I've been pulled over in CT for having a rack and again for having bikes on a rack. Both times the officer made me remove it, when I had bikes on the rack it meant sending my friend home with my car while I sat on the side of the road with our bikes waiting for him to come back with his pickup truck. That was a fun 3 hours
MA just tickets you but it's a good sized ticket, at least they give you a couple of written warnings first. Here in NY I've had a couple of officers suggest I get a different car to transport my bikes but it hasn't gone any further than that.
I will make a strong suggestion that you wire up a trailer light plug and get some to hang off the bike so your brake and turn signals can be seen. I've had a few close calls when they were blocked.
Here in NY you can not use a license plate relocating thing because you will get a ticket for not having the plate in the factory designated location. It goes to red light, toll and speed cameras not being able to find the plate. On the upside if your bike really does block the plate you can remove your ez-pass from the windshield and drive through all the tolls without stopping because they have no way to figure out who you are, you can also ignore red light cameras if your plate is blocked. I wouldn't suggest doing this but I know the toll readers and cameras can't get you
