SENATE, No. 457

SECTION 1. Section 22A of Chapter 55A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby deleted in its entirety and the following section is inserted in place thereof:
SECTION 22A. (a) No person may use federal, state, municipal or other public resources for the purpose of aiding, promoting, preventing, antagonizing or otherwise seeking to influence or affect the nomination or election of any person to public office or the interest of any political committee or political party.
(b) No person may use federal, state, municipal or other public resources for the purpose of aiding, promoting, preventing, antagonizing or otherwise seeking to influence or affect the vote on any question submitted to the voters unless such person has been expressly authorized by section twenty-two B of this chapter or any other general or special law to so act.
(c) Unless such expenditure is authorized by section 22B or any other general or special law, the treasurer or chief fiscal officer of the commonwealth or any subdivision thereof, which has paid, expended or contributed, or promised to give, pay, expend or contribute any money or any valuable thing or whose resources have been used for the purpose of aiding, promoting, preventing, antagonizing or otherwise seeking to influence or affect the vote on any question submitted to the voters or for the purpose of aiding, promoting, preventing, antagonizing or otherwise seeking to influence or affect the nomination or election of any person to public office or the interest of any political committee or political party shall file a report setting forth the amount or value of every gift, payment, expenditure, contribution, use of such resources or promise to give, expend, contribute or use such resources, together with the date, purpose and full name and address of the person to whom it was made.
(d) If the question is submitted on a ballot used at a city or town election, the report shall be filed with the city or town clerk.  If the question is submitted to voters of a regional school district, the report shall be filed with the clerk of each city or town in the school district.  If the question is submitted to voters of a district as provided in sections one hundred and thirteen to one hundred and nineteen, inclusive, of chapter forty-one, the report shall be filed with the clerk of the district.  All other reports shall be filed with the director.
(e) Each such report shall be filed within ten days after such gift, payment, expenditure, contribution, use of such resources or promise to give, expend, contribute or use such resource is made or such treasurer or chief fiscal officer is aware of such gift, payment, expenditure, contribution or use of such resource.  In addition, each such report shall reference the express statutory authorization, if any, for such gift, payment, expenditure, contribution, promise or use of such resource thereof and shall be signed under the pains and penalties of perjury.
(f) The supreme judicial court or superior court may compel any treasurer or chief financial officer failing to file the report required by this section or filing a report not conforming to the requirements of this section in respect to its truth, sufficiently in detail, or otherwise, to file a sufficient report, upon the application of the attorney general after referral by the director pursuant to section three of this chapter or upon application by the district attorney or by any ten registered voters of a city, town or district or by any twenty-four registered voters of the commonwealth if such question is submitted to the voters of the commonwealth.  In addition, the supreme judicial court or superior court may order restitution of any monies or fair market value of any resources paid, expended, contributed, or used by any person not authorized by section 22B or other general or special law, for the purposes set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.
(g) For the purposes of this section and section 22B the word “commonwealth” shall include any city, town, county, regional district or other subdivision of the commonwealth and any state, county, regional or other district or municipal agency, board, commission, authority or other governmental unit.
(h) Any person who knowingly violates any provision of this section or authorizes such violation and any person who knowingly aids or abets the violation of any provision of this section, shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars.

SECTION 2. Chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following section twenty-two B after section twenty-two A:
SECTION 22B. (a) As used in this section “governing body” shall mean, in a city, the city council or board of aldermen acting with the approval of the mayor subject to the provisions of the charter of said city, in a town having a town council, the town council, in every other town the board of selectmen, and in a district as provided in sections one hundred and thirteen to one hundred and nineteen, inclusive, of chapter forty-one, the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the commissioners of the district.
(b) The governing body of any city, town or district in the commonwealth adopting the provisions of this section shall print information relating to each question on the city, town or district ballot, other than a question on the ballot pursuant to section eighteen A of chapter fifty-three.  The information shall include: (1) the full text of each such question, (2) a fair and concise summary of each such question, including a one-sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote, prepared by the city solicitor, town counsel or counsel of said city, town or district, (3) arguments for and against each such question as provided in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section.  The information specified in this paragraph shall be sent to each residence of one or more voters whose name appears on the current voting list for said city, town or district no later than seven days before an election at which such a question will be submitted solely to the voters of the city, town or district.  The governing body may also print and distribute such information with respect to a question on the ballot pursuant to section eighteen A of chapter fifty-three.
(c) The governing body shall, no later than the day following the making of the determination that a question will appear on the ballot in an election, provide written notification to the city solicitor or town or district counsel and to the city or town clerk.
(d) The city, town or district solicitor or counsel shall, within seven days of a question being placed on the ballot, seek written arguments from the principal proponents and opponents of each such question.  For the purposes of this section, the principal proponents and opponents of any such question shall be those persons determined by the solicitor or counsel to be best able to present the arguments for and against such question.  The solicitor or counsel shall designate a date by which written arguments must be received, in a written notice to the principal proponents and opponents.  Said notice to the principal proponents and opponents must be issued at least seven days before the date by which the written arguments must be received.  Proponents and opponents must submit their arguments to the solicitor or counsel with a copy to the city, town or district clerk.  No argument shall contain more than one hundred and fifty words.  The arguments and summary must be submitted by the solicitor or counsel to the governing body no later than twenty days before the election for distribution to voters in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.  A copy of the arguments and summary will also be submitted by the solicitor or counsel to the city or town clerk.

(e) In determining the principal proponents and opponents of such a question, the solicitor or counsel shall contact each ballot question committee, if any, as defined in section one of chapter fifty-five of the general laws, organized specifically to influence the outcome of the vote on such question.  The principal proponents or opponents of such a question may include officers of a ballot question committee, or officers of a city, town or district officer or committee, such as a finance committee or school committee.  In addition, the principal proponents or opponents may include the first ten signers or a majority of the first ten signers of any petition initiating the placement of such question on the ballot.  The solicitor or counsel shall determine, based on a review of arguments received, the person or persons best able to present arguments for and against a question.  If no argument is received by the solicitor or counsel within the time specified by the solicitor or counsel, the solicitor or counsel shall prepare such argument and submit the argument to the governing body, and to the city or town clerk, within the time specified in paragraph (d) of this section.
(f) All arguments filed or prepared pursuant to this section, and the information prepared pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, shall be open to public inspection at the office of the city or town clerk, and if prepared by a district, the arguments and summary shall be open to public inspection at the office of the clerk of each city or town within the jurisdiction of the district.  In addition, the city, town or district clerk shall make the information printed pursuant to this section available to voters at all polling places.
(g) The provisions of this section shall apply only to cities, towns and districts which accept the same pursuant to section four of chapter four of the general laws.
SECTION 3.  This act shall take effect upon its passage.