PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. The secretary of the executive office of elder affairs hereinafter called the secretary, is hereby authorized and directed to establish a program to assist cities and towns or consortiums of contiguous cities, towns or any combination thereof, hereinafter to be called a consortium, in undertaking any project to acquire land, including buildings thereon, to construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate finish or expand facilities to be used as senior citizens center without acceptance by the commonwealth of responsibility for maintenance.
The secretary may, under the provisions of this act, provide grant funds to such cities, towns or consortiums for projects authorized by this section.

SECTION 2. The secretary shall establish rules and regulations which shall govern the application for and distribution of grant funds under the provisions of this act. Any such rules or regulations, or any amendment or repeal of any such rules or regulation shall, after compliance with all applicable provisions of chapter thirty A of the General Laws, be filed with the clerk of the house of representatives and the clerk of the senate.

SECTION 3. Any city, town or consortium may, by vote of the city council and approval of the city manager in a city having a Plan D or Plan E form of charter, or with the approval of the mayor in any other city, by vote of a town at an annual town meeting or at a special town meeting called for that purpose or in a municipality having a town council form of government by the town council, make application to the secretary for financial assistance in undertaking a project described in section one of this act.

SECTION 4. To meet the expenditure necessary in carrying out the provisions of this act, the state treasurer shall, upon request of the secretary of elder affairs with the approval of the governor, issue and sell at public or private sale, bonds or notes of the commonwealth, registered or with interest coupons attached, as he may deem best, to an amount specified by the governor from time to time, but not exceeding, in the aggregate, $25,000,000. All bond or notes issued by the commonwealth shall be designated on their face the words Senior Citizens Centers Loan Act of 2003 and shall be on the serial payment plan for such maximum term of years, not exceeding 20 years as the governor may recommended to the general court pursuant to section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, the maturities thereof to be so arranged that the amounts payable in the several years of the period of amortization, other than the final year, shall be as nearly equal as in the opinion of the state treasurer it is practicable to make them. Said bonds or notes shall bear interest semi-annually at such rate as the state treasurer, with the approval of the governor, shall fix. The initial maturities of such bonds or notes shall be payable not later than one year from the date of issue thereof. Bonds and interest thereon issued under the authority of this section shall, notwithstanding any other provisions of this act, be general obligations of the commonwealth.