By Mr. Patrick of Falmouth, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1978) of Matthew C. Patrick and others for legislation to establish a trust fund administered by the Department of Public Health for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Municipalities and Regional Government.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Matthew C. Patrick

Kay Khan

Pamela P. Resor

Susan C. Fargo

Kathi-Anne Reinstein

Jennifer L. Flanagan

Barbara A. L'Italien

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to preventing domestic violence and assualt .

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

   SECTION 1. Chapter 10 of the General Laws, 2000 Official Edition, shall be amended by inserting after section 35W the following:-

“Section 35X. (a)  There shall be established upon the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Trust Fund for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.  There shall be credited to such fund all revenues received by the commonwealth surcharges imposed by Section 2 of this act; from speaking fees as described in Section 3 of this act; from appropriations; from gifts, grants, contributions and bequests of funds from any department, agency or subdivision of federal, state or municipal government, and any individual foundation, corporation, association or public authority; revenue derived from the investment of amounts credited to the fund; and any federal funds made available.

(b)           Amounts credited to the fund shall be available for expenditure by the Department of Public Health without further appropriation, through a competitive grant process.  Successful grants shall provide sexual assault and domestic violence prevention programs including advertisements and other publications, focused on reducing the long term effects and incidences of sexual assault and domestic violence including teen dating violence.

(c)           The Department of Public Health shall establish and chair an advisory board for the purpose of establishing priorities for the distribution of the funds.  The members of this advisory board shall include, but not be limited to, one representative from each of the following entities; The Department of Education, the Executive Office of Public Safety, the Attorney General’s Office, the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance, the Disabled Persons’ Protection Commission, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Transitional Assistance and Jane Doe Inc.

(d)           The Department of Public Health may expend from the fund such amounts as are necessary for the Department to administer the Fund and shall annually submit a report to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means detailing the collections and disbursements of the fund.

   SECTION 2. Chapter 262 of the General Laws, 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended in section 34 by striking in line 78 the words “four dollars” and inserting in place the following: - “Twenty-four dollars, of which twenty dollars shall be deposited in the Trust Fund for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence”

   SECTION 3. Not withstanding any general or special law to contrary, state employees may request that honorariums offered for training and speaking engagements on subjects related to sexual violence or domestic violence be sent to the Treasurer for deposit in the Trust Fund for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.