| 1 | 1 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2873 |
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| 2 | 2 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 3 | 3 | | _______________ |
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| 4 | 4 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 5 | 5 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 6 | 6 | | _______________ |
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| 7 | 7 | | SENATE, July 18, 2024. |
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| 8 | 8 | | The committee on Revenue, to whom was referred the petitions (accompanied by bill, |
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| 9 | 9 | | Senate, No. 1781) of Julian Cyr for legislation relative to embarkation fees; and (accompanied by |
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| 10 | 10 | | bill, House, No. 2768) of Kip A. Diggs relative to the imposition of embarkation fees from ferry |
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| 11 | 11 | | services operated within the Hyannis Fire District, report the accompanying bill (Senate, No. |
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| 12 | 12 | | 2873). |
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| 13 | 13 | | For the committee, |
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| 14 | 14 | | Susan L. Moran 1 of 2 |
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| 15 | 15 | | FILED ON: 7/12/2024 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2873 |
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| 17 | 17 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 18 | 18 | | _______________ |
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| 19 | 19 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 20 | 20 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 21 | 21 | | _______________ |
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| 22 | 22 | | An Act relative to embarkation fees. |
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| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 24 | 24 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 25 | 25 | | 1 Section 129 of Chapter 46 of the acts of 2003, as amended by Section 11 of Chapter 55 of |
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| 26 | 26 | | 2the acts of 2003, is hereby amended by striking out the section in its entirety and inserting in |
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| 27 | 27 | | 3place thereof the following section:- |
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| 28 | 28 | | 4 Section 129. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any city or |
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| 29 | 29 | | 5town within the counties of Barnstable, Nantucket, Dukes and Bristol shall impose an |
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| 30 | 30 | | 6embarkation fee upon all passenger ferry trips, excluding those ferry boats that are licensed to |
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| 31 | 31 | | 7transport not more than 100 passengers, originating from a port located within such city or town, |
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| 32 | 32 | | 8at a rate of $2.00 per passenger per departing trip. |
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| 33 | 33 | | 9 (b) The operator of the ferry service shall pay revenues from the embarkation fee |
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| 34 | 34 | | 10imposed under this section to the commissioner of revenue on a quarterly basis. The operator |
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| 35 | 35 | | 11shall record the number of passengers subject to the embarkation fee departing from each port |
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| 36 | 36 | | 12and forward said records to the commissioner of revenue at the time of payment of the 2 of 2 |
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| 37 | 37 | | 13embarkation fee for the purpose of crediting the embarkation fee revenues in accordance with |
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| 38 | 38 | | 14this section. |
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| 39 | 39 | | 15 The commissioner shall credit the embarkation fee revenues as follows: |
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| 40 | 40 | | 16 25 per cent to a fire district that provides fire or public safety services to a port within a |
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| 41 | 41 | | 17city or town that provides ferry service; |
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| 42 | 42 | | 18 12.5 per cent to a city or town which does not provide ferry service but shares a harbor or |
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| 43 | 43 | | 19port with a city or town in which a port is located; and |
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| 44 | 44 | | 20 62.5 per cent to a city or town which contains a port and provides ferry service. |
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| 45 | 45 | | 21 (c) All sums received by the commissioner under this section as embarkation fees, |
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| 46 | 46 | | 22penalties or forfeitures, interest, costs of suit and fines shall be distributed, credited and paid by |
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| 47 | 47 | | 23the state treasurer at least quarterly upon certification of the commissioner to each city, town, or |
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| 48 | 48 | | 24fire district. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 25 (d) Any city, town or fire district which is credited revenues pursuant to this section shall |
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| 50 | 50 | | 26deposit such funds in a special fund which shall be appropriated solely for operations to mitigate |
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| 51 | 51 | | 27the impacts of ferry service on the city, town or fire district including, but not limited to, harbor |
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| 52 | 52 | | 28services, public safety services, emergency services or infrastructure improvements within and |
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| 53 | 53 | | 29around the harbor of such city, town or fire district. |
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| 54 | 54 | | 30 (e) A passenger with valid commuter fare, student fare, commuter excursion fare or |
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| 55 | 55 | | 31school-related fare for ferry services shall be exempt from the embarkation fee. For the purposes |
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| 56 | 56 | | 32of this section, "commuter fare" shall mean any fare paid for through the purchase of a book of |
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| 57 | 57 | | 33multiple tickets or through the Steamship Authority's Islands Preferred Excursion Program. |
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