Beacon Hill Roll
Call
Volume 44 - Report No. 43
October 21-25, 2019
By Bob Katzen
ALSO UP ON BEACON
HILL
PRIMARY
ENFORCEMENT OF THE SEAT BELT LAW (H 2126/S 1407)
— The Public Safety
Committee heard testimony on a bill that would
allow police officers to issue tickets for seat
belt violations even if the driver is not
stopped for another violation as required under
current law.
Other provisions
prevent officers from searching the vehicle or
occupants solely because of the seat belt
violation and prohibit a seat belt violation
from resulting in a surcharge on motor vehicle
insurance premiums.
The fine for
drivers and passengers over the age of 16 who
violate the law would be increased from $25 to
$50. The current additional $25 fine on the
driver for each passenger between the ages of 12
and 16 who is not wearing a seatbelt would also
rise to $50.
"Seat belts save
lives,” said Sen. Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough),
the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill
who credits seat belts for saving his life and
his wife’s life following an accident in 1999.
“That's it, it's simple. They save lives, we
know that. We know that in Massachusetts when
people buckle up, the accidents that may occur,
the fatalities, are less, that serious injuries
are lessened because of seat belt use. We know
it works."
“Seat belts
promote safety, save lives and save money,” said
Rep. Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin), the House sponsor
of the proposal. “We could save 45 lives,
prevent 500 injuries, and save $525 million over
five years with a primary seat belt law in
effect. According to a recent study in the New
England Journal of Medicine, the single greatest
opportunity to improve health and reduce
premature deaths lies in personal behavior, and
seat belt use is yet another form of impaired
driving that must be addressed. Massachusetts
ranks 46th in the nation in seat belt use,
lagging the national rate by nearly 10 percent,
reinforcing the need for this legislation.”
“From 1984 through
1993 opposing mandatory seat belt laws before
the Public Safety Committee was an annual rite
of spring, despite our repealing the first law
resoundingly on the 1986 ballot,” said Chip
Ford, Executive Director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation, and twice chairman of The
Committee to Repeal the Mandatory Seat Belt Law
ballot question committees. “Finally, on a vague
and confusing 1994 ballot, with nine questions,
just titles and no summaries or explanations so
as to make room for all nine, the majority cast
a ‘yes’ vote, many later acknowledging they
thought a ‘yes’ vote was to repeal the law, when
in fact a ‘no’ vote was necessary. As we warned
in our two repeal campaigns over a decade,
‘secondary enforcement’ was just to get a foot
in the door. The camel has been squeezing itself
inside the tent ever since, proving we were
right — the nanny
state is never satisfied.”
Beacon Hill Roll
Call
Volume 44 - Report No. 45
November 4-8, 2019
By Bob Katzen
ALSO UP ON BEACON
HILL
PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATES MUST RELEASE TAX RETURNS (S 383)
— The Election Laws
Committee held a hearing on legislation that
would require any candidate or potential
candidate for the office of president of the
United States whose name is set to appear on the
Massachusetts presidential primary to release
copies of his or her federal income tax returns
from the most recent three years by December 31
of the year before the primary is held. Another
provision requires each candidate to release a
statement of financial interests for the
preceding calendar year.
The tax returns
and statement of financial interest would be
posted on the secretary of state’s website. Any
candidates who fail to provide this information
will not be eligible to appear on the ballot.
Similar
legislation has been filed in several other
states. These bills have been filed as a
response to President Donald Trump’s refusal to
release his tax returns during the 2016
campaign.
“My bill … would
require candidates for president to disclose
their recent tax returns in order to appear on
the ballot in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Mike
Barrett (D-Lexington.) “Requiring disclosure of
recent tax returns advances the values of
transparency and integrity.”
“California
already passed a similar law, which was struck
down last month by U.S. District Judge Morrison
England who found four separate reasons why the
law failed,” said Chip Ford, Executive
Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
“He issued a written opinion saying the law
likely violates the U.S. Constitution. ‘The
dangerous precedent set by this act, allowing
the controlling party in any state’s legislature
to add substantive requirements as a
precondition to qualifying for the state’s
presidential primary ballot, should concern all
candidates alike,’” the judge wrote.
“Must
Massachusetts always follow California’s loony
ideas?” Ford asked.
Beacon Hill Roll
Call
Volume 44 - Report No. 46
November 11-15, 2019
By Bob Katzen
ALSO UP ON BEACON
HILL
BAN FLAVORED TOBACCO PRODUCTS (H
4183) — House
126-31, approved and sent to the Senate a bill
that would ban the sale of flavored vaping and
tobacco products—including mint and menthol
cigarettes—and impose a 75 percent excise tax on
e-cigarettes. Thirty percent of this estimated
$10 million to $15 million tax revenue would go
into a trust fund that cities and towns could
use for substance abuse prevention. Businesses
that don’t comply with the bill’s provisions
could have their Lottery licenses temporarily
suspended.
“Today the
Massachusetts House voted to disarm one of Big
Tobacco’s most dangerous weapons: flavored
tobacco products,” said Marc Hymovitz,
Massachusetts director of government relations
for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network. “While Massachusetts has long been at
the forefront in this area, we are poised to
lead the nation by passing legislation that
would prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco
products, keeping these deadly products out of
the hands of our kids.”
“The House vote to
include menthol and mint tobacco in legislation
brought about by a youth vaping epidemic
demonstrates how little they understand and
appreciate the dangerous consequences associated
with their vote,” said bill opponent Jon Shaer,
executive director of the New England
Convenience Store and Energy Marketer
Association. “We’re supportive of aggressive
action aimed at vaping, however, a menthol
tobacco ban will disproportionately impact
communities of color with increased illicit
tobacco-related crime, store closures and job
losses. Not to mention it strips adults of their
right to buy legal products of their choice. The
House could have avoided this if it had kept the
focus where it belongs -- on vape.”
“The American
Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said the
bill would make Massachusetts the first state to
restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco
products, including menthol cigarettes,” said
Chip Ford, Executive Director of Citizens
for Limited Taxation. “House Speaker Robert
DeLeo described Wednesday’s vote as ‘a
nation-leading step…to modernize our laws that
regulate tobacco.’ But opponent Rep. Sheila
Harrington (R-Groton) summed it up best:
‘We have just given a financial gift to the
state of New Hampshire, because people are going
in droves.’”
“Will the
Massachusetts Legislature ever get over its
nanny state obsession and leave its citizens
alone to think for themselves?” Ford added. “Why
must everything in the commonwealth be either
mandatory or forbidden by law?”
