Section 16G.5: Executive office of housing and livable communities; secretary; bureaus, divisions, and offices; policy guidance for certain public instrumentalities
[ Text of section added by 2023, 7, Sec. 22 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298.]
Section 16G1/2. (a) There shall be an executive office of housing and livable communities, which shall be under the supervision and control of a secretary for housing and livable communities. The secretary shall be appointed by the governor, as provided pursuant to section 3. The secretary shall be the executive and administrative head of the executive office, shall otherwise have all of the powers and duties provided by sections 3 to 7, inclusive, and shall be responsible for administering and enforcing the provisions of law relative to the executive office and to each administrative unit thereof, except as provided in subsection (c); provided, however, that the secretary may authorize any officer within the executive office to exercise in the secretary's name any power or discharge any duty assigned to the secretary by law, and may at any time revoke such authority.
(b) The secretary may establish such bureaus, divisions, and offices within the executive office as are necessary for its efficient operation. Such divisions shall be under the charge of an undersecretary or department head who shall be appointed and may be removed by the secretary and who shall be subject to the direction, control and supervision of the secretary or an undersecretary as determined by the secretary. Each undersecretary or department head shall be a person of skill and experience in the field of their appointment, shall devote full time to the duties of the office. Appointments as undersecretary or department head shall not be subject to the provisions of section 9A of chapter 30 or chapter 31. In accordance with the provisions of chapter 30A, the secretary may promulgate regulations with respect to the divisions under the secretariat's control.
(c) There shall also be within the executive office the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, the manufactured homes commission, the commission of Indian affairs, and the American and Canadian French Cultural Exchange Commission. The executive office shall provide general policy guidance for these public instrumentalities, but shall not exercise any supervision or control with respect to such instrumentalities, except to the extent otherwise provided by law.