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Mass. lawmakers reach agreement on Boston liquor license bill
Senate and House lawmakers reached an agreement on how many liquor licenses to add in Boston.
A bill that would give Boston more than 200 liquor licenses, mostly to underserved neighborhoods, saw new life Tuesday after both state legislative chambers came to an agreement on how many new licenses city officials would be allowed to hand out.
Sen. William Brownsberger and Rep. Michael Moran said in a joint statement that the Senate and House ended up agreeing on 225 licenses — less than the 250 from the initial bill and the 264 OK’d by the Senate, but more than the House’s 205 approved during the formal session.
“We are proud to announce that we have reached an agreement on compromise legislation to expand the number of alcohol licenses in the City of Boston, dramatically expanding equity for restaurant owners in neighborhoods across the city, and increasing economic opportunity in communities of color that have been left out for too long,” the statement read.
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The majority of these licenses will be non-transferable — meaning they can’t be sold on the private market and instead must be returned to the city when they’re no longer in use — and are also restricted to certain zip codes in the city where there are significantly fewer liquor licenses.
Each of the 13 zip codes will receive five liquor licenses a year, three all-alcohol and two beer and wine licenses, over the course of three years, totaling 195 licenses.
The Oak Square section of Brighton is also set to receive three non-transferable liquor licenses, while 15 licenses will be available to community spaces and nonprofit organizations.
The remaining 12 licenses will be unrestricted, allowing them to go to any neighborhood and to be sold on the private market.
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The news comes a month after the formal session ended, with the liquor license measure being one of several issues stuck in limbo. At the time, some lawmakers said they were committed to getting this measure over the finish line.
“It may take a few weeks to get loose ends squared away, but I do not anticipate difficulty in completing this,” Brownsberger wrote in an email in August.
The chambers’ deal on the measure is a major win for both city officials and restaurant owners who advocated for more liquor licenses to take steps toward fixing the wide gap that exists between Boston neighborhoods because of the current regulation of liquor licenses in the city.
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 them. And in Boston’s mostly low-income, BIPOC communities, like Mattapan and Roxbury, there are only a handful of license-holding eateries.
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“Lack of opportunity and access to licenses has stripped some of our neighborhoods from having successful restaurants and nightlife, a core tenet of thriving cities,” Sen. Liz Miranda said in a statement. “Blue Hill Ave. was once a cultural mecca in our city with successful black-owned restaurants and nightlife, and I believe we can be that again.”
In a statement, Mayor Michelle Wu on Tuesday said her administration looked forward to addressing the disparity issues that have plagued Boston’s neighborhoods because of liquor licenses, and that the 225 licenses “represents new life and economic prosperity for an entrepreneur, a business, a neighborhood, and families throughout our city.”
Lawmakers said they’d like to get the measure to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for her signature by the end of the week.
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