PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. Chapter 34B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by deleting sections 1 and 2 and inserting in place thereof the following sections:-

Section 1. The government of each of the following counties, in this chapter called an “abolished county” is hereby abolished as of the following date, in this chapter called the “transfer date”, or on such earlier date 30 days after the commissioner of revenue certifies in writing that the county has failed to make a required payment on an outstanding bond or note: (a) Middlesex county, as of July 11, 1997; (b) Hampden and Worcester counties, as of July 1, 1998; (c) Hampshire county, as of January 1, 1999; provided, however, that all functions, duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of the jail, house of correction and registry of deeds of Hampshire county and all duties and responsibilities for operation and management of property occupied primarily by the sheriff, registry of deeds and the trial courts in Hampshire county are hereby transferred to the commonwealth, effective September 1, 1998, subject to the provisions of this chapter; (d) Essex county as of July 1, 1999; (e) Berkshire county on July 1, 2000, but all functions, duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of the registries of deeds of Suffolk and Berkshire counties and all duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of property occupied primarily by the registries of deeds in Berkshire and Suffolk counties are hereby transferred to the commonwealth, effective on July 1, 1999, subject to the provisions of this chapter; and (f) Suffolk county as of July 1, 2007.

Section 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the government of each abolished county, except the office of county treasurer and county auditor for Suffolk county and the office of county treasurer for all other abolished counties, is hereby abolished as of the transfer date for all purposes, including, but not limited to, the purposes established pursuant to chapters 34, 34A, 35 and 36 or as otherwise authorized by this chapter. The office of county auditor and county treasurer for Suffolk county shall expire on December 31, 2008 and the office of county treasurer for all other abolished counties shall expire on December 31, 2002. Nothing in this chapter shall affect the existing county boundaries.

SECTION 2. Chapter 34B of the General Laws, as so appearing, is further amended by inserting at the end of section 18 the following:-

“Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and of section 8 to the contrary, the employees and retirees and inactives of the Suffolk county sheriff's department and its predecessors shall be transferred to the state retirement system, and said system shall be responsible for all liability attributable to the service of such employees, retirees and inactives. The total amount of the transfer assets for this particular transaction shall be determined by dividing the state-boston retirement system's total market value of assets by its total actuarial accrued liability determined under the entry age normal funding method as of the prior January 1^st and applying the resulting percentage to the actuarial accrued liability of the Suffolk county sheriff's department and its predecessors' employees and retirees and inactives as calculated on the same date. This transfer of assets shall relieve the state-boston retirement system of all liability for the Suffolk county sheriff's department and its predecessors' employees and retirees and inactives.”