THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2021 Page 15 BEACON | FROM Page 14 taurants but noted that the emergency ban is still in eff ect and will likely be in eff ect for a long time. They argued there is no pressing need to extend the take-out and delivery options and noted the extension can be revisited sometime in the future. (A “Yes” vote is for extending the take-out and delivery of alcoholic beverages for two years following the end of the emergency. A “No” vote is against extending it). Sen. Joseph Boncore No PERMANENT CAP ON DELIVERY CHARGES (S 35) Senate 8-31, rejected an amendment that would permanently cap delivery fees by third parties like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats at 15 percent of the order price. The amendment would replace the current law which lifts the cap on the day the governor lifts the pandemic emergency. “We finally addressed the issue of capping third-party delivery fees to prevent price-gouging and pandemic-related windfalls in January of this year, ten months into the state of emergency as our restaurant industry was hanging on for dear life,” said sponsor Sen. DiZoglio. “We know that even when the state of emergency comes to an end and businesses are allowed to fully reopen that recovering from the losses incurred during this strange chapter of our history will take a very long time. We need to make permanent the cap on the amount that third-party delivery services are able to charge local restaurants at 15 percent of the purchase price of the online order. The need to regulate these fees will persist as delivery services continue to play an ever-increasing role in our lives post-pandemic. If we agree these delivery services should not be able to price gouge during the pandemic, we should agree they should not be able to price gouge once the state of emergency is lifted.” “I have been a strong supporter of measures to support the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, including capping delivery fees charged to restaurants and allowing limited cocktails to go,” said Sen. Cindy Creem (D-Newton). “These measures are currently in place and will remain in place throughout the duration of the governor’s declaration of a public health emergency … I did not believe the underlying bill—focused on time-sensitive tax relief to businesses and individuals—was the appropriate legislation to consider these important issues, and I look forward to considering them as separate legislation after the public hearing process.” (A “Yes” vote is for making the cap permanent. A “No” vote is against making it permanent.) Sen. Joseph Boncore No $5 MILLION FOR BUSINESS RELIEF FUND (S 35) Senate 8-31, rejected an amendment that would create and fund a $5 million Business Relief Fund to provide grants to struggling businesses aff ected by COVID-19 that thus far have not qualifi ed for grants because of a lack of operational and income history. The amendment requires that businesses must have been open at least 90 days before the pandemic state of emergency was declared and on the day it was declared. Amendment supporters explained that businesses that were not in business in 2019 don’t have income tax returns and other documentation from 2019 to compare to 2020 and show how their business has been adversely affected. “When people dedicate their lives and their savings to starting their own businesses, to contributing to the economy and to the strength of the workforce by hiring and training employees, only to be told that they haven’t been around long enough to receive the aid that is being off ered to established businesses, it is devastating,” said sponsor Sen. DiZoglio. “They deserve a chance to survive, to see a return on their investment, to contribute to the tax base and employ our family, friends, neighbors and fellow residents of the commonwealth. Every additional business that survives the pandemic in Massachusetts will enhance the longer-term health of our economy.” Amendment opponents said they are open to the idea of the relief fund but argued that the Senate should focus on the bill itself which off ers millions of dollars in relief to businesses rather than add amendments at this juncture. They said this idea can be revisited in the future. (A “Yes” vote is for the $5 million grant program. A “No” vote is against it.) Sen. Joseph Boncore No HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been fi led. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of March 1519, the House met for a total of four hours and 56 minutes while the Senate met for a total of seven hours and 44 minutes. Mon. March 15 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:02 a.m. Senate 11:07 a.m. to 12:46 p.m. Tues. March 16 No House session No Senate session Wed. March 17 No House session No Senate session Thurs. March 18 House 11:01 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Senate 11:49 a.m. to 5:54 p.m. Fri. March 19 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com
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