Happy hours in Massachusetts have been banned since 1984. Lawyers and residents are now putting in efforts to bring back the happy hours and take that much-deserved swig of beer. In a bid to dissolve the decades’ old draconian law, the businesses are asserting how much of their revenue could be generated by happy hours.

Back in the 80s, then-president Ronald Regan imposed a law denying federal highway funds to states with a legal drinking age below 21. It later stretched to the prohibition of happy hours. This came as cases of accidents due to drunk driving were on the rise and the citizens were on the lookout for a solution.

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The ban is still in effect today and prohibits bars and restaurants from selling discounted alcoholic beverages. “Many if not most other states have some version of happy hour, so a lot of people look at the prohibition and say, ‘Why don’t we revisit that?’” Massachusetts state Rep. Mike Connolly told NBCNews.

The democrat is introducing legislation to look into the matter with the help of a task force. This was after restaurant and bar owners expressed concerns about their business during and after the pandemic.

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“We understand why happy hour was prohibited back in 1984. Since then, a lot has changed,” Connolly said, citing ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft that can prevent people from getting behind the wheel if intoxicated. Many business owners think it could help bring clientele back to areas that depended on office workers, who are now mostly working remotely, and boost sales overall,” he continued.

According to many restaurant owners, their business models depended largely on the sale of alcohol. A recent poll by MassINC discovered that as close as 70 per cent of residents wanted to bring the happy hour back, and only 20 per cent were against it.

However, Governor Charlie Baker is quite opposed to the idea of bringing it back and said, “That law did not come about by accident. It came about because there was a sustained series of tragedies that involved both young and older people, in some terrible highway incidents, all of which trackback to people who’d been over-served as a result of happy hours in a variety of places..I’d be hard-pressed to support changing it.”