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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1175 FILED ON: 1/19/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 135 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Joan B. Lovely |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act encouraging the growth of small businesses. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joan B. LovelySecond Essex 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1175 FILED ON: 1/19/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 135 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Ms. Lovely, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 135) of Joan B. Lovely for |
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| 19 | 19 | | legislation to encourage the growth of small businesses. Community Development and Small |
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| 20 | 20 | | Businesses. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE SENATE, NO. 153 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act encouraging the growth of small businesses. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 The General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby amended by |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2inserting after chapter 93L the following new chapter:- |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 Chapter 93M, Bona Fide Business Entities |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4 Section 1. A business entity that provides services under a written contract is not an |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5employee for the purposes of Title IX, Taxation, and Title XXI, Labor and Industries, provided |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6that the business entity is bona fide. A business entity will be deemed to be bona fide if it is |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7shown that: |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8 (a) The business entity is registered as such with the secretary of the commonwealth and |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9is in good standing; 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10 (b) The business entity includes the compensation it receives for the services it renders on |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11federal and applicable state tax schedules as income from an independent business or profession; |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12 (c) The business entity reports the compensation paid to its employees, if any, to the |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13Internal Revenue Service and the Massachusetts department of revenue; and |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14 (d) The business entity complies with federal and state tax, unemployment insurance, |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15workers’ compensation insurance, and labor and employment law obligations with respect to its |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16employees. |
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