A bill (H.B. 952) to ban the “use and sale of any exhaust pipe that increases the sound emission of any vehicle including motorcycles” has been assigned for study. The study order authorizes the Joint Transportation Committee to meet during the legislature’s recess to make an investigation of the bill and report to the General Court the results and its recommendations, if any, together with a draft of legislation necessary to carry the recommendations into effect. This action essentially kills activity on this bill for the year. An identical bill was introduced in 2009 and was set aside for study without any additional committee consideration.
Several other Massachusetts bills were assigned for similar studies, including a bill to provide for the adjustment of registration fees based on vehicle weight and one to exempt new vehicles from motor vehicle emission inspections for the two years succeeding their manufacture year.