SENATE, No. 1191

SECTION 1.  Chapter 40B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following section:—
Section 30. There shall be established within each regional planning district created under this chapter or by special act a technical assistance center for the delivery of coordinated, comprehensive, and continuing technical services to and among local governments. Technical assistance services may be provided in any subject area within the capability of each technical assistance center that improves local government capacity, efficiency, knowledge and ability to respond to issues, opportunities, laws and requirements including but not limited to: development of smart growth or sustainable development standards and ordinances; required municipal asset inventory and management; communication systems including broadband, wireless and related facilities; emergency and incident response systems; electronic government opportunities; remote image and data collection; digital data management and archiving; geographic information systems; geo-location of infrastructure; internet and internet-related technologies; data sharing and regional backup; computer system evaluation and networking; intelligent transportation systems; statistical trends and modeling; digital recordation of accidents, fires and crime; technical specifications relating to management of the sanitary code, water supplies, air quality, storm water and natural resource area.
Said regional planning districts shall annually consult with each member city and town to ensure locally needed technical assistance services that (i) aid communities in evaluating new technologies, equipment and systems; (ii) aid communities in improving the efficiency of local government; (iii) reduce costs incurred by local governments for performing duties required thereof; (iv) build capacity and provide needed skills; (v) aid communities in meeting new state or federal regulations or requirements; (vi) provide specific services or initiate demonstration projects; (vii) facilitate sharing of information or best practices among and between communities; (viii) facilitate inter-municipal cooperation and/or cost sharing; (ix) provide training and skill development of community employees; (x) aid in improvement of local standards, procedures and regulations, and (xi) promote smart growth zoning, regulations, or standards.  Said regional planning districts shall coordinate and focus their programs to augment the services of the local technical assistance centers. A core program of with individual communities technical services shall be maintained in the fields of management and data, environment, transportation and community development. Other fields may be covered as appropriate and resources allow. Agencies of the commonwealth initiating or following through on programs or regulations requiring outreach and/or technical assistance shall first consider utilizing the local technical assistance centers while seeking the services previously enumerated and may enter directly into contracts with the regional planning agencies or their technical assistance centers as they would with any city or town. This provision shall not limit the ability of state agencies to work directly with municipalities.