By Mr. Wagner of Chicopee, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3678) of Joseph F. Wagner relative to regional transit authorities.  Transportation

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Joseph F. Wagner

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to regional transit authorities.

    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.  Section 5 of chapter 161B of the General Laws, as most recently amended by chapter 290 of the acts of 2006, is hereby further amended by adding at the end of the first paragraph the following 2 sentences:-  Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, each city and town shall have one equal vote for the appointment of the administrator pursuant to section 4.  In addition, the secretary of transportation or his designee shall serve as chairman and a voting member of the advisory board.

SECTION 2.  Said section 5 of said chapter 161B is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “delegation”, in line 29, the following words:- ; provided however, the advisory board shall not delegate its power of appointment of the administrator pursuant to section 4.

SECTION 3.  Section 8 of said chapter 161B is hereby amended by striking clause (h) and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

                (h) All current expenses of the authority shall be in accordance with an annual budget prepared by the administrator and submitted to the advisory board and to the secretary of transportation for his review no later than April first of each year for the ensuing fiscal year.  On or before June first the advisory board shall approve said budget as submitted or subject it to such itemized reductions therein as the advisory board shall deem appropriate.  The annual budget may be amended by the authority with approval of a supplemental budget by the advisory board; provided, that the authority shall submit to the secretary for his approval any supplemental budget approved by the advisory board which shall cause to be increased the amount of contract assistance to be paid to the authority pursuant to section 23.

SECTION 4.  There shall be a special commission to study the feasibility and benefits of reorganizing and consolidating the 15 regional transit authorities established pursuant to chapter 161 or chapter 161B.

                The commission shall have 9 members, consisting of the following: 3 members appointed by the governor, 1 of whom shall be the secretary of transportation and 1 of whom shall have expertise in public transit; 3 members appointed by the senate president, 1 of whom shall be the senate chairman of the joint committee on transportation; and 3 members appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, 1 of whom shall be the house chairman of the joint committee on transportation.

                The commission shall submit its final report, including legislative recommendations, if any, to the executive office of transportation, the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on transportation no later than December 31, 2007.