Summary — S.1075: "An Act relative to Gardner District Court"
Short title
- An Act relative to Gardner District Court (Senate Docket No. 661). Presented by Sen. Peter J. Durant (Worcester and Hampshire).
Purpose / intent
- To revise the statutory listing of towns and the holding location for the Gardner/Winchendon area district court in Chapter 218, Section 1 of the Massachusetts General Laws. In practice, the bill reassigns certain towns among district court listings and clarifies which courts hold sessions in particular municipalities.
Key provisions (what the bill changes)
- Amends Section 1 of chapter 218 of the General Laws by:
- Striking the phrase identifying “The district court at Winchendon, held at Winchendon; Winchendon, Ashburnham, Phillipston, Royalston and Templeton.” (removes the current standalone listing for a Winchendon-held district court as previously phrased).
- Replacing an existing town-list phrase (“Gardner, Petersham, Hubbardston and Westminster”) with an expanded list: “Ashburnham, Gardner, Hubbardston, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, Westminster and Winchendon.”
- Net effect: the statutory district-court coverage is reorganized so that Gardner’s district court listing explicitly includes Winchendon and several surrounding towns (Ashburnham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, etc.). This adjusts which towns are associated with Gardner (and implicitly which locations may hold court sessions).
Who is affected
- Residents and municipal governments of Gardner, Winchendon, Ashburnham, Hubbardston, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, Westminster (possible changes to where cases are filed or heard).
- Court administration (trial court scheduling, clerk’s offices), judges, prosecutors, public defenders, local police and attorneys — all may need to adapt to changes in venue designations, case assignment, and public notice.
- No fiscal note is included in the Massachusetts text; likely minimal administrative costs (updates to forms, postings, web pages, local notices).
Procedural status and timeline (from provided record)
- Filed/presented: 01/14/2025 (Senate Docket No. 661).
- Referred to: The Judiciary (reported as referred on 02/27/2025 in the provided log).
- Hearing(s) scheduled: Hearing originally scheduled and later rescheduled — listed for 11/04/2025 with an updated virtual end time (session noted 1:00 PM–5:00 PM in room A‑1). (Records show multiple scheduling/rescheduling entries.)
- Related history: Similar matter appeared in the prior session (see House No. 4363 of 2023–2024).
Notes and caveats
- The bill package provided also contains unrelated or conflicting material (an Idaho “SB 1075” that amends municipal council district thresholds and a separate fiscal note and sponsor lists that appear to belong to different jurisdictions). This summary focuses only on the Massachusetts text titled “An Act relative to Gardner District Court.”
- The bill text does not state an effective date in the excerpt provided; consult the enrolled bill or Judiciary Committee materials for enactment language and any implementation timeline if the bill advances.
