Happy hour comeback? Healey, once wary of idea, says she supports local option for discounted drinks.

Politics admin June 9, 2026 0 Comments

Happy hour comeback? Healey, once wary of idea, says she supports local option for discounted drinks.

On the heels of swift effort from the state Legislature to extend last call at bars to at least 3 a.m. this summer, Governor Maura Healey opined on another boozy topic that has long rankled Beacon Hill — lifting a ban on happy hour.

Healey said on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Tuesday that she “personally” supports happy hour, which allows for discounted prices on alcoholic drinks, but has been illegal in Massachusetts for decades.When asked if she could ever see happy hour making a return, she framed the idea as part of her “competitiveness” pitch to attract and retain more people in the state.

“I personally support happy hour. That said . . . it’s a local option,” Healey said. “I really want 20-somethings, 18- to 35-year-olds staying in Boston, staying in Massachusetts. And it’s really important that we create spaces for them to hang out and socialize.”

But just two years ago, she sounded less sure when asked whether she supported the concept of bringing happy hour back.

“I think there are problems with that, to be honest,” she said during a July 2024 appearance on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio“. “What I’m really focused on . . . is not happy hour.”

A spokesperson for Healey declined further comment Tuesday.

Governor Michael Dukakis first approved a proposal by alcohol regulators to outlaw happy hour in the 1980s after a 20-year-old Weymouth woman was killed in the parking lot of a Braintree bar after being dragged under a car driven by an intoxicated friend, according to a 1983 Patriot Ledger article about the incident.

Newspapers at the time reported that the driver and her friend had left a trivia game at Ground Round in Braintree, where they received several free mugs of beer as prizes.

The incident triggered a push to ban happy hour statewide, and in November 1984, Massachusetts became the first in the nation to ban happy hour drinking. The ban, still on the books, prohibits free drinks, jumbo-sized drinks, contests with drink prizes, and sales of pitchers of beer to solo customers.

In the last decade or so, other states that had similar bans on happy hour have lifted restrictions, including Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas.

State legislators here, however, are split on the issue. The state Senate has twice passed legislation that would give local cities and towns the option to allow happy hour. The measure, however, has died in negotiations with the House, where Democratic leaders have not supported the idea.

The Senate’s push would have allowed any city or town to vote to allow the sale of discounted alcoholic beverages at bars and restaurants during specific hours. The local governments would then set their own regulations on how the rules would work.

Cyr’s effort is not the first time Beacon Hill has taken up the happy hour idea. Petitioners proposed that the state put the question on the 2022 ballot, but supporters didn’t gather enough signatures to get the language before voters.

State Senator Julian Cyr, who sponsored the Senate’s effort, said in expressing her support, “Healey is reiterating the perspective that we hear from scores of small business owners, our main streets, and downtowns.”

“I’m delighted,” the Provincetown Democrat said. “I think the opportunity to help get a little more foot traffic in the door is a real shot in the arm that our smallest businesses need.”

House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat, said his chamber hasn’t supported the issue because of objections from the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which represents about 1,800 restaurants.

Steve Clark, president of the association, said Tuesday in a text that the governor’s comments were “more of an answer to a question, rather than a comment on any imminent legislative change.”

Restaurateurs are divided on the topic, too. Some worry that happy hour prices could lead to a “race to the bottom.”

Others, including hospitality industry veteran George Aboujaoude, are all for it.

The owner of Committee in the Seaport and Eva on Newbury Street said hearing happy hour come up in discussion again feels “like I’m in the twilight zone.”

“I’ve asked for that for so long and I’ve always been told it’s never going to happen,” he said. “I feel like I am dreaming. I never expected to hear ‘happy hour’ and ‘3 a.m.’ in this city.”