Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H1871 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3285 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1871
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Christopher M. Markey
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act relative to the reckless operation of motor vehicles.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Christopher M. Markey9th Bristol1/17/2025 1 of 2
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3285 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1871
18	18	By Representative Markey of Dartmouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1871) of
19	19	Christopher M. Markey relative to the penalties for reckless operation of motor vehicles. The
20	20	Judiciary.
21	21	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
22	22	SEE HOUSE, NO. 1663 OF 2023-2024.]
23	23	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
24	24	_______________
25	25	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
26	26	(2025-2026)
27	27	_______________
28	28	An Act relative to the reckless operation of motor vehicles.
29	29	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
30	30	of the same, as follows:
31	31	1 SECTION 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision (2) of section 24 of chapter 90 of the General
32	32	2Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 766
33	33	3and 767, the words “recklessly, or operates such a vehicle”.
34	34	4 SECTION 2. Said paragraph (a) of said subdivision (2) of said section 24 of said chapter
35	35	590, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following
36	36	64 paragraphs:-
37	37	7 Whoever upon any way or in any place to which the public has a right of access, or any
38	38	8place to which members of the public have access as invitees or licensees, operates a motor
39	39	9vehicle recklessly, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 2 of 2
40	40	10years, or by imprisonment for not more than 2½ years in a jail or house of correction and by a
41	41	11fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000.
42	42	12 Whoever upon any way or in any place to which the public has a right of access, or any
43	43	13place to which members of the public have access as invitees or licensees, operates a motor
44	44	14vehicle recklessly and by such operation causes the serious bodily injury of any person, shall be
45	45	15punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years, or by imprisonment for
46	46	16not less than 1 year nor more than 2½ years in a jail or house of correction and by a fine of not
47	47	17less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000. For the purpose of this section the term “serious bodily
48	48	18injury” shall have the same meaning as in subdivision (3) of section 24L.
49	49	19 Whoever upon any way or in any place to which the public has a right of access, or any
50	50	20place to which members of the public have access as invitees or licensees, operates a motor
51	51	21vehicle recklessly, and by such reckless operation causes the death of another, shall be punished
52	52	22by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 20 years, and by a fine of not more than
53	53	23$25,000.
54	54	24 For purposes of this section “reckless” shall be defined as: violating 1 or more moving
55	55	25violations while traveling at least 25 miles per hour over the speed limit.
56	56	26 SECTION 3. Subsection (a) of section 24G of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby
57	57	27amended by striking out, in line 9, the words “recklessly or”.