Overview
The Office of the State Auditor’s Division of Local Mandates (DLM) was established by Proposition 2½, a ballot measure passed by voters in 1980 intended to limit the amount of revenue a municipality can raise through property tax increases, absent voter approval. Additionally, Proposition 2½ protects cities and towns from the involuntary imposition of expenditures by state law, rule, or regulation. This protection is codified in Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 29, Section 27C, referred to as the Local Mandate Law, which provides that any state law, rule, or regulation adopted after 1980 that imposes new direct service or cost obligations on cities and towns, excluding incidental local administration expenses, is effective only if locally accepted by the municipality or fully paid for by the Commonwealth. This protection also applies to regional school districts and educational collaboratives.
DLM determines the financial impact on cities and towns of proposed and existing state laws, rules, and regulations. A city, town, regional school district, educational collaborative, or the Legislature (via the House of Representatives, the Senate, or a legislative committee) may petition DLM for a determination of whether the Commonwealth has fully paid for the costs imposed by any law, rule, or regulation subject to the Local Mandate Law and, if not, the amount of the deficiency. DLM shares its determinations with the petitioners, as well as with the Executive and Legislative branches of the government.
In 1984, the Legislature expanded DLM’s responsibilities to include examining any state law, rule or regulation having a significant financial impact on cities and towns, regardless of whether the Local Mandate Law applies. This statute is codified as MGL Chapter 11, Section 6B. Pursuant to this law, DLM releases reports known as municipal impact studies, or 6B reports.
DLM’s mandate determinations, cost analyses, and municipal impact studies protect cities and towns by examining issues impacting municipal budgets, offering recommendations to make government work better, and ensuring that local governments are not financially burdened by inadequately funded obligations imposed by the state.
| Date published: | September 29, 2025 |
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