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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1923 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 946 |
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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 | | Sean Garballey |
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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 preserving public trust rights in land affected by ocean erosion. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Sean Garballey23rd Middlesex1/15/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1923 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 946 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Garballey of Arlington, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 946) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Sean Garballey relative to preserving public trust rights in certain land affected by ocean erosion. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Environment and Natural Resources. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act preserving public trust rights in land affected by ocean erosion. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 Section 35 of Chapter 91 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2is hereby amended by inserting, after the last sentence of the first paragraph, the following- |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3 Where sea level rise, storms, or other natural processes have caused the landward or |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4lateral movement of a barrier beach into an area which was previously occupied by the bottom of |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5any Great Pond, the portion of the barrier beach relocated into the former bottom of the Great |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6Pond shall be and remain in public ownership. It being the intent of the foregoing sentence that |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7the application thereof to any property not be in violation of either Article 10 of the |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8Massachusetts Declaration of Rights or the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9Constitution, the foregoing sentence shall not convert ownership of any private property to |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10public ownership, and, to the extent that applying the foregoing sentence to any private property |
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| 39 | 39 | | 11would have such an effect, the foregoing sentence shall not apply to such private property. As |
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| 40 | 40 | | 12used herein, “barrier beach” shall have the meaning ascribed thereto in Section 10.29 of Title 2 of 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 13310 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations or successor regulations. Upon petition of ten |
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| 42 | 42 | | 14citizens of the Commonwealth that a dispute exists with respect to the location of the former bed |
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| 43 | 43 | | 15of any Great Pond or other facts relevant to this section, the department and the attorney general |
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| 44 | 44 | | 16or a representative designated by the attorney general shall hold a public hearing and receive |
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| 45 | 45 | | 17such evidence thereon as may be presented to them and otherwise proceed in a manner consistent |
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| 46 | 46 | | 18with the procedures set forth in Section 18A of this Chapter. |
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