Mindful that some of the changes that businesses made to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic could be here to stay and that it may fall to them to review or recommend legislation to accommodate those changes, the members of one legislative committee are planning to continue a series of roundtables with restaurant and business owners later this month.
The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure plans to make a trip to Ludlow to hear from Western Mass. restaurant owners about the challenges they face as Massachusetts tries to get on the other side of the nearly two-year pandemic. The Nov. 19 hearing will follow a similar event the committee held during September in Plymouth.
“I would say [it] was incredibly well received by the community,” Sen. Susan Moran, co-chair of the Consumer Protection Committee, said of the Plymouth hearing, which focused on ways to make outdoor dining more feasible for restaurants and how the Legislature could address outdoor dining in a way that supports the restaurant industry.
Moran said there was “general favorability, I would say, about continuing outdoor dining and just really looking at the process and informing local municipalities and working with local municipalities about a process that would be kind of more streamlined, easy to understand.”
Outdoor dining, which many restaurants began offering in place of traditional dining room service during the 2020 depths of the pandemic, was a hit with diners and figures to be a more regular part of the Bay State’s restaurant scene moving forward. For restaurants with patio space, the shift was straightforward but many restaurants worked with local licensing authorities to carve out dining spaces on sidewalks, in parking spaces and, in some cases, on public streets.
Rep. Jake Oliveira of Ludlow will host the Nov. 19 hearing, which he said will feature testimony from Greater Springfield area business owners. The hearing at the Ludlow Senior Center will be recorded and aired on the local cable access channel, he said.
The Ludlow hearing was announced Monday during an executive session held by the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure to advance 20 bills out of the committee stage.
Among the bills poised to move on with favorable reports once a 48-hour poll of committee members expires are: H 325 to regulate genetic counselors, H 434 providing for provisional licensure for speech-language pathologists, H 3711 to establish a special commission to investigate the potential for beneficial economic impact from minimum pricing laws, S 184 to expand wheelchair warranty protections for consumers with disabilities with a so-called wheelchair lemon law, S 219 to put in place a state-regulated credentialing system for veterinary technicians, and S 222 to prohibit feline declawing in most circumstances.
“In total, we have had 278 bills heard, 15 public hearings held, 27 bills already reported out favorably,” Moran said during Monday’s session. “We also have eight [Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure]-related session laws already passed — five local [bills], horse racing simulcast extension, [Division of Professional Licensure] reorganization, which was big I’m sure everyone will agree, and then extending the COVID emergency measures including outdoor seating and takeout alcohol.”
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