SENATE, No. 2454

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE COMMONWEALTH LUNG CANCER EARLY DETECTION AND TREATMENT RESEARCH FUND

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 is hereby amended by inserting after section 35EE the following section:-

The state treasurer shall receive and deposit, in accordance with state law, all monies credited to the trust fund in financial institutions as to provide the highest interest rate consistent with the safety of the monies so deposited and to allow the immediate withdrawal of such monies without penalty.  All accrued investment income shall be credited to the trust fund.

Amounts credited to the trust fund shall be made available, without appropriation, to the department of public health solely for the following purposes:

(1)        To establish screening programs within a high risk population for the early detection of lung cancer through the use of computed tomography (CT) scanning based on the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) or other methods and practices that may be established by the commissioner of the department of public health, hereinafter referred to as the “commissioner”, provided that: (i) at least 25 per cent of all individuals screened under the program shall be from racial or ethnic minority populations; and (ii) at least 50 per cent of all individuals screened under the program shall have a family income that does not exceed 150 per cent of federal poverty guidelines; and (iii)  the cost for program screening or diagnostic services shall not be assessed to an individual that has a family income that does not exceed 150 per cent of the federal poverty income guidelines; and (iv) only licensed hospitals or other licensed medical facilities in the commonwealth shall provide program screening or diagnostic medical services to participating individuals; and (v) adequate counsel and referral to the medical treatment shall be provided to participating individuals with detected lung cancers.

(2) To promote the development of early detection diagnostic tools and screening

       technologies for lung cancer.

(3) To promote the development of chemoprevention and targeted therapies for lung

       cancer.

(4) To support research into the disparities in lung cancer incidence and mortality rates.

(5)  To support research to discover a cure for lung cancer.

Expenditure of trust fund monies shall be at the discretion of the commissioner who shall be authorized to administer the monies only for the purposes of this section; provided that, in a fiscal year no greater than 3 ½ per cent of the amounts credited to the trust fund, inclusive of any costs to be recovered for such period under section 5D of chapter 29, may be expended during such fiscal year for the administration of the trust fund; and provided further, any other expenditures from the trust fund shall be made only to public, quasi-public, or non-public: (i) hospitals, clinics, clinical laboratories and other medical facilities licensed by the department of public health, and (ii) universities, colleges and medical schools authorized to confer degrees that are located in the commonwealth.  No expenditure or obligation for expenditure from the trust fund shall be made to cause the trust fund to become deficient at any time during a fiscal year.

To encourage recipients to seek additional funding from other sources, any expenditure to a recipient from the trust fund shall be made as a matching grant unless such requirement is waived or modified by the commissioner.

There shall be an advisory committee that shall make recommendations to the commissioner about the expenditure of trust fund monies. The committee shall be comprised of the commissioner or his representative, who shall serve as the chairman and 8 voluntary and uncompensated members, 1  representative from each of the following organizations: the Lung Cancer Alliance, Massachusetts chapter; the Massachusetts Medical Society; the Massachusetts Hospital Association; the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers; the Oncology Nursing Society; the American Cancer Society, Massachusetts chapter; the American Lung Association; and the Massachusetts Public Health Association. The commissioner may fill any member vacancies to the committee.  A member or his representative, who is not otherwise a state employee, shall not be in violation of sections 4 and 6 of chapter 268A with respect to a particular matter before the committee, where such member or representative, his immediate family or partner has a financial interest or other conflict as proscribed by said sections provided, such member or representative, acting on behalf of the member or himself, first discloses such interest or other conflict to the chairman, and provided further, the chairman approves before his further participation on such matter. Any such disclosure and approval shall be recorded in the minutes of the committee meeting.

To further increase funding to accomplish the purposes of this section, the commissioner shall be authorized to apply to the federal government for any grants, reimbursements and other funding available to the department of public health that is specifically related to such stated purposes.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, all federal monies received shall be deposited into the General Federal Grants Fund in accordance with section 2C of chapter 29. The application for, and receipt and expenditure of, such monies shall be subject to section 6B of chapter 29; except, expenditure of such monies in the fiscal year such monies are received shall not require further appropriation by the general court and no costs other than for fringe benefits may be charged pursuant to subsection (f) of said section. Consistent with federal law and regulations, the commissioner shall be authorized to expend any available federal monies for the purposes that such funding was received.            

By the first Wednesday in November of each year, the commissioner shall prepare and submit to the secretary of administration and finance and to the chairmen of the joint committee of public health, a complete report for the period of the prior fiscal year of: (i) the financial condition of the trust fund with a list of the receipts, income and expenditures from the trust fund including the disposition of monies for each program, research study funded and the purpose and amount of administrative expenditures; (ii) a summary of federal grants, reimbursements or other funding related to the purposes of this section that was received, expended or application made for during such period; and (iii) a summary of the outcomes and findings reported to the department of public health as a result of  programs and research studies funded by the trust fund or from expenditure of federal monies as related to the purposes of this section.

The commissioner may make agreements with others, and may enact regulations to establish standards, procedures and guidelines related to the expenditure of monies under this section.

SECTION 2. Section 7C of chapter 64C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (c) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 28, all revenues received pursuant to this section, together with any penalties, forfeitures, interests, and costs of suits and fines connected therewith, less all amounts refunded or abated in connection therewith, as determined by the commissioner of revenue according to his best information and belief, shall be credited as follows:

(1)        An amount equal to 10 million dollars for which an excise and other monies have been collected under this section and not refunded or abated, during each fiscal year, shall first be credited to the Commonwealth Lung Cancer Early Detection and Treatment Research Trust Fund established pursuant to section 35FF of chapter 10.  Except, in the fiscal year of the establishment of the fund, the amount to be first credited under this clause shall equal 3 million dollars for which an excise and other monies have been collected and not refunded or abated and, in the next following fiscal year, shall equal 6 million dollars for which an excise and other monies have been collected and not refunded or abated.

(2)        The remaining funds, after first crediting the amounts required under clause (1), shall be credited to the General Fund.