Using unconstitutional “informal sessions:” Mass. Legislature votes to flood minority neighborhoods with 195 low-cost liquor licenses.

Latest leftist scheme to being “economic equity.”

May 8, 2025

Left-wing politicians and business leaders applaud at State House ceremony for signing of the liquor license bill by the governor. We didn’t notice any regular residents celebrating there. [Photo: State House News Service]

The brainiacs who control the Massachusetts Legislature recently came up with a novel way to bring needed “economic equity” to some of Boston’s minority neighborhoods: flood them with 195 low-cost liquor licenses. Apparently, the latest leftist calculus is that nothing brings wealth to people in a poor neighborhood quite like having drinks available on every corner.

But the legislative leadership didn’t think it was necessary for the full legal body of elected House and Senate members to debate this and then take a roll-call vote on it.

So they rammed it through unconstitutional “informal” sessions of just a few members, where there was no meaningful debate and no roll-call vote.

The Massachusetts Constitution requires that a majority of each branch (i.e., 80 House members and 20 Senators) be present to conduct business – not just 4 or 5 members in an empty room. You can read more about these unconstitutional “informal sessions” here – and how they can to be stopped.

The process was corrupt from beginning to end. On May 30, 2024, three House members passed H4696, which would bring in 205 new liquor licenses. Then, on July 29, six Senators passed a slightly different version, S2903, which would instead bring in 260 licenses.

So the leadership had some of their cronies write a compromise bill, H5039. It creates 195 liquor licenses that can only go to certain minority neighborhoods, plus 15 more for other neighborhoods, and 15 for non-profits and theaters. (We’re not sure why non-profits and theaters need liquor licenses.) Bars getting the licenses must also serve food.

On September 4 and 5, 2024, six members of the House and five members of the Senate “passed” the compromise. A few days later, it was signed into law by the governor.

Was this broad legislative move, touted for “closing the economic racial wealth gap,” really a good idea? All the other elected legislators didn’t seem to care. They didn’t read the bill, debate it, or vote on it.

Of course, this was pushed hard – and celebrated – by people in the bar and restaurant industry. But it didn’t appear that the regular people raising their families in those neighborhoods were pushing for it. Would you be if you were raising a family there?