Overview
The Office of the State Auditor recommends that the General Court pass the following pieces of legislation during the 2021-22 sessi
H. 838/S. 489—An Act relative to early voting cost reimbursements
Sponsored by Sen. Becca Rausch and Rep. Steven Ultrino, this bill would amend the existing Early Voting Law (M.G.L. c. 54, § 25B) to establish a permanent process to reimburse municipalities for expenses incurred during the early voting period, such as the cost of voting booths, privacy screens, and labor. The bill directs the State Auditor to deliver an annual report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, outlining incremental costs to each municipality related to early voting, along with estimates for the following year. It also requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office to include the Auditor’s cost estimates in its annual budget request and to distribute funds to municipalities accordingly.
H. 236—An Act creating an electronic backpack for foster children
This bill is currently sponsored by State Auditor Suzanne Bump alongside Rep. Kay Khan and Rep. David LeBoeuf. The bill adds a new section to M.G.L. c. 71 that directs the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to develop an electronic backpack program to facilitate the educational stability of foster youth and to implement the program within one year of the bill’s passage. The bill directs DCF to create an electronic backpack for each youth to serve as a repository of educational records as long as the youth remains in foster care. Any person who is able to make educational or medical decisions for each youth, including the youth’s medical providers, will have access to the electronic backpack under the bill.
H. 2831/S. 1875—An Act to reform payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land
Sponsored by Sen. Adam Hinds and Rep. Natalie Blais, the bill amends M.G.L. c. 58, §§ 16-17, to require the Commonwealth to fully reimburse communities for the taxable value of state-owned land. The bill also creates a hold-harmless provision that ensures cities and towns never see a decrease in their state-owned-land reimbursement. Specifically, the bill repeals language referencing reimbursement percentages for PILOTs for state-owned land and directs the Treasurer of the Commonwealth to make PILOTs according to a detailed formula (reimbursements based on each thousand dollars of land valuation multiplied by aggregate average annual tax rates for the previous three years). The bill also prohibits reduction of the payment to a municipality unless land is disposed of by the state.
S. 2043—An Act relative to municipal impact statements
The bill requires state agencies to provide statements describing proposed regulatory or administrative actions and further requires these agencies to determine the preliminary financial impact on municipalities. This bill updates the language of Executive Order 145, which was signed by Governor Dukakis in 1978, and incorporates it into a new section of the Massachusetts General Laws as a state administrative procedure (see Appendix D for the executive order). The proposed legislation adds DLM to the list of entities that are required to receive and analyze the financial impact of these statements, alongside the Local Government Advisory Committee and the Department of Housing and Community Development.