Massachusetts House Bill H4155

Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 5/27/25
• Refer: 5/27/25

Caption

Relative to adding four additional liquor licenses to the town West Springfield

Summary

H4155 is a local option liquor-license bill for West Springfield. It authorizes the town’s licensing authority to issue four additional licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages not to be consumed on the premises, notwithstanding the statewide cap in chapter 138. The four licenses are earmarked for specific businesses: Calabrese Market, Delaney’s Market, The Country Store (KKK&P LLC), and Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe. The bill also places conditions on how the licenses may be used and transferred. A license may not be moved to a different location, but it may be reissued to a new applicant at the same location if the applicant is in good standing with the Department of Revenue and the Department of Unemployment Assistance. If a license is surrendered, not renewed, revoked, or otherwise unused, it must be returned to the licensing authority and may be reassigned at the same location within three years before dissolving. The act requires the licenses to be issued within one year of enactment. One special provision applies to The Country Store: when it receives the new all-alcoholic-beverages license, it must return its existing wine-and-malt-beverages off-premises license. This effectively converts that business from a beer-and-wine package store license to a full liquor package store license, while keeping the total number of licenses controlled by the local authorization. The bill’s impact on state law is narrow but direct: it creates a local exception to the general liquor-license limits in chapter 138 for West Springfield and modifies the town’s licensing authority for these four locations. It affects the businesses named in the bill, the town’s licensing board, and state revenue and unemployment agencies through the required compliance checks. The available context shows little recorded controversy. The bill is presented as a local petition with approval from the mayor and town council, which suggests local support. Because there are no committee transcripts or votes provided, there is no documented opposition in the record supplied, and the measure appears to be a routine local licensing bill rather than a broadly contested policy change.

Impact

This bill amends the practical application of chapter 138 of the General Laws in West Springfield by exempting the town from the statewide license cap for four additional off-premises all-alcohol licenses. It gives the local licensing authority discretion to issue those licenses to the named businesses, while imposing transfer restrictions, reissuance conditions tied to tax and unemployment compliance, and a three-year window for reassignment before a dormant license dissolves. It also requires KKK&P LLC (The Country Store) to surrender its existing wine-and-malt off-premises license upon receiving the new full-liquor license.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been received positively and without recorded opposition in the materials provided. It is a locally approved petition, filed with the approval of the mayor and town council, which typically indicates support from municipal officials and the affected community. No committee debate or vote history is included, so there is no evidence here of significant controversy or partisan division.

Contention

The main substantive issue is the allocation of a limited number of additional liquor licenses to specific businesses in West Springfield, especially the conversion of The Country Store from a beer-and-wine license to a full liquor license. Potential points of concern in bills like this usually involve fairness in awarding licenses, the effect on existing license holders, and whether expanding alcohol sales is appropriate for the area. However, the provided record does not show any documented opposition, and the local approval suggests those concerns were not prominent in the available discussion.