Drawing on personal experience, Quincy lawmaker Michael Morrissey drafts bills to protect cellphone users, ticket buyers

The state Senate's point man on consumer issues draws heavily on his pet peeves in filing bills.

Senator Michael W. Morrissey's cellphone legislation, for example, borrows liberally from bills that have come before his committee previously, but it also includes a couple of proposals that reflect his personal concerns about the quality and cost of wireless service.

"When you talk as much as I do on the phone, you know the situation," said the Quincy Democrat who heads two legislative committees that deal with consumer issues.

The bill requires wireless companies to publicly disclose their coverage gaps and allows consumers with poor service (five or more dropped calls in a month) to terminate contracts without paying hefty financial penalties. Industry executives say the termination provision is the first of its kind in the nation.

"The industry says no state's ever done this. Well, so what?" Morrissey said.

His call for a rewrite of the state's ticket resale laws was prompted initially by news reports indicating the antiscalping law wasn't being enforced and may be unworkable. But he quickly broadened his focus to include the initial sale of tickets, in part because of his experiences as a ticket buyer.

Morrissey, who is still crafting the ticket bill, said he is likely to place a first-of-its-kind cap on ticket convenience charges and require arenas and theaters to disclose what they do with the facility fees they charge.

The facility fee issue came to his attention recently during a Senate Christmas outing to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Citi Performing Arts Center. On the tickets, Morrissey saw a notation for a $2 restoration fee and a $1 education fee.

"What kind of education is going on?" he asked. "It may be for sending kids to shows, which is an admirable goal, but I still think people should know what their money is going to."

Josiah Spaulding , president and chief executive of the Citi Performing Arts Center, said the restoration fee goes for the upkeep of the building and the educational funds are used for youth outreach and free programming, like summer Shakespeare productions. He agreed with Morrissey that the public should know more about how the fees are being used.

"People would give more if they knew what it was going for," he said.

After 30 years on Beacon Hill, 16 in the House and 14 in the Senate, the 52-year-old Morrissey is not someone whose name is synonymous with consumer issues. He is the Senate chairman of two legislative committees: Consumer Affairs and Professional Licensure, a relatively recent creation on Beacon Hill, and the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy panel. He also practices law and is married with two children.

He says his top priority is representing Quincy's interests on Beacon Hill. After that, he has tended to focus on issues relating to liquor, utilities, construction, and dog and horse tracks. His campaign contributions reflect those interests.

But of late he has been branching out, spending time on hot-button consumer issues. During an interview, he produced a long list of consumer issues he's interested in, everything from identity theft to gift cards to electricity metering. He acknowledges the cellphone and ticket issues are complicated and involve a lot of powerful interests, but he seems to relish the upcoming fights.

"He has this kind of underdog thing going on," said Deirdre Cummings , consumer education director at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, the state's leading consumer advocacy organization.

Joseph Baerlein , president of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, who has known Morrissey a long time, said the senator doesn't just pick fights he knows he can win.

"He's got a little populist streak that runs through him," Baerlein said. "If he thinks something is dumb or not practical, he'll go after it, where others may not."

Morrissey is no lefty consumer activist; he describes himself as politically moderate. He voted to put the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the ballot. He opposes abortion and favors casino gambling as a way to raise state revenues without raising taxes. As for the social costs of gambling, he points out that Massachusetts residents are already gambling in nearby states. "We're getting no revenue and all the problems anyway," he said.

His approach to the ticket issue illustrates how he assembles legislation. He says he is drafting a bill that will include some proposals he would like to see become law, as well as others that are intended more to get everyone's attention.

"We need to get everybody out from behind the woodwork," he said, noting that a workable compromise is the ultimate goal.

Morrissey has already talked to several of the parties involved with the resale of tickets, including San Francisco-based StubHub Inc., eBay, and several local resellers. Morrissey's staff is also gathering information on how other states regulate ticket resales, and working with the state Department of Public Safety, which currently regulates resellers here.

As he does on most consumer issues, the senator also invited input from MassPIRG, but is quick to add that he doesn't blindly follow the group's suggestions.

"MassPIRG runs in one direction. That direction is usually proconsumer, but you have to be realistic," he said. "I'm not a zealot."

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.