SECTION 151. Section 5 of chapter 268 of the acts of 1990 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 152. The last paragraph of paragraph (d) of section 8 of chapter 372 of the acts of 1984, added by chapter 261 of the acts of 1991, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 4, the words "ten thousand dollars" and inserting in place thereof the following:- $30,000.
SECTION 153. Chapter 490 of the acts of 1993 is hereby amended by striking out section 9, as most recently amended by section 3 of chapter 451 of acts of 1996, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 9. Subsection (c) of section 142M of chapter 111 of the General Laws, added by section 6 of this act, shall take effect on January 1, 1998. Section 8 shall take effect on December 31, 1997.
SECTION 154. Item 2260-8870 of section 2 of chapter 60 of the acts of 1994 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 11 and 12, the words "said one hundred ten thousand dollars over a period of not more than five years" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- said $110,000 over a period of not more than ten years.
SECTION 155. The first sentence of subsection (f) of said section 110 of chapter 5 of the acts of 1995 is hereby amended by inserting after the word "commissioner", in line 5, the following words:- ; provided, however, that any former recipient, whether or not he has received assistance for the 24 month period, who is employed and who meets the financial eligibility requirements established by the department in regulations, shall be eligible to receive transitional child care services for a period of one year following termination of benefits provided pursuant to this section.
SECTION 156. The second paragraph of subsection (j) of said section 110 of said chapter 5 is hereby further amended by striking out the second sentence, as amended by section 523 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996, and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- The department shall make payments for child care services to families in which a parent or parents or other grantee relative is working and needs child care services in order to work or needs child care in order to participate in any of the education, training or community service activities approved pursuant to subsection (h) or (k) or this subsection.
SECTION 157. Paragraph (14) of subsection (l) of said section 110 of said chapter 5 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 8 and 9, the words "until December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six".
SECTION 158. The fourth paragraph of section 309 of chapter 38 of the acts of 1995 is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Departments receiving allocations pursuant to said item 1599-0033 and this section may expend such funds without appropriation after obtaining the written approval of said secretary or his designee of a plan detailing said proposed expenditures and filing said approved plan with the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided, however that said secretary may approve a spending plan which authorizes a department to expend its revenue maximization allocation by means of an interagency service agreement with another state entity, and which otherwise meets the requirements of this section.
SECTION 158A. Section 341 of said chapter 38 is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Said commission shall report its recommendations to the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate on or before June 30, 1998.
SECTION 159. Section 86 of chapter 120 of the acts of 1995, as amended by section 63 of chapter 204 of the acts of 1996, is hereby further amended by inserting after the third sentence the following sentence:- Said special commission is hereby authorized to grant from the amount appropriated for its use a sum not to exceed $25,000 to repair ancient monuments at the site of Burial hill in the town of Plymouth.
SECTION 160. Item 0699-0090 of section 2 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996 is hereby amended by striking out the figure "271,379,000" and inserting in place thereof the figure:- 294,379,000.
SECTION 161. The third sentence of the second paragraph of section 564 of said chapter 151 is hereby amended by striking out the words "The regulations shall be effective as of April first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, or such time as the collective bargaining representatives of the commonwealth and of the social workers employed by the department have bargained to agreement or to an impasse as determined by the board of conciliation and arbitration pursuant to section nine of chapter one hundred and fifty E of the General Laws over the impact of such regulations" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- The regulations shall be effective on, and shall apply to all social workers hired on or after, January 1, 1998, or such earlier time as the collective bargaining representatives of the commonwealth and of the social workers employed by the department have bargained to agreement or impasse, as determined by the board of conciliation and arbitration pursuant to section 9 of chapter 150E of the General Laws, over the impact of such regulations.
SECTION 162. The fourth sentence of said second paragraph of said section 564 of said chapter 151 is hereby further amended by striking out the words "nineteen hundred and ninety-seven and nineteen hundred and ninety-eight" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- 1998 and 1999.
SECTION 163. Section 75 of chapter 204 of the acts of 1996 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 164. Chapter 353 of the acts of 1996 is hereby amended by inserting after section 9 the following section:-
Section 9A. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, an expired determination of need authorization for a long-term care project granted pursuant to section 25C of chapter 111 of the General Laws, within a 25 mile radius of the town of Belchertown shall be transferred by the department of public health to the corporation and shall be implemented within a period to be specified by said department.
SECTION 165. The last paragraph of section 64 of chapter 365 of the acts of 1996 is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- Effective July 1, 1997, the workplace modernization corporation known as the Bay State Skills Corporation/Industrial Services Program shall be known as the Corporation for Business, Work, and Learning; provided, however, that the primary mission of said corporation shall be to serve the needs of working and job-seeking residents of the commonwealth.
SECTION 166. Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 7 of the General Laws or chapter 15A of the General Laws to the contrary, any public institution of higher education, as defined in chapter 15A of the General Laws, any community college or community college affiliate as defined in section 10 of chapter 15A of the General Laws and any other college, university or institution of higher education, public or private, located within the commonwealth of Massachusetts shall hereby authorized and empowered to enter, in its own name, into long-term leases not exceeding 30 years for space in any educational facility or center for educational facilities owned by any public or quasi-public agency, entity or educational foundation constructed on that parcel of land owned by the county of Plymouth located at Obery Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
SECTION 167. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 30 of chapter 29 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the division of energy resources is hereby authorized to procure, in accordance with all applicable procurement and solicitation laws, comprehensive motor vehicle insurance coverage for electric vehicles purchased for use in the commonwealth's electric vehicle demonstration program; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed so as to require any additional state appropriated funds for the division of energy resources; and provided further, that such coverage may continue or be renewed until the conclusion of said electric vehicle demonstration program.
SECTION 168. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 17 of chapter 44 of the General Laws, the officers of a city, town or regional school district authorized to issue bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness for a school construction project, for which it has received notice that it has filed a complete school building assistance application with the department of education and that the project has been placed by the department on the school building assistance priority list, may refund, by the issuance of refunding notes, a temporary loan issued in anticipation of money to be derived from the sale of such bonds, notes or certificates; provided, however, that the period from the date of issue of the original temporary loan to the final maturity of any such refunding notes shall not exceed five years and; provided further, that such refunding notes need not be paid in part from revenue funds of the city, town or regional school district until the end of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the board of education approves the project for a school construction grant pursuant to the provisions of chapter 645 of the acts of 1948 or any successor school construction grant statute. The time within which the serial bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness issued to pay refunding temporary notes issued hereunder must be due and payable shall be extended by the period from the date of the original temporary loan to (a) the date of issue of such serial bonds, notes or certificates or (b) the end of the fiscal year in which the board of education approves the project for a school construction grant, whichever date is earlier.
SECTION 169. Notwithstanding the definition of "Net school spending" in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, for the purpose of calculating the minimum required local contribution for fiscal year 1998, pursuant to said chapter 70, the department of education shall consider health care costs for retired teachers to be part of net school spending for any town in which health care costs for retired teachers were considered to be part of net school spending in fiscal year 1994. The department shall not consider health care costs for retired teachers to be part of net school spending for any district in which such costs were not considered part of net school spending in fiscal year 1994. If there is any conflict between the provisions of this section and the distributions listed in section 3, the provisions of said section 3 shall control.
SECTION 170. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 31 of chapter 81 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the portion of the Highway Fund allocated for reimbursements to cities and towns for costs actually incurred in constructing, maintaining and policing city or town streets or roads, as appropriated in item 6005-0017 of section 2, shall be distributed in fiscal year 1998 in the same proportion as the fiscal year 1997 distribution of said Highway Fund reimbursements.
SECTION 171. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6 of chapter 211D of the General Laws, the committee for public counsel services is hereby authorized and directed to continue a pilot program serving Essex and Hampden counties utilizing attorneys of its public counsel division to represent indigent persons entitled to be represented in children-family law cases, so called, including but not limited to, care and protection cases pursuant to chapter 119 of the General Laws, child in need of services cases pursuant to section 39E of chapter 119 of the General Laws, actions to dispense with parental consent for adoption pursuant to chapter 210 of the General Laws, and guardianship of minor petitions pursuant to chapter 201 of the General Laws. Said committee for public counsel services shall file with the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before January 15, 1998, a report detailing the results of said pilot program including cost, quality, and accountability of the provision of counsel through such above authorized pilot program, as compared to contracting out such cases to private counsel through request for proposal procedures and as compared to individual assignments of such cases to certified private counsel of the private counsel division of the committee for public counsel services; provided, that said pilot program shall be limited to the period of July 1, 1996 to June 30, 1998; and, provided further, that said report may be filed in lieu of the report that is otherwise required to be filed on or before September 15, 1997.
SECTION 172. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 12 of chapter 490 of the acts of 1980, the division of housing and community development may authorize neighborhood housing services corporations to retain and reloan funds received in repayment of loans made pursuant to the neighborhood housing services rehabilitation program.
THERE IS NO SECTION 173.
SECTION 174. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the department of housing and community development is hereby authorized to conduct annual verifications of household income levels based upon state tax returns for the purposes of administering the state and federal housing subsidy programs funded in items 7004-9005, 7004-9024, 7004-9011, 7004-9013, 7004-9014, 7004-9019, 7004 -9020 and 7004-0099 in section 2; provided, that as a condition of eligibility or continued occupancy by an applicant or a tenant said department may require disclosure of social security numbers by an applicant or tenant and members of the applicant's or tenant's household for use in verification of income eligibility. Said department is hereby further authorized to consult with the department of revenue, the department of transitional assistance, and any other state or federal agency which it deems necessary to conduct such income verification; provided, that notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, said state agencies are hereby authorized and directed to consult and cooperate with said department and to furnish any and all information in the possession of said agencies including, but not limited to, tax returns and applications for public assistance or financial aid. For the purposes of conducting such income verification, the director of the department of housing and community development is hereby authorized to enter into an interdepartmental agreement with the commissioner of revenue to utilize the department of revenue's wage reporting and bank match system for the purpose of verifying the income and eligibility of participants in such federally assisted housing programs and members of the participants' households.
SECTION 175. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the metropolitan district commission is hereby authorized and directed to ensure that the sponsor of any concert or other event held at the Hatch Shell, so-called, in the city of Boston:
(1) shall provide for the number of detailed police officers to be present on the Hatch Shell site and adjacent property of said commission which is deemed necessary by the colonel of the state police or his designee to assure safety, security and the orderly flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic; and
(2) shall provide for the number of detailed police officers to be present on the streets adjacent to said Hatch Shell site, under the care and control of the city of Boston which is deemed necessary by the police commissioner of said city or his designee to assure safety, security and the orderly flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any concert or other event held at the Hatch Shell which is sponsored or co-sponsored by the commonwealth or the metropolitan district commission.
SECTION 176. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the metropolitan district commission is hereby authorized and directed not to issue permits for the use of properties under the control of the metropolitan district commission parks and recreation department pursuant to item 2440-0010 of section 2 including, but not limited to, the Hatch Shell, so-called, or allow the holding of concerts or any other events to any person who owes money for police, security, cleanup or other services to said commission, or any other state or municipal agency for any previous concert or event held at said Hatch Shell.
SECTION 177. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Natural Resource Damages Trust Fund to be expended by the executive office of environmental affairs. Said fund shall be expendable without further appropriation for the purpose of funding natural resource restoration, replacement or acquisition of equivalent natural resources, and other actions related thereto including but not limited to natural resource damage assessment, natural resource damage recovery, and, if necessary, the costs of personnel and administration of studies or related activities, conducted pursuant to the secretary's authority as trustee for natural resources of the commonwealth pursuant to section 5 of chapter 21E of the General Laws, sections 23 to 27, inclusive, of chapter 130 of the General Laws, section 42 of chapter 131 of the General Laws, 42 USC Section 1907(f), 33 USC Section 1321, 33 USC Section 2706 or any other relevant and appropriate authority.
SECTION 178. It is the sense of the general court that the appropriation for item 0611-5510 reimbursements to cities and towns in lieu of taxes on state-owned land pursuant to sections 13 to 17, inclusive, of chapter 58 of the General Laws shall be increased by 20 per cent in the current fiscal year and the next four fiscal years so that the gap between the current year's proposed appropriation and full funding of said item will be closed in fiscal year 2002.
SECTION 179. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law or contract to the contrary, if the capital costs incurred under any of the previous department of mental health replacement units contracts, so-called, with Berkshire Medical Center in the city of Pittsfield; Cambridge hospital in the city of Cambridge; New England Deaconess hospital in the city of Boston; or Providence hospital in the city of Holyoke, are not negotiated and paid pursuant to the terms of the interdepartmental service agreement for the joint purchase of certain mental health services between the department of mental health and the division of medical assistance, then the department of mental health is authorized to negotiate and pay capital costs to the entity directly. Any payment made by the department of mental health pursuant to this section, or by the division of medical assistance or its contractor pursuant to the terms of the interdepartmental service agreement, shall be subject to the following: (i) if the entity sells or otherwise transfers a capital asset associated with the replacement unit contract and the asset will not be used by the transferee for similar or like public purposes, then the entity must pay to the commonwealth an amount equal to the gain, if any, attributable to any accelerated depreciation costs paid by the department of mental health or (ii) if the entity ceases to use any capital asset associated with the replacement unit contract for such public or similar public purposes for any other reason attributable to the entity, then the entity must repay to the commonwealth the accelerated depreciation costs paid by the department of mental health.
SECTION 180. There is hereby established on the books of the commonwealth a fund to be known as the Asbestos Cost Recovery Fund. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, all sums awarded or received by the commonwealth, after the payment of fees and expenses, as a result of settlement, trial or judgment in the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Owens Corning Fiberglass, et. al., Suffolk Superior Court No. 90-3791-A, or received as payments by the commonwealth on account of the bankruptcy of any manufacturer, seller or distributor of asbestos containing materials in any building that the commonwealth owns, operates or has a property interest in shall be segregated and held in such trust. The division of capital planning and operations shall develop a plan for the orderly expenditure of such sums as are received by the Asbestos Cost Recovery Fund for the purposes of operations and maintenance, encapsulation and removal of asbestos. The plan, which shall be subject to revision as necessary, shall contain provisions for emergencies, the short term and long term control of asbestos in buildings owned or operated by the commonwealth, and the removal and disposition of asbestos containing materials in such buildings. Any funds deposited in said fund shall not revert to the General Fund, but shall remain available for the purposes provided herein. Any funds deposited as described above may be expended by the division of capital planning and operations, subject to appropriation, consistent with the purposes of this section.
SECTION 181. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with private vendors to identify and pursue cost avoidance opportunities for programs of the commonwealth and to enter into interagency service agreements with state agencies, as applicable, for said purpose; provided, however, that payments to private vendors on account of said projects shall be made from actual cost savings as certified in writing to the house and senate committees on ways and means by the comptroller and the state budget director that are attributable to such cost avoidance projects; provided further, that the comptroller may establish procedures in consultation with the state budget director and the affected departments as he deems appropriate and necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section; and provided further, that nothing herein shall be construed so as to allow the comptroller or the state budget director to establish any accounts without prior statutory approval. The state budget director shall report on a quarterly basis to the house and senate committees on ways and means the status of all cost avoidance opportunities which are undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this section. The comptroller shall report on said projects as a part of his annual report under section 12 of chapter 7A of the General Laws.
SECTION 182. (a) Upon the request of the selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city or the mayor in any other city, the department of revenue may recalculate the minimum required local contributions, as defined in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1998. Based on the criteria outlined in this section, the department shall recalculate the minimum required local contributions for a municipality's local and regional schools and certify the amounts calculated to the department of education.
(b) Any city or town that used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year which will not be available for use in the next year, or that will be required to use revenues for extraordinary nonschool related expenses for which it did not have to use revenues in the preceding fiscal year, or that has an excessive certified municipal revenue growth factor which is also greater than or equal to one and one-half times the state average municipal revenue growth factor, may appeal to the department of revenue not later than October 1, 1997 for an adjustment of its minimum required local contribution and net school spending.
(c) If the claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue may reduce proportionately the minimum required local contribution amount based on the amount of shortfall in revenue or based on the amount of increase in extraordinary expenditures in the current fiscal year, but no adjustment to the minimum required local contribution on account of an extraordinary expense raised in the budget of the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1998, shall affect the calculation of the minimum required local contribution in subsequent fiscal years. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include, but not be limited to, extraordinary amounts of free cash, overlay surplus and other available funds.
(d) If, upon submission of adequate documentation, the department of revenue determines that the municipality's claim regarding an excessive municipal revenue growth factor is valid, said department shall recalculate said municipal revenue growth factor and the department of education shall use this revised growth factor to calculate preliminary local contribution, minimum required local contribution and any other factor that directly or indirectly uses the municipal revenue growth factor. Any relief granted as a result of an excessive municipal revenue growth factor shall be a permanent reduction in minimum required local contribution.
(e) Upon the request of the selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city, or the mayor in any other city, in a majority of the member municipalities, any regional school district which used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year that will not be available for use in the next fiscal year shall appeal to the department of revenue not later than October 1, 1997, for an adjustment to its net school spending requirement. If the claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue shall reduce the net spending requirement based on the amount of the shortfall in revenue and reduce the minimum required local contribution of member municipalities accordingly. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include but not be limited to extraordinary amounts of excess and deficiency, surplus, and uncommitted reserves.
(f) Any regional school district which received regional school incentive aid in fiscal year 1995 shall, upon the request of the selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city, or the mayor in any other city, in a majority of the member municipalities, appeal to the department of education for an adjustment in the minimum required local contribution of its member municipalities. The department of education may reduce the increased assessment of the member municipalities as a result of the reorganization of the regional school district by using a portion of the regional incentive aid to reduce the prior year local contribution.
(g) If the regional school budget has already been adopted by two-thirds of the member municipalities, then upon a majority vote of the member municipalities the regional school committee shall adjust the assessments of the member municipalities in accordance with the reduction in minimum required local contributions approved by the department of revenue or the department of education in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (14) of section 3 of chapter 214 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the amounts so determined shall be deemed to be the minimum required local contribution described in said chapter 70; provided, that the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education, arts and humanities shall be notified by the department of revenue and the department of education of the amount of any reduction in the minimum required local contribution amount.
(i) In the event that a city or town has an approved budget that exceeds the recalculated minimum required local contribution and net school spending amounts for its local school system or its recalculated minimum required local contribution to its regional school districts as provided by this section, the local appropriating authority shall determine the extent to which the community avails itself of any relief authorized under this section.
(j) The amount of financial assistance due from the commonwealth in fiscal year 1998 under said chapter 70 or any other provision of law shall not be changed on account of any redetermination of the required minimum local contribution under this section. The department of revenue and the department of education shall issue guidelines for their respective duties under this section.
SECTION 183. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, if the secretary of the executive office of elder affairs, after consultation with the secretary of administration and finance, determines on or before July 1, 1997, that based upon enrollment as of such date, projected spending for senior pharmacy assistance benefits pursuant to section 16B of chapter 118E of the General Laws for fiscal year 1998 shall not exceed $25,000,000, the division of medical assistance and the executive office of elder affairs shall:
(1) allow eligible persons whose annual income does not exceed 150 per cent of the federal poverty level to enroll in said senior pharmacy assistance program for fiscal year 1998; and
(2) extend the enrollment period for such program until August 31, 1997.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, said division and said executive office shall not approve applications which would cause program expenditures to exceed amounts appropriated therefor.
SECTION 184. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, no city, town or regional school district shall receive less than $75 per student under the provisions of chapter 70 of the General Laws for fiscal year 1998.
SECTION 185. The workers' compensation unit within the executive office of administration and finance, including investigators and the litigation unit, is hereby transferred to the human resources division. All employees of said unit are hereby transferred to the human resources division without loss of any rights or benefits. The records and property of said unit are hereby transferred to the ownership and control of the human resources division. All unexpended funds of said unit on the effective date of this act are transferred to the account of the human resources division for the use of said unit.
SECTION 186. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the state treasurer is hereby authorized to pay for items under section 38C of chapter 29 of the General Laws from items 0699-0015 and 0699-9100; provided, however, that such payments shall pertain to the bonds, notes or other obligations authorized to be paid from each item.
SECTION 187. The departments of mental retardation, public health, and education are hereby authorized and directed to continue the three regional pilot projects to develop networks of support for families with children of school age or younger with developmental disabilities or chronic illness, as authorized in section 235 of chapter 38 of the acts of 1995.
SECTION 188. The executive office of elder affairs is hereby authorized and directed to obligate not less than $125,000 for the Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services for case management services for fiscal year 1998.
SECTION 189. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the department of mental health, the department of public health, the division of medical assistance, hereinafter referred to as the division, and the division of health care finance and policy are authorized and directed to take any appropriate action to obtain the maximum amount of federal financial participation available for amounts paid for low income care costs at those mental health and public health facilities determined to be disproportionate share hospitals in accordance with requirements of Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Said appropriate action may include, but shall not be limited to, the establishment of a separate account within the Uncompensated Care Trust Fund, established by section 18 of chapter 118G of the General Laws, for the purpose of making disproportionate share adjustment payments to such qualifying mental health and public health facilities pursuant to relevant division of health care finance and policy regulations and the related Title XIX state plan amendment submitted by the division to the health care financing administration. The division of medical assistance, the department of public health, or the department of mental health may expend amounts transferred to it from said separate account within the Uncompensated Care Trust Fund without further appropriation. Any federal funds obtained as a result of actions taken pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the General Fund. The offices of the state treasurer and the comptroller shall establish such procedures as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose of this section, including procedures for the proper accounting and expenditure of funds pursuant to this section.
SECTION 190. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the division of medical assistance, hereinafter referred to as the division, and the division of health care finance and policy are authorized and directed to take any appropriate action to obtain the maximum amount of federal financial participation available for amounts paid to hospitals, determined by the division to be disproportionate share hospitals in accordance with Title XIX requirements, for free care costs of such hospitals. Said appropriate action may include, but shall not be limited to, the assessment on hospitals for their liability to the uncompensated care pool pursuant to chapter 118G of the General Laws. Said appropriate action shall include the establishment or renewal of an interagency agreement between the division and the division of health care finance and policy which may authorize the division to make deposits into and payments from an account established for the purposes of this section within the Uncompensated Care Trust Fund, established by section 18 of said chapter 118G or authorize the division of health care finance and policy to transfer uncompensated care fee revenue collected from hospitals pursuant to said chapter 118G or funds otherwise made available to said trust fund by the general court, to the division for purposes of making disproportionate share adjustment payments to hospitals qualifying for such payments in accordance with the commonwealth's Title XIX state plan and relevant provisions of Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act. The division may expend amounts transferred to it from the Uncompensated Care Trust Fund by the division of health care finance and policy under said interagency agreement without further appropriation. In no event shall the amount of money assessed upon each hospital exceed the hospital's gross liability to the uncompensated care pool as determined by the division of health care finance and policy pursuant to said section 18 of said chapter 118G. Any federal funds obtained as a result of actions pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the General Fund. The offices of the state treasurer and the comptroller shall establish such procedures as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose of this section, including procedures to facilitate the expeditious assessment, collection and expenditure of funds pursuant to this section.
SECTION 191. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is hereby authorized and directed to continue the current emergency water agreement, its requirements and obligations, as entered into with the Tri-Town Board of Water, created by chapter 217 of the acts of 1885 until October 1, 1999.
SECTION 192. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of the division of capital planning and operations is hereby authorized and directed, in consultation with the administrative office of the trial court department, to establish and implement on or before August 1, 1997 expedited procedures for advertising, bidding, approving and executing the 15-year leases for the juvenile courts that have been authorized by the asset management board. On or before August 1, 1997, said commissioner, in consultation with said administrative office, shall file a report with the inspector general, the joint committee on the judiciary and the house and senate committees on ways and means describing the expedited procedures that have been established and implemented.
SECTION 193. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the state comptroller is hereby authorized to transfer from the following items in section two of this act such amounts as would otherwise be unexpended on June 30, 1998, to those of the following said items which would otherwise have insufficient amounts to meet debt service payments for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1998; provided, however, that each amount transferred shall be charged to such funds as specified in the item to which said amount is so transferred: 0699-0015, 0699-0090, 0699-0100 and 0699-9100.
SECTION 194. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of administration and finance is hereby authorized and directed to charge agencies as hereinafter provided for workers' compensation costs, including administrative costs, incurred on behalf of the employees of said agencies. The personnel administrator or his designee shall notify agencies within ten days of the enactment of this act as to the change in calculation of workers' compensation chargebacks from fiscal year 1997. The personnel administrator shall notify agencies not later than 14 days after the effective date of this act as to the amount of their estimated workers' compensation costs for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1997, and shall require all agencies to encumber funds in an amount sufficient to meet the estimated annual charges. The estimated workers' compensation costs for each agency shall be not less than the amount of the actual workers' compensation costs incurred by said agency during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997, and may include such additional sums as are deemed necessary by regulations promulgated pursuant to this section. Said personnel administrator shall revise the estimated workers' compensation costs for each agency on the first day of each quarter of the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1997. Within 30 days after the effective date of this act, for any agency that fails to encumber funds sufficient to meet the annual estimated charges, the comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to encumber funds in an amount sufficient to meet the annual estimated charges on behalf of such agency. Costs to agencies for benefits paid on behalf of their employees shall be allocated as actual expenditures are made. Administrative expenses shall be allocated to agencies based on each agency's per cent of total benefits paid in the prior fiscal year. The comptroller shall charge each agency's workers' compensation costs to the agency's appropriation amount and shall transfer said amount to item 1750-0105 in section 2B of this act for the purposes of workers' compensation paid with respect to public employees for any costs, including administrative costs, incurred during the fiscal year. The human resources division may expend an amount collected for all agencies under this section not to exceed $45,709,392 for hospital, physician, benefits and other costs, including administrative and personnel costs, without further appropriation. Not later than 14 days after the effective date of this act and on the first day of each succeeding quarter during the fiscal year, the division shall bill agencies for 25 percent of said agency's annual estimated workers' compensation costs. Each agency shall be credited or billed for any differences between the previous quarter's estimated costs and actual costs incurred by said agency. The personnel administrator is authorized to establish regulations and procedures to implement the provisions of this section.
SECTION 195. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to transfer, without further appropriation, $91,874,223 from the Transitional Aid to Needy Families Fund to the Child Care Fund, not later than June 30, 1998.
SECTION 196. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to transfer, without further appropriation, $45,937,112 from the Transitional Aid to Needy Families Fund to the Social Services Program Fund, or to said Social Services Program Fund via the Child Care Fund if so required by federal law, not later than June 30, 1998.
SECTION 197. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, in order to meet the estimated costs of employee fringe benefits provided by the commonwealth on account of employees of the Massachusetts State College Building Authority and the University of Massachusetts Building Authority, and in order to meet the estimated cost of heat, light, power and other services, if any, to be furnished by the commonwealth to projects of the Massachusetts State College Building Authority, the boards of trustees of the state colleges and the University of Massachusetts shall transfer to the General Fund from the funds received from the operation of said projects such costs, if any, as shall be incurred by the commonwealth for the aforesaid purposes in the current fiscal year, as determined by the appropriate building authority, verified by the chancellor of higher education, and approved by the secretary of administration and finance.
SECTION 198. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the criminal justice training council is hereby authorized and directed to charge $1,800per recruit for training programs operated by the council for recruits of city and town police departments who begin on or after July 1, 1997. The state comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to transfer $1,800 multiplied by the number of such recruits from each municipality from the local aid payments of the municipality in which said recruit shall serve to the local aid fund. Said council shall transmit the required information to the comptroller and the comptroller shall make said transfers in the fiscal quarter immediately following the completion of training. The state comptroller shall certify all such transfers to the house and senate committees on ways and means no later than 30 days after completion of said transfer. Upon completion of training, said training fee of $1,800 shall be deducted from the recruit's wages in eighteen equal monthly installments or as otherwise negotiated.
SECTION 199. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, on or before July 15, 1997, the department of transitional assistance shall by emergency regulations develop and implement a program, pursuant to and in satisfaction of section 6(o)(2) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977, 7 U.S.C. section 2015(o)(2), as appearing in section 824 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, pursuant to which individuals subject to the work requirements set forth in said section 6(o) may satisfy such requirements by either: (1) complying with the provisions of 106 CMR 362.320 through 362.340, inclusive, as revised effective December 16, 1996, to the extent such provisions are consistent with this section; or (2) participating in a program of community service in which a position is available, or working in a vacant position to which no laid off, terminated or currently employed person has a statutory or contractual right to instatement or reinstatement, for the number of hours per month that is determined by dividing the dollar value of such individual's monthly food stamp allotment by the state minimum wage rate or the federal minimum wage rate, whichever is greater.
(b) To the extent not precluded by federal law, the department shall by regulation provide that the following persons shall be deemed to be participating in and complying with such program or programs: persons making good faith, diligent and persistent efforts, as reasonably determined by the department, to obtain a placement in a program pursuant to clause (1) or (2) of subsection (a); persons 20 years of age or younger who are regularly attending high school or participating in a high school graduate equivalency degree program and other categories of persons reasonably determined by the department.
SECTION 200. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, there is hereby established within the department of labor and workforce development the office of the deputy director of workforce development. The director, after thorough consultation with the MassJobs Council and with the approval of the governor, shall appoint the deputy director of workforce development, who shall be the chief job training officer of the commonwealth. Said deputy director shall be a person with not less than five years of experience in the delivery of workforce development services. The position of deputy director shall be classified in accordance with section 45 of chapter 30 of the General Laws and the salary of said deputy director shall be determined in accordance with section 46C of said chapter 30. The deputy director shall devote his full time during business hours to the duties of the office and shall not engage in other employment or business during such hours.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the president of the corporation for business, work and learning and the director of the one-stop career center office, so-called, shall be under the supervision and control of said deputy director with respect to the administration of job training services in the commonwealth. As used in this section and in section 201, "job training" shall mean both labor exchange services or core services, so-called, and substantive skills training, including adult basic education and other education- related services necessary to prepare persons to obtain the full benefit of substantive skills training. With respect to the administration of such services, the board of directors of the corporation for business, work and learning shall be an advisory board to the president of said corporation. On or before September 1, 1997, the deputy director, after consultation with said president and said executive director, shall file with the clerks of the house and senate any proposed legislation necessary to implement the deputy director's supervision and control with respect to such services.
(c) On or before December 1, 1997, the MassJobs Council, in consultation with and with the assistance of the deputy director, the secretary of administration and finance and the budget director, the division of employment and training, the executive office of health and human services and the constituent agencies and departments thereof, the department of education, the corporation for business, work and learning, the regional employment boards and the service delivery areas, shall submit to the joint committee on commerce and labor and the house and senate committees on ways and means a comprehensive report and five-year plan for the efficient and effective delivery of job training services in the commonwealth. Such report shall: (1) analyze and supply documentation of the programs, costs, benefits and any problems associated with the system for delivering job training services in the commonwealth as it existed prior to implementation of the one-stop career center initiative, so-called, including an analysis of the total annual cost of such system in state and federal dollars and the percentage of such cost that was spent on labor exchange services as opposed to actual skills training services; (2) analyze and provide documentation of the programs, costs, benefits and any problems associated with the system for delivering job training services in the commonwealth since the implementation of said one-stop career center initiative, including an analysis of the total annual cost of such system in state and federal dollars both currently and as envisioned when the one- stop career center system is fully operational and the percentage of such costs that are and will be spent on labor exchange services as opposed to substantive skills training services, and provide recommendations for improvement in the system; (3) analyze all interagency service agreements between the one-stop career center office and other state agencies to which state funds have been appropriated for job training programs, including an analysis of whether the performance measures contained therein are consistent across the agreements and are properly designed to ensure that appropriate job training services are provided in a timely and effective manner, an analysis of for what the funds dedicated to said career centers under such agreements would have been used by the agency to which the funds were appropriated but for the existence of such agreements, and an analysis of whether the funds could be more effectively spent by the agency to which said funds were appropriated, and provide recommendations for modifications to said agreements; (4) analyze all contracts between the one-stop career center office and individual career center vendors, including an analysis of issues raised by such contracts being fixed price contracts when the stream of federal and state job training dollars available to the one-stop career center office are not fixed, and an analysis of which party or parties to said agreements are liable for any federal cost disallowances related to federally funded job training programs, and provide recommendations for modifications to said agreements, including methods for assuring that revenues do not exceed obligations to the vendors under such agreements; (5) analyze the sources and amounts of past and future planned funding streams for the one-stop career centers and the certainty thereof, including any proposals for generation of revenue by said career centers and an explanation of the reasons under the competitive one-stop career center model the general court is being requested to appropriate substantially more funds for labor exchange services than under the pre-existing system, including an analysis of what services to which categories and numbers of persons are to be provided under the one-stop career center model that were not being provided under the pre-existing system; (6) for each funding stream identified pursuant to item (5), document exactly how the funds received to date by the career centers have been used and, if continued, will be used over the next five years; (7) analyze the costs, benefits and problems associated with implementing a one-stop system for delivery of labor exchange services using a collaborative and co-located model, so-called, including a comparison of the costs, benefits and problems associated with use of a competitive model, so-called, and a comparison of the costs, benefits and problems associated with using private contractors to operate such a system and the costs, benefits and problems associated with using public sector employees to operate such a system, and set forth recommendations concerning the use of said collaborative model with respect to any future one-stop career centers; (8) set forth a five-year plan, including a financing plan, first assuming continuation of the current federal system for financing job training services and then assuming federal block grant funding, for the continued implementation of the competitive, one-stop career center model, which shall identify the amount and source of all funds to be directed to the one-stop career centers, a proposed and realistic schedule for opening any additional one-stop centers, and any changes in delivery of services that would occur if such plan were implemented; (9) set forth a five-year plan, including a financing plan, first assuming continuation of the current federal system for financing job training services and then assuming federal block grant funding, for the continued implementation of one-stop career centers using a collaborative or a competitive model at the option of each service delivery area, which shall identify the amount and source of all funds to be directed to the one-stop career centers, a proposed and realistic schedule for opening any additional one-stop centers, and any changes in delivery of services that would occur if such plan were implemented; (10) set forth a five-year plan, including a financing plan, for implementing, and improving the effectiveness of, the delivery of job training services in the commonwealth, without the need for annual appropriations in excess of the amounts appropriated for such services in fiscal year 1998, assuming the current federal funding system and then assuming federal block grant funding; (11) analyze whether the one-stop career center initiative, as currently implemented and designed, violates the provisions of sections 52 to 55, inclusive, of chapter seven of the General Laws, and provide copies of any certifications concerning said initiative which have been provided to the state auditor pursuant to section 54 of said chapter seven; (12) set forth a five-year plan, including a financial plan, for implementing a one-stop career center system which would clearly comply with the provisions of said sections 52 to 55, inclusive, assuming that annual state appropriations will not exceed the amounts appropriated for such services for fiscal year 1998; (13) analyze, set for the performance goals by region and targeted population, and set forth a five-year plan for programs in the commonwealth funded by state, federal and private funds that target the employment and training needs of low income and special needs populations and (14) set forth any and all recommendations for improvements to the job training system in the commonwealth over a five-year period, including but not limited to the programs described in item (13), including a financial analysis of the costs associated with each such recommendation. The report must be reviewed and approved by the deputy director for conformity with the requirements of this section prior to its submission to the general court.