What happened to the liquor license bill? (2024)

Food

The liquor license bill appears in limbo, even after its passage by the House and Senate.

By Katelyn Umholtz

August 15, 2024 | 12:10 PM

Behind closed doors and into the early morning hours of Aug. 1, many bills didn’t make it over the finish line at the end of the formal session, including another shot at pumping more liquor licenses into Boston’s restricted market.

The bill would have added more than 200 liquor licenses — a scarce commodity in Boston due to an old law that limits them and makes them expensive on the private market. After separate House and Senate approval, all it needed was a joint committee to compromise on the total number of licenses that would be doled out and where.

But coming out of the formal session, it was left unfinished.

There has been little said publicly about why lawmakers couldn’t get it across the finish line.

“I don’t know if there’s still hope. We don’t know,” said Royal C. Smith, one of the Boston Black Hospitality Coalition founders and owner of District 7 Tavern.

The Coalition and restaurant training organization OFFSITE had been working with various restaurants in the bill’s zip codes — which include Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, East Boston, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and Hyde Park — to get them prepared to apply for the liquor licenses that seemed likely to soon become available.

“This is just business as usual,” Smith said.

Rokeya Chowdhury, owner of Shanti Restaurant and Dudley Cafe, said it was discouraging to hear the bill was in limbo. Roxbury’s Dudley Cafe was one of several restaurants that benefited from the last round of non-transferable licenses, a 2014 measure pushed by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, then a Boston city councilor.

Chowdhury was also one of the many restaurant owners and workers that spoke at a packed hearing in October 2023 over the benefits of the bill.

“I could vouch that more businesses would take advantage of this, and more businesses would open or expand because of this,” Chowdhury said.

Not just operators, but Mayor Michelle Wu told GBH she was “very disappointed” that the liquor license measure and other important Boston bills made it out of the formal session unfinished.

Advocates for the bill see it as a way to respond to a wide gap that exists between Boston neighborhoods because of the current regulation of liquor licenses in the city, a restriction put in place after Prohibition.

The limit on liquor licenses in Boston means it’s almost impossible to get a license from the city, even if an operator gets approved for one. Their only other course of action is to go to the private market to purchase a license that’s no longer in use from a former restaurant or landlord that can sell for up to $600,000.

The rule has set up the current scene of restaurants today: There are 60 to 90 license-holding restaurants in Back Bay and Seaport, mostly snatched up by restaurant groups that can afford it. And in Boston’s mostly low-income, BIPOC communities, like Mattapan and Roxbury, there are only a handful of license-holding eateries.

“It’s different every day when you have to be in Roxbury, and you can’t find something to eat,” Smith said.

As for what happens next, Smith was told during the session that if it didn’t pass by July 31 — the final day of the formal session — “it wasn’t going to happen.”

However, the few lawmakers that have spoken out about the bill post-formal session, such as Sen. William Brownsberger, have expressed confidence in its eventual passage.

That reportedly could come in the form of an informal session, which is much riskier than passing measures in the formal session. All it takes is one lawmaker’s rejection of a bill’s advancement for it to stall.

Brownsberger told multiple outlets “it’ll get done.”

“It may take a few weeks to get loose ends squared away, but I do not anticipate difficulty in completing this,” Brownsberger said in an email. “It is routine to do this type of bill in informal sessions.”

Rep. Michael Moran told State House News Service that lawmakers were “very close, if not done with” the liquor license bill.

It could also end up in a special session. After Healey urged lawmakers to reconvene and pass several important bills, including an economic development bond bill and climate legislation, WBUR reports that House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka said they were “prepared” to call a special session, at least for the economic development bond bill. A certain number of lawmakers would have to approve the special session.

If the liquor license measure passes, it would most likely add more than 200 licenses. The initial bill wanted to get 250 additional non-transferable licenses, while the House approved 205 and the Senate gave an OK to 264.The House and Senate versions also included up to a dozen transferable licenses, which could go to any neighborhood and wouldn’t have to return to the city when it’s no longer in use.

The zip codes that this would apply to have grown since the original bill was first introduced by city councilor Brian Worrell. The Senate’s version of the bill contained the most zip codes, 13, to be handed a certain number of non-transferable licenses.

Chowdhury can’t see how it wouldn’t pass — it doesn’t hurt anyone to have more restaurants, and therefore, more vibrant neighborhoods.

“It’s only going to be supporting more businesses in our city, in our state,” Chowdhury said. “That can only benefit everyone as a whole.”