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S 68

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2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Greg Hembree

Creates a temporary Lobstering Closure Mitigation Fund paying MA lobstermen $1 per trap tag per week, contingent on progress toward incorporation, with a three-year sunset.

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Bill Summary · S 68

Summary — S.68: An Act Relative to Lobstering Closure Mitigation

Status: Introduced Jan 9, 2025; referred to committees (Small Business & Entrepreneurship; Agriculture and Fisheries). Filed as Senate No. 68 by Senator Patrick M. O’Connor (with Senators Joan B. Lovely and Brendan P. Crighton listed on the filing). Hearing(s) and committee actions scheduled/reported in 2025.

Purpose / Intent

Establish a temporary fund and payment program to provide short‑term financial assistance to Massachusetts lobstermen affected by fishing-area closures enacted to protect endangered marine species, while encouraging recipients to incorporate their fishing businesses.

Key provisions

  • Creates a Lobstering Closure Mitigation Fund (new Section 37B in Chapter 130), administered by the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA).
  • Eligible recipients: a “lobsterman” defined as a holder of a commercial fisherman (lobster) permit shown in Chapter 130 §38 who is deemed active and transferable by the Director of Marine Fisheries, and who is domiciled in Massachusetts.
  • Payment formula: weekly payments equal to $1.00 per lobster trap tag (defined in the bill as a “trap”) owned and licensed to the lobsterman.
  • Payment period language (as written): “Eligibility for said payments shall be available through January 1 and shall terminate on June 30 annually.” (The draft language is ambiguous about the annual start date and may require clarification.)
  • Program condition: payments are intended to mitigate financial impacts while lobstermen “work through the process of incorporation.” The Secretary of State must promulgate rules to determine each recipient’s progress toward incorporation each year (no later than Jan 1). Lobstermen who have not made “sufficient progress” after their first year of payments become ineligible until they make progress.
  • The Secretary of State must host an annual informational session about incorporation.
  • Fund finance and oversight:
    • Fund receives transfers, gifts, grants, contributions; amounts credited are “not subject to further appropriation” and any year-end balance “shall revert to the General Fund” (as drafted).
    • DUA must adopt implementing regulations and report annually to House and Senate ways & means and the Joint Committee on Agriculture on receipts, expenditures, and balances.
  • Sunset: the Fund is dissolved three fiscal years after the act’s effective date.
  • Effective immediately upon passage.

Who is affected

  • Direct: Massachusetts‑domiciled commercial lobstermen holding active, transferable lobster permits; payment scale directly tied to number of trap tags they hold.
  • Administrative: Department of Unemployment Assistance (fund administrator), Division of Marine Fisheries (permit/activity determinations), and the Secretary of State (incorporation progress standards and outreach).
  • Fiscal: Commonwealth budget exposure depends on number of eligible trap tags and weeks paid; payments are modest per trap but can aggregate by fleet size.

Practical example

  • A lobsterman with 100 trap tags would receive $100 per week under the formula. If the intended payment window is roughly Jan–Jun (about 26 weeks), that could equal ~$2,600 in a year for that individual—subject to actual interpretation of the bill’s payment window and eligibility rules.

Notes / Issues for clarification

  • The annual eligibility window wording (“available through January 1 and shall terminate on June 30”) is ambiguous and should be clarified (start date vs. end date).
  • The statement that fund amounts are “not subject to further appropriation” but that year‑end balances “revert to the General Fund” is internally inconsistent and may require drafting correction.
  • Sponsor list in the filing shows Massachusetts senators; a separate “Sponsors” list included in the materials appears to list federal legislators — that likely reflects an error or unrelated data and should be verified against the official state record.

If desired, I can: (1) draft a short fiscal estimate example based on plausible trap totals, (2) propose specific clarifying amendments, or (3) prepare testimony points for committee hearings.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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