PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall transfer $2,000,000 from the General Fund to the Invasive Aquatic Plants Prevention Fund established pursuant to section 35D1/2 of chapter 10 of the General Laws.

SECTION 2. Chapter 10 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting after section 35D the following section:-

Section 35D1/2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following definitions.

“Aquatic plant species” means any non-native plant or other viable biological material that enters and disperses in a wetland or water ecosystem beyond its native range.

“Commissioner” means the commissioner of the department of conservation and recreation.

“Control” means eradicating, suppressing, reducing, or managing harmful non-indigenous species populations, preventing the spread of harmful non-indigenous species from areas where they are present and taking steps such as protection and restoration of native species populations and habitats to reduce the impacts of harmful non-indigenous species and to prevent further invasions of harmful non-indigenous species.

“Critical need” means necessary to prevent the imminent extinction of any native species in a wetland or body of water or to abate any imminent harmful ecological, economic or public health impact caused by such invasive aquatic species.

“Dispersal” refers to the natural or human-related spread of non-indigenous species from one water, wetland, or land area to other waters, wetlands, or land areas.

“Introduction” means the intentional or unintentional release, escape, dissemination, or placement of a species into an ecosystem as a result of human activity.

“Invasive” means, when used in reference to a species, occurring as a reproducing, self-sustaining population in an open ecosystem.

“Manage” means to prevent new harmful non-indigenous species introductions into the state; to limit the dispersal of established harmful non-indigenous species populations into uninfested land areas, wetlands, and waters of the state; and to abate harmful ecological, economic and public health impacts resulting from the introduction, dispersal, or presence of harmful non-indigenous species in the state.

“Native species” refer to any species originally living, growing, or produced in an ecosystem within its historic range.

“Non-indigenous species” means any non-native plant, animal, or other viable biological material that enters and disperses in an ecosystem beyond its native range.

“Office” means the executive office of environmental affairs.

“Prevent” means to identify and interrupt pathways by which harmful non-indigenous species can be imported, introduced, and dispersed.

“Secretary” means the secretary of the executive office of environmental affairs.

“Species” means a group of organisms all of which have a high degree of physical and genetic similarity, generally interbreed only among themselves, and show persistent differences from members of allied groups of organisms. The term “species” includes any subspecies of animal, plant, or biological material, and any distinct population segment of any species or animal, plant, or biological material which interbreeds when mature.

There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Invasive Aquatic Plants Control and Prevention Fund. Amounts credited to the fund, including any state, federal or private funds received through appropriation, gift or grant shall be expended, subject to appropriation, by the department of conservation and recreation to establish a municipal grant program consisting of an amount to be determined annually by the commissioner. The program shall support comprehensive methods of controlling harmful invasive aquatic species.

In awarding grants through regulations promulgated to implement this section, the commissioner shall consider recommendations made by the Massachusetts department of fish and game within the Office and the following criteria set forth herein to determine the total points for each grant application: the demonstrated level of harmful invasive aquatic species in any wetland or natural body of water; the demonstrated commitment to a plan or strategy, and where appropriate, a plan or strategy with more than one municipality for the control of such species, which plan or strategy specifies the applicants’ ability to prevent the introduction of such species, to detect and respond rapidly to and control populations of such species in a cost effective and environmentally sound manner, to monitor such species populations accurately and reliably, to provide for the restoration of native species and habitat conditions in ecosystems that have been invaded, to conduct research on such and to develop technologies to prevent introduction and provide for environmentally sound control of such species, and to promote public education on harmful invasive aquatic species and the means to control them. The commissioner may award up to 10 additional points to a municipality that has voted to override a local debt limit or property tax limit for the purpose of providing funds to help control harmful invasive aquatic species in the in the preceding 2 fiscal years. The commissioner may give preference to any applicant who demonstrates that the municipality or municipalities have a critical need, as defined in this section. The applicant shall demonstrate in its application that it will use chemicals to combat invasive aquatic species as a last resort.

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, grants awarded through this municipal grant program may be for up to 70 per cent of the total cost of the strategy or plan submitted by the applicant, including any planning, design, award and implementation. The total amount expended shall be determined annually by the commissioner in a manner that distributes the maximum amount available to each participating municipality.

The commissioner may use revenue set aside for the municipal grant program for any necessary administrative expenses incurred in administering said program. After distributing revenue in accordance with said program and after the commissioner has accounted for any administrative expenses, any remaining revenue shall be kept in the trust fund for distribution in the following year.

A municipality that receives a grant under this section may issue, from time to time, general obligation bonds or notes in anticipation of revenues to be received under this section. Bonds or notes so issued may be at such rates of interest as shall be necessary and shall be repaid as soon after the revenues are collected as is expedient. Municipalities that issue bonds shall make every effort to limit the administrative costs of issuing the bonds by cooperating among each other using methods including, but not limited to, common issuance of bonds or common retention of bond counsel. Bonds or notes issued pursuant to this section shall be subject to chapter 44. The maturities of bonds or notes issued under this section may be arranged so that for each issue the amounts payable in the several years for principal and interest combined shall be as nearly equal as practicable in the opinion of the officers authorized to issue bonds or notes or, in the alternative, in accordance with a schedule providing for a more rapid amortization of principal.