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H2056 • 2025

An Act relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law)

An Act relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law)

Active

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

Sponsor
Xiarhos, Steven George
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 relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law)

An Act relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law) By Representatives Xiarhos of Barnstable and Doherty of Taunton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law) By Representatives Xiarhos of Barnstable and Doherty of Taunton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 2056) of Steven George Xiarhos, Carol A.
  • Doherty and others relative to fentanyl arrests.
  • 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. 2025-10-20 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 05/06/2025 from 01:00 PM-04:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-04-29 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 05/06/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  4. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on The Judiciary

  5. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  6. House

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

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to fentanyl arrests (Tatiana's Law)
By Representatives Xiarhos of Barnstable and Doherty of Taunton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2056) of Steven George Xiarhos, Carol A. Doherty and others relative to fentanyl arrests. The Judiciary.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.2056

SECTION 1. Section 42 of chapter 276 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting in line 13, after the word “58A”, the following words:- ; and, provided further, that if a person is arrested for a violation of section 32 of chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl, subsections (c ½) or (c ¾)

of section 32E of said chapter 94C or subsection (a) of section 32F of said chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl, any bail shall be assessed pursuant to sections 57 and 58.

SECTION 2. Section 57 of said chapter 276, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the sixth paragraph the following paragraph:-

Except where prohibited by this section, for any violation of (i) section 32 of chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl; (ii) subsections (c ½) or (c ¾) of section 32E of said chapter 94C; or (iii) subsection (a) of section 32F of said chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl, a person arrested, who has attained the age of 18 years, shall not be admitted to bail sooner than 6 hours after arrest, except by a judge in open court. The arrested person shall not be released out of court by a clerk of courts, clerk of a district court, bail commissioner or master in chancery. Any person authorized to take bail for such violation may impose conditions on a person's release in order to ensure the appearance of the person before the court and the safety of the person, any other individual or the community; provided, however, that the person authorized to take bail shall, prior to admitting the person to bail, modifying an existing order of bail or imposing such conditions, have immediate access to all pending and prior criminal offender record information, board of probation records and police and incident reports related to the person detained, upon oral, telephonic, facsimile or electronic mail request, to the extent practicable.

SECTION 3. Section 58 of said chapter 276, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the fifth paragraph the following paragraph:-

Except where prohibited by section 57, for any violation of (i) section 32 of chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl; (ii) of subsections (c ½) or (c ¾) of section 32E of said chapter 94C; or (iii) subsection (a) of section 32F of said chapter 94C for the manufacture, sale or distribution of fentanyl, a person arrested, who has attained the age of 18 years, shall not be admitted to bail sooner than 6 hours after arrest, except by a judge in open court. The arrested person shall not be released out of court by a clerk of courts, clerk of a district court, bail commissioner or master in chancery. Any person authorized to take bail for such violation may impose conditions on a person's release in order to ensure the appearance of the person before the court and the safety of the person, any other individual or the community; provided, however, that the person authorized to take bail shall, prior to admitting the person to bail, modifying an existing order of bail or imposing such conditions, have immediate access to all pending and prior criminal offender record information, board of probation records and police and incident reports related to the person detained, upon oral, telephonic, facsimile or electronic mail request, to the extent practicable.

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