Mass. lawmakers embrace a 3 a.m. last call for the World Cup, expand public drinking through July

After several hours of back-and-forth, Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday embraced a proposal that would allow bars to serve alcohol until 3 a.m., and permit fans to imbibe in designated public spaces through the end of July in a bid to capitalize on the slate of World Cup matches the state is hosting.

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The Massachusetts House and Senate sent Governor Maura Healey the bill Monday afternoon, five days before FIFA World Cup matches begin in Foxborough.

The proposal’s passage, put on the fast track just last week, was briefly gummed up in the legislative gears after the state House and Senate initially disagreed on key details on letting booze flow more freely in the coming months.

Healey has already said she supports allowing Massachusetts bars and restaurants to remain open until 3 a.m. this summer, seemingly putting the state on the cusp of loosening its drinking laws, at least temporarily.On Instagram on Monday, the governor re-posted a story about whether she would sign the bill, set to the Post Malone song, “Pour Me A Drink.”

The Massachusetts Senate on Monday had passed its version of the proposal, which would have allowed for public drinking in designated spots through Labor Day, or roughly five weeks beyond what the House wanted.

The House, ultimately, got its way, setting both temporary changes to expire on July 31 and align with the version the chamber passed last week.

A proposal to push back last call gained a drumbeat of support in recent weeks among leaders, including Mayor Michelle Wu and state Senate President Karen Spilka, who argued it would help local businesses benefit from an expected surge of visitors for the World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

The state is hosting seven matches in total at what’s been rebranded as “Boston Stadium,” including Saturday’s clash between Haiti and Scotland.

Senator Julian Cyr, a Provincetown Democrat who put forward the Senate’s proposal, said creating public drinking areas is a heavy lift for a city or town, and argued that extending the period of time they can make use of these spaces would incentivize more leaders to opt in.

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While later last call at bars seems geared toward the World Cup, he said, public consumption is an activity that would “extend conviviality and advance opportunity for local businesses.”

“If towns are going to go through the trouble of doing this, why not enable them to have this opportunity through the full extent of the summer?” he said of the Senate’s bid to extend the loosened rules into early September. “We just don’t want this to be for the World Cup.”

State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat and his chambers’ budget chief, felt the opposite.

“When we were pitched the concept, it was always centered around the events we are having this summer,” he said, adding that the last World Cup match in Boston ends July 9. “We would certainly keep an open mind on it in the long term and for future big events in the city. For now, it’s a test case.”

Other states have embraced similar changes. In Rhode Island, whose border is less than 30 miles from the stadium, Governor Daniel J. McKee signed a similar bill into law last month. Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington — states either hosting World Cup matches or geographically adjacent to those hosting the tournament — have also approved measures to extend alcohol sales hours.

Leaders at the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which represents about 1,800 restaurants, said the short trial period for the later last call allows bar operators to try something new, though some in the industry have approached the idea with caution.

The support for a later last call marks a notable shift among legislators who have long been resistant to boozy measures. A repeated proposal to end a 40-year ban on happy hours has faced an uphill battle on Beacon Hill.

Cyr, who has pushed the proposal, has argued that the state has “a persistent fun problem.”

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