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H1613 • 2025

An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court

An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Tackey Chan
Last action
2026-03-26
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court

An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court By Representative Chan of Quincy, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court By Representative Chan of Quincy, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 1613) of Tackey Chan for legislation to authorize the filing for damages in small claims court against a public entity arising from potholes under the jurisdiction of said entity.
  • The Judiciary.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-26 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-11-04 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 11/04/2025 from 01:00 PM-02:30 PM in A-1 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  3. 2025-11-04 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 11/04/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-1 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  4. 2025-10-29 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 11/04/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-1

  5. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on The Judiciary

  6. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  7. House

    Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act permitting persons to bring car damage arising from a pothole against the public entity into small claims court
By Representative Chan of Quincy, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1613) of Tackey Chan for legislation to authorize the filing for damages in small claims court against a public entity arising from potholes under the jurisdiction of said entity. The Judiciary.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
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Bill H.1613

Section 3 of Chapter 258 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended in line 6 after the word “county” by inserting the following words:-

“and except in the case where the damage to a claimant’s motor vehicle’s tire, rim or both is caused by a state, county or municipal roadway shall be brought under sections 21 to 25 of chapter 218 of the General Laws.”

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