Anti-Gun Democrats DEFEATED, Again - MA House votes to knock $60 off gun license fee

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/house_votes_to_knock_60_off_gu.html?category=Belchertown+category=Greenfield+category=Hadley+category=Palmer+category=Statehouse

House votes to knock $60 off gun license fee
Tuesday July 29, 2008

BOSTON - The state House of Representatives today killed a disputed
proposal by the governor to raise license fees for guns - and then
voted to dramatically lower the existing fee.

With formal legislative sessions set to end at midnight Thursday for
this year, the Massachusetts Senate voted to approve $1.7 billion
environmental bond bill that includes money to improve the grounds of
the Three County Fair in Northampton and to prepare the old
Belchertown State School for redevelopment. The bond bill was approved
in the House last week.

The Senate, aiming to boost participation in elections, also voted
33-5 to approve a bill to allow voters in general and state elections
to register to vote on Election Day itself. The bill would allow
people to register as little as 14 days in advance, down from the
current 20 days, or on the day of the election. The election bill was
sent to the House, where it's fate is unclear.

In a surprise move, the House voted 94-57 to lower the fee for a
firearms license from $100 to $40.

The proposed $40 fee was approved as part of a more comprehensive bill
filed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick. The bill calls for raising money to
help finance the state's near universal health care law.

When Patrick filed the bill on July 13, he proposed to increase the
fee for a six-year firearms license from $100 to $200, establish a new
annual $100 license inspection fee for gun dealers and hike the fee
for someone from another state to carry a firearm in Massachusetts
from $100 to $250. Patrick was seeking to raise money for state
services.

House leaders stripped out the governor's proposed fee increases
before the bill reached the floor for a vote.

Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said legislators sent a message to
the governor.

"That ought to teach Governor Patrick to ask for a gun license
increase," Brewer said. "Bring in an increase and we lower it."

Brewer said he would support the proposal to lower the fee, but he
didn't know how it would fare in the Senate.

Rep. Donald F. Humason Jr., R-Westfield, said he was pleased by the
House tally to lower the fee.

"It's the right thing to do," said Humason, who cosponsored the
proposal to cut the fee. "We're talking about a
constitutionally-guaranteed freedom to keep and bear arms."

The Senate voted 38-0 to approve the environmental bond bill to
improve the state's park system, preserve open space, repair dams and
restore rivers.

The environmental bond is the first of its kind since 2002.

The bill includes $4 million for the proposed upgrade of the
Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, including a new
80,000-square-foot, climate-controlled exhibition building.

"The Three-County Fairgrounds is rich in history but it is also rich
in possibilities for future economic and cultural activity," said Sen.
Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who secured the $4 million.

Sen. Gale D. Candaras, D-Wilbraham, also won $10 million in the bill
to remove asbestos and old brick buildings from 120 acres at the
former Belchertown State School.

The state in 1992 closed the old school for mentally retarded people.

Candaras said the site will be a valuable asset for Belchertown once
it is cleaned up.

The bond bill also has $1 million for Palmer to improve treatment of
wastewater required under a federal order, $350,000 for Northampton
and Easthampton to monitor and mitigate air pollution from a regional
landfill in Northampton, and $2 million to check the landfill's
effects on groundwater.

Another $500,000 would go to the University of Massachsuetts at
Amherst to establish a statewide program for monitoring wetlands, and
$2.5 million for leveraging federal money to support mapping of
geologic information.

The bill also includes $1.5 million to repair a dam at Van Horn Park
in Springfield, $2 million to rebuild the Granville Reservoir Dam,
$250,000 to design repairs and inspect the Lake Wyola dam in
Shutesbury, $350,000 for repairing the Connecticut River dike in
Hatfield, $250,000 to remove a dam on the Green River in Greenfield
and $800,000 for repairing a dike on the Connecticut River in Hadley.

.

Loading