Bills Sponsored by Rep. Ken Sweezey

Adds a new Section 22 to GL Chapter 76 (School Attendance) prohibiting schools from counting students absent who are out of school to participate in a Massachusetts 4-H activity; provides for 4-H programs to submit documentation verifying a student’s participation as necessary; requires schools to allow students to make up any missed work, and to ensure that their grades are not negatively impacted by participation; and clarifies that a student absent to participate in a 4-H activity cannot be credited as present during MCAS testing or during suspension/expulsion that would otherwise preclude participation in an educational field trip.

Amends GL 53:28 (Dates and places for holding primaries) to change the timing of state primaries by moving them from seven Tuesdays before the biennial state election to eleven Tuesdays before, effectively scheduling primaries four weeks earlier than under current law.

Directs the the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the Division of Marine Fisheries, to analyze the economic disruption and harm to the financial stability of those engaged in commercial fishing in the Commonwealth that results from the inability to earn income as a result of state and federal regulatory actions including area closures, gear restrictions, and time limitations; further directs said Secretary to develop a plan to mitigate such harm through mechanisms such as modifications to the state's unemployment insurance.

Designates any criminal identification officer, first assistant criminal identification officer, or assistant criminal identification officer employed by the county of Plymouth in “Group 4” for purposes of the state retirement system. This designation was already provided, in 1987, to officers of Barnstable county. (The 1987 amendment was to a 1953 bill originally establishing a police training school and bureau of criminal investigation in Barnstable county.)

Amends GL Chapter 59:5 to expand the senior property tax exemption by allowing a city or town to vote to increase the $500 exemption up to $2,000.  

Amends GL 94:321 (definitions related to refund value of beverage containers) to include alcoholic beverages sold in a miniature as those beverages subject to a refund deposit; increases container handling fees from 1 cent to 3 cents; prohibits municipalities from banning the sale of miniatures.