Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 44 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out sections 23 to 27A, inclusive, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following seven sections:-

Section 23. The director shall furnish to the treasurer of every city, town and district, forms for the issue of notes for money borrowed by the city, town or district. Every such note shall contain blanks for insertion of the amount thereof, the date of issue, which shall be construed as the date from which interest is payable, the interest which it bears, the date when it will become due, and such other matters as the director may deem necessary; and a record of every such note shall be kept by said treasurer in such form as the director may designate. The director may place upon notes submitted to him for certification such denominations as will show the purpose for which they are issued and as may be required by law to appear thereon.

Section 24. When a city, town or district votes to borrow money otherwise than by the issue of bonds, the treasurer thereof may make notes for the amount of the proposed loan, and may use one or more, in serial order, of the forms provided for in section twenty-three, with the blank spaces properly filled in. Notes issued hereunder shall be signed and countersigned as provided in section sixteen or other applicable provisions of law in the presence of the clerk of the city, town or district, who shall certify to the fact on the face thereof. The treasurer of the city, town or district, after making a record of the transaction in accordance with section twenty-three, shall forward, with the fee required by section twenty-six, every such note to the director, with a copy of said record and a copy of the order or vote authorizing the loan, certified by the clerk of the city, town or district, and a certification by said clerk that the person whose signature appears upon the note as treasurer was the duly authorized treasurer of the city, town or district when such signature was made, and that the persons whose countersignatures appear upon the note were duly qualified as such when such countersignatures were made; and the treasurer of such city, town or district shall furnish such other information as the director may require to enable the director properly to certify the note. If upon examination the note appears to the director to have been duly issued in accordance with law and the vote of the city, town, or district authorizing it, or in accordance with an act of the general court, and to have been signed by the duly qualified officials of such city, town or district, he shall so certify and shall thereupon return the note by registered mail to the treasurer of such city, town or district or shall deliver it in hand to such treasurer or to his duly authorized agent; but, under such regulations as he may prescribe, if so authorized by the signers of the note, the director may deliver a certified note to the payee thereof or deliver it to a bank or trust company to be credited to the account of such city, town or district. He may certify to the issue of a note on any date not earlier than five days prior to the date of issue appearing on the note, if the other conditions of this chapter have been complied with. He shall not certify a note payable on demand, nor shall he certify any note unless the laws relating to municipal indebtedness have been complied with, or if it appears that the proceeds of the note are not to be used for the purpose specified in the vote authorizing the loan for which the note is issued. The director may use a facsimile signature machine or stamp for the purpose of certifying notes under this section and such facsimile shall have the same legal effect as the director's manual signature.

Section 24A. City, town and district notes may be made payable to "bearer", and when so issued section twenty-four may be construed by the director as being properly complied with in so far as it relates to the proper filling in of any space provided for the name of the purchaser or registered holder of the loan, and the director may certify such notes; provided that before certification there shall be filed with the director by the city, town or district treasurer, as the case may be, the name of the purchaser of such loan.

Section 25. Whenever a note issued by a city, town or district is paid, the treasurer thereof shall immediately notify the director of such payment, stating the source from which such payment was made.

Section 26. The director shall establish a reasonable fee for every note certified, to be turned over monthly to the commonwealth; and the state treasurer may refund the amount of any fee deposited with him by said director for the certification of any note which may be cancelled before money is obtained thereon; provided, however, that application for such refund shall be made to the director within twenty days after the certification of the notes for which the fee was paid.

Section 27. The certification of city, town or district notes by the director shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of such city, town or district therefor.

Section 27A. The provisions of sections twenty-three to twenty-seven, inclusive, shall be deemed to provide an additional and alternative means of carrying out the purposes thereof and shall not effect the power of cities, towns and districts to issue notes under and subject to other provisions of law.

SECTION 2. Section 31 of said chapter 44, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "accounts", in line 27, the words:- if the amount of the judgment or award is over ten thousand dollars.