Executive Order  No. 30: (1st Series) Civil Defense System; emergency food and shelter arrangements; Medical services

WHEREAS, the prosecution of the existing war between the United States and certain foreign countries may result in enemy action, certain operations undertaken to deal with such action or the danger thereof, or other activities causing unusual hardship and distress to civilians, necessitating the immediate extension of extraordinary assistance and relief; and

WHEREAS, available resources of the political subdivisions and of private charitable organizations within the Commonwealth may be insufficient to provide adequate assistance and relief to the persons suffering from such hardship and distress; and

WHEREAS, it is the obligation of government to provide shelter, food, medical attention and other assistance and relief necessary or appropriate to mitigate such hardship and distress; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, acting through the Federal Security Administrator, the Office of Civilian Defense, and other agencies, has indicated that it will reimburse the States for the cost of such assistance and relief; and

WHEREAS, in the interest of the public welfare, authority to deal efficiently and adequately with the consequences of such enemy action or other activities should be granted forthwith so that appropriate preparatory action may be undertaken without delay:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

1. In the event that an evacuation of any area within the Commonwealth shall be ordered by the Government of the United States acting through any officer or agency thereof, or by the Governor of the Commonwealth, or in the event that unusual hardship or distress is caused to the civilians by reason of war operations, including in such term enemy action or the danger thereof, or measures taken to meet such enemy action or danger thereof including the removal of persons from areas of destruction, the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, and the Commissioner of Public Welfare, hereinafter referred to as the Commissioner, are hereby severally authorized and empowered as follows:

(a) The Committee shall take such action as it may deem advisable to provide shelter, transportation and temporary sustenance and care for such persons as may be in need thereof by reason of such evacuation order or such war operations, and who cannot be provided for in their own homes or places of abode.

(b) The Commissioner shall take such action as he may deem advisable to provide food, clothing, medical attention and such other services, equipment or aid as he may deem necessary or proper for the assistance and relief of persons in need thereof by reason of such evacuation order or war operations.

The word "assistance" as used in this order shall be broadly construed and the limited scope of such word as defined in the welfare laws or similar legislation of the Commonwealth shall not apply to assistance furnished pursuant to this order to persons in need thereof.

In exercising the authority herein conferred the Committee and the Commissioner may utilize the experience and resources of the American red Cross to the greatest extent available, particularly in the operation of the shelters.

2. The following shall be permissible, though not exclusive, methods or means whereby the assistance or relief herein authorized to be provided by the Commissioner may be furnished to persons in need: distributions of food or other articles in kind, issuance of written purchase orders and direct payments by currency or check to persons to be aided.

3. In executing the power and authority conferred upon it by this order the Committee may incur obligations only to the extent that the same may be authorized or approved by the Commissioner.

4. In furnishing the assistance and relief herein authorized the Commissioner may incur obligations in the name of the Commonwealth and may expend money of the Commonwealth only for such purposes, under such circumstances, and in such manner as in his opinion will give rise to a right of reimbursement from the Federal Government for such obligations and expenditures.

5. The Commissioner is further authorized and empowered, in carrying out this order, to act through such agents as he may designate, and to prescribe such rules and regulations therefor as he may deem proper and desirable, provided that such rules and regulations shall not be inconsistent with pertinent Federal rules and regulations relating to similar assistance and relief.

6. The Commissioner is hereby further authorized and empowered to procure advances of money from the State Treasurer, and said State Treasurer is hereby authorized and empowered to make such advances pursuant to, and in accordance with, General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 29, sections 23, 24 and 25, for the purpose of carrying out this order.

7. The State Comptroller is hereby authorized to certify for payment liabilities incurred by the Committee, which have been approved by the commissioner, and liabilities incurred by the Commissioner pursuant to this order, provided that full and properly approved vouchers therefor have been filed with the State Comptroller, and provided that the Commissioner certified that they are proper charges and that in his opinion the Commonwealth will be reimbursed therefor by the Federal Government, and that proper official demand for such reimbursement has been or will thereafter be made to the Federal Government. The State Treasurer is hereby authorized and empowered to pay liabilities so certified by the State Comptroller upon the order of the Governor, with the advise and consent of the Council.

8. The Commissioner is further authorized and empowered to execute or to ratify, in the name of the Commonwealth, contracts for the hire of any and all types of conveyance, the use of which has been arranged for by the Committee, for the transportation of persons who, as a result of such an evacuation or removal, require transportation from any place in the Commonwealth to any other place within or without the Commonwealth, including return transportation. The rates to be paid to persons furnishing transportation services or equipment under such contracts shall be approved by the Department of Public Utilities as a condition precedent to the payment of such rates by the Commonwealth.

9. The Commissioner is hereby directed to procure vouchers, to the fullest extent possible under the circumstances, for all expenditures made pursuant to this order from advances received from the State Treasurer, and to deliver the same to the State Comptroller in accounting for such advances.

10. Funds paid to the Commonwealth by the Federal Government or any agency thereof by way of reimbursement or otherwise, for expenditures made pursuant to the provisions of this order, shall be paid over to the State Treasurer forthwith and shall be applied against the aforesaid expenditures.

11. The Commissioner shall not be deemed or held to incur any personal liability what- ever for obligations incurred or funds expended by him in good faith or for obligations incurred by the Committee and approved by the Commissioner in good faith in connection with the administration of the program hereby provided for. No member of the Committee shall be deemed or held to incur any personal liability whatever for obligations incurred by him in good faith on behalf of the Committee in connection with the administration of the program hereby provided for. In the event that reimbursement cannot be secured from the Federal Government for any such obligation or expenditure so incurred or made, the payment of such obligation or expenditure shall be deemed to have been the payment of an obligation or expenditure of the Commonwealth.

12. The Commissioner may at any time make such investigation as he deems necessary of any or all obligations incurred pursuant to this order.

13. The receipt by any person of assistance or relief furnished pursuant to this order, including in such term temporary removal from his place of residence, shall not be deemed or held to affect in any manner the acquisition or retention of settlement rights of such person in any city or town of the Commonwealth.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-seventh.

By His Excellency the Governor, Leverett Saltonstall

Paul D. Howard, Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth