.4210_Summary_Davis_Dalton_Town_Manager_Residency
	H.4211_Summary_Ferguson_Holden_Moderator_Term
	H.4212_Summary_Kilcoyne_Dissolve_Animal_Control
	H.4231_Summary_Decker_Cambridge parking violations
	H.4232_Summary_Sylvia_Fairhaven_Charter
	H.4233_Summary_Ultrino_Malden charter amendment
	H.4243 Summary_Kassner-Tarr_Ipswich town charter amendment
	H.4244 Summary_Meschino-OConnor_Hingham legal notice alternate methods
	H.4245 Summary_Sylvia-Montigny_Mattapoisett select board

Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government

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