Not to dismiss everyone's opinions on what a bad idea this bill is, but it is going precisely nowhere. There are like 6000 bills filed every year in the Massachusetts General Court. There are bound to be some bad ideas that get thrown in.

It's going to have a hearing, and then it will either get sent to study or, given how much of an actual bad idea this is, it will get a "recommend do not pass" by the committee.

If you want to participate beyond posting on Reddit about it, sign up for an account on malegislature.gov and track the bill. When a hearing is scheduled, send testimony to the committee chairs with your opinions. In-person testimony would be better, but I recognize that this is not feasible for most people.

It's a bill. Legislation gets docket numbers when filed before being assigned bill numbers.

Worcester cannot host a casino under the current law. The Expanded Gaming Act created three regions, each of which could host one resort casino. Worcester is part of Region A, which already has the Encore. The Act also allowed one slots parlor statewide, which is Plainridge Park.

It is the trend that boards of "selectmen" are transitioning over to "select board." It is good that it is more inclusive, even if "select board member" or "selectperson" is a bit clunkier when trying to address someone with their title. It's just too bad that every single one that wants to change has to be approved by the General Court.

Thanks for the award! As much as I love to talk about the structures of government, I figured I'd keep it as relevant to the question as possible. It doesn't even touch on cities with commissioners instead of a city council, mostly because I'm reasonably sure no Plan C cities currently exist in Massachusetts, despite it being an option in statute.

If any other nerds want to know more about other municipalities' forms of government, I found this listing from the MMA from a few years ago: https://www.mma.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/muni_forms_of_gov_2017.pdf. There have been a few changes since then (as someone mentioned elsewhere in the thread, Framingham is now a city) but it is still a good overview.

There are only two types of municipal entities in Massachusetts: cities and towns. "Village" is a term for an informal division within a city or town and doesn't have any meaning with regard to state law. There are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, and there is no place in Massachusetts that is not already part of an existing city or town (no "unincorporated" land).

There are a number of specific forms that a city or a town can take under Massachusetts law. You can see some of those forms for cities in the MGL here, with related municipal information in subsequent sections and chapters: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter43/Section1

Those get into a lot of specifics that, unless you are a government nerd like me, you may not be interested in. In short, here are some of the main differences between towns and cities:

A town's legislative power rests with town meeting, whether it is an open (any voter in town can show up and participate) or elected (town meeting members are elected in a sort of super part-time legislative body) town meeting, and the select board is the town's executive. Select boards usually hire a town manager/administrator for the actual day-to-day running of the town, sort of how a nonprofit board of directors hires an executive director to run the nonprofit.

A city usually has a city council that serves as its legislative body, though as you can see from the different types of cities in the MGL, it can vary on how it functions relative to the administration. As you can also see, the election and role of a mayor also vary: some are elected independently, some are elected from the council, and cities sometimes also have a city manager/administrator.

>MA state legislature only has 2 republicans

There are 30 Republicans in the legislature: 27 in the House and 3 in the Senate. This doesn't change your point, but just FYI.

For the identification of private roads, it is going to depend on your municipality, and even then it may not be adhered to consistently. Some municipalities also just have different colored signs by default. Most I've seen are green, but Saugus has a sort of maroon red, for example.

"All bows (recurve, long, and compound), except permitted crossbows, used for hunting deer, bear, and turkey must have a draw weight of at least 40 lbs. at 28 inches or at peak draw. Mechanical releases are permitted. Arrows used on deer, bear, or turkey must have well-sharpened steel broadhead blades not less than 7/8 inches in width. Expanding broadheads are legal for deer, bear, and turkey. Archers may hunt deer with a bow and arrow during the shotgun and primitive firearms deer seasons, but must comply with all regulations of those seasons, including blaze orange and stamp requirements. Crossbows may be used by certain permanently disabled persons by permit only. For regulations and an application, visit www.mass.gov/masswildlife or contact MassWildlife at (508) 389-6300. A firearms license (FID or LTC) is not required for bowhunting."

A firearms license (FID or LTC) is not required for bowhunting.

If you are referring to the economic development bill (H.5250), it passed unanimously in the Senate.

One of the issues is likely that there are two different things being discussed:

1. The Chapter 62F rebate, and
2. The economic development bill the legislature passed that included permanent tax changes and a rebate program.

The first item (62F rebates) will happen. The second (economic development bill) will not, unless something significant changes.

The spending in the economic development bill, including the tax changes and rebate program, was predicated on the surplus that has now been diverted to make the 62F rebates possible. Both chambers passed a version of that bill, but they were not reconciled in time to pass a final version. The legislature would have to resume formal sessions in order to pass a final version of the economic development bill, but it would be significantly smaller than the versions previously passed by the House and Senate, and would likely not include the tax changes or rebate program.

Rep. Belsito's statement was an opinion on Chapter 62F and doesn't change if or how the 62F refunds will be disbursed. So there will be a 62F refund, though I can't comment on the timing (the administration has said November) or accuracy of the estimate calculator one way or another.

If you are referring to this bill, there was no vote taken on it.