An Act Relative to Authorizing the Direct Shipment of Wine
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This legislation is similar to the original version of a bill I filed in 2005 that as originally filed would allow for shipment of wine into and out of Massachusetts. Amendments to the legislation placing restrictions on the size of wineries were recently declared unconstitutional in Federal Court. This legislation would put the general laws in compliance with the court decision by authorizing direct shipment of wine. The legislation would also address a crucial barrier to direct shipment by licensing entire shipping companies, rather than their individual trucks, to carry alcoholic beverages. Without this measure, every parcel delivery vehicle working in the Commonwealth would have to be licensed individually, creating prohibitive costs and bureaucracy for those companies.
An Act Relative to Farmers' Markets
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This legislation would direct the Department of Agricultural Resources and the Department of Public Health to streamline regulations around farmers’ markets in order to allow shellfishermen, aquaculturists and lobstermen to sell their harvests at farmers’ markets without prohibitive regulations or unnecessary
bureaucracy.
An Act Relative to Inspections for New Automobiles
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This bill would exempt all new automobiles from inspection for 3 years.
An Act Relative to Licenses for the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages
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This legislation will allow for more local control over awarding and allocation of liquor licenses in the Commonwealth. The bill specifically eliminates the quota allowances in the general laws, eliminates mandatory approval by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC), and empowers the local board overseeing liquor licenses in a city or town to decide upon location and number of licenses available. It keeps in place the appeals process to the where aggrieved parties may assert that a license has been unduly withheld or awarded by a local board.
An Act Providing for the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds
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Currently, non profits have limited ability to spend down endowments. This legislation would mirror laws in over half of the states to allow charitable organizations and non-profits (including higher education institutions, conservation and human service organizations,
etc.) more control over spending of endowments. It would also create uniformity in interpretation and alteration of endowment restrictions. UPMIFA will allow non-profits to change modify restrictions on small and old endowments without costly and cumbersome judicial review.
An Act Increasing Access to Homeowner's Insurance
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For the past two years, coastal communities have been suffering from an extremely tight homeowner’s insurance market. Many homeowners in my district have been forced onto the state run FAIR Plan, the insurer of last resort, and this problem is expanding across the Commonwealth. This legislation would seek to create a Massachusetts Catastrophic Event Fund and examine the risk models that are currently driving up insurance rates in the private market.
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