Senators dove into debate Thursday on a wide-reaching economic development bond bill by making official their latest push to revive happy hour in some Massachusetts communities.
Early in deliberations, the Senate approved an amendment from Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro that would create a local option allowing willing communities to offer discounted specials on alcoholic beverages -- a practice that has been prohibited in Massachusetts since 1984.
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Cyr pitched happy hour as a way to revitalize downtowns and Main Street businesses still struggling after the COVID-19 pandemic rewired work patterns. He said it could boost the "fun factor" in a state sometimes known for being buttoned up.
"It's been 40 years since the happy hour ban was put in place. Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to have a happy hour ban, and at the time, in 1984, it probably made some good sense, where the dangers of happy hour and especially drunken driving were rampant across the country," Cyr told his colleagues. "Yet Massachusetts is now the last state in the nation to have an absolute ban on happy hours."
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Senators backed a similar local-option happy hour in an economic development bill two years ago, but the idea did not survive negotiations with the House in the face of concerns from then-Gov. Charlie Baker.
The Senate adopted Cyr's latest amendment on an unrecorded voice vote.
Through 2 p.m. Thursday, senators withdrew 106 of the 523 amendments they filed to the roughly $2.8 billion economic development bond bill, and the chamber adopted two others.
