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. To provide for supplementing certain items in the general appropriation act, the sums set forth in section two are hereby appropriated, unless specified otherwise, for the several purposes, and subject to the conditions, specified in chapter one hundred and thirty-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-two, including fund designations in said chapter one hundred and thirty-three, and subject to the provisions of law regulating the disbursement of public funds and the conditions pertaining to appropriations in said chapter one hundred and thirty-three, for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-three. The sums so appropriated are in addition to any amounts available for said purposes.

SECTION 2. `tm;keep=no `tcol=6,B4;c1=1,9,tu,T;c2=1,78,tuc;c3=1,78,tuc;c4=12,53,tfh1;c5=16,49,tu;c6=66,13,tur `tc3 Massachusetts Corporation For Educational Telecommunications `tch `tc1 `ts Item `t+1 `tch;end `tc1 1100-1400 `tc4 `tc6 $1,000,000 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION AND CONSTRUCTION `tc2 Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission `tc1 6006-0003 `tc4 `tc6 $89,427 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. `tc2 Massachusetts Office of Business Development `tc1 9000-1801 `tc4 `tc6 $1,650,000 `tc5 Tourism Fund 47.14% General Fund 52.86% `tc2 Office for Travel and Tourism `tc1 9000-1900 `tc4 `tc6 $1,645,000 `tc5 Tourism Fund 100.0% `tcol;end

SECTION 2A. To provide for certain unanticipated obligations of the commonwealth and to meet certain requirements of law, the sums set forth herein shall be appropriated from the General Fund, unless specifically designated otherwise, and shall be for the several purposes and subject to the provisions of law regulating the disbursement of public funds and the conditions pertaining to appropriations in chapter one hundred and thirty-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-two, for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-three. `tm;keep=no `tcol=6,B4;c1=1,9,tu,T;c2=1,78,tuc;c3=1,78,tuc;c4=12,53,tfh1;c5=16,49,tu;c6=66,13,tur `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE `tc2 Division of Capital Planning and Operations `tch `tc1 `ts Item `t+1 `tch;end `tc1 1102-3220 `tc4 For planning and other administrative costs related to the establishment of a United States Department of Defense Financing and Accounting Service Facility in the town of Southbridge `tc6 $100,000 `tc2 Department of Revenue `tc1 1231-0111 `tc4 For the operation of a program by the division of local services for the purpose of assisting cities and towns in establishing and administering plans to enable employees to make contributions on a pre-tax basis to insurance programs provided pursuant to chapter thirty-two B of the General Laws; provided, that said division shall provide such technical assistance to cities and towns seeking to establish such plans; provided, that said assistance may include but shall not be limited to devising and providing model legal plan documents and plan summaries for the purpose of securing approval of said plans; and provided further, said division shall provide information to cities and towns regarding the potential benefit to the economy of the commonwealth from the additional disposable income created by such plans `tc6 $75,000 `tc2 Miscellaneous `tc1 1599-3888 `tc4 For payment owed to the town of Tewksbury for the cost of construction of a sewer line to serve Tewksbury Hospital `tc6 $69,659 `tc1 1599-6000 `tc4 For a reserve for the purposes of section one of chapter six hundred and ten of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-nine `tc6 $37,668 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS `tc2 Metropolitan District Commission `tc1 2440-0014 `tc4 The metropolitan district commission shall retain and may expend revenues collected during its extended skating season, so called, in an amount not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars accrued from the rental of ice time and from public skating fees charged at skating rinks operated by said commission for the purposes of the general operation and maintenance of the rinks for this skating season, including the costs of personnel `tc6 $500,000 `tc5 Local Aid Fund 100.0%

`tc1 2440-8998 `tc4 For the cost of repairs and renovations, including but not limited to, necessary equipment for the Connell Recreation Complex `tc6 $80,000 `tc5 Local Aid Fund 100.0% `tc1 2440-8999 `tc4 For repairs and renovations to the Devine Rink located in the city of Boston, operated by the Metropolitan District Commission `tc6 $300,000 `tc5 Local Aid Fund 100.0% `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF COMMUNITIES AND DEVELOPMENT `tc1 3747-0003 `tc4 For the Boston housing authority for a program to provide certain tenant services for the West Broadway housing development task Force `tc6 $76,000 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES `tc2 Department of Medical Security `tc1 4600-1054 `tc4 For the purpose of making initial gross payments to qualifying acute care hospitals from the uncompensated care pool pursuant to the provisions of section fifteen of chapter one hundred and eighteen F of the General Laws for the hospital fiscal year beginning October first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two; provided, that said payments shall be made to hospitals prior to and in anticipation of the payment by hospitals of their gross liability to said pool; provided further, that the comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to transfer the amount appropriated herein to said pool for the purpose of making said payments; provided further, that the amount appropriated herein, less any amount unable to be collected from hospitals during the period from October first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two through June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, inclusive, shall be returned to the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year ending on said June thirtieth; provided, that in no event shall the amount unable to be collected from hospitals exceed for any hospital which is a net payer to said pool the pool's gross liability to such hospital or for any hospital which is a net payee from said pool the pool's gross liability from such hospital; and provided further, that the comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to transfer to the General Fund the balance of this appropriation and any allocation thereof as of said June thirtieth as certified by the commissioner of the department of medical security `tc6 $30,000,000 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF EDUCATION `tc2 Department of Education `tc1 7005-1100 `tc4 For the reimbursement of tuition expenses incurred by cities, towns or regional school districts participating in the school choice program in fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three and for the purpose of payments made to cities, towns or regional school districts on behalf of students residing within a city, town or regional school district that did not receive any so-called chapter seventy funds during fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two; provided further, that the distribution of such funds shall be subject to the approval of the executive office of education; and provided further, that the distribution of such funds shall be subject to the provisions of item 7005-1000 of section two of chapter one hundred and thirty-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-two `tc6 $203,960 `tc5 Local Aid Fund 100.0% `tc1 7009-1000 `tc4 For payments by the secretary to vendors for services under the provisions of section four of chapter six hundred and fourteen of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five, as amended by section one hundred and twenty-nine of chapter two hundred and forty of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, actually rendered prior to December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-one but for which full payment has not been made `tc6 $275,000 `tc3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS `tc2 Division of Insurance `tc1 9222-7800 `tc4 For the administration of the division; provided, that the commissioner of insurance shall expend funds from this item of appropriation for the purpose of obtaining accreditation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; provided further, that in the event that all monies collected by said division pursuant to section eight B of chapter twenty-six, and sections fourteen and one hundred sixty-three of chapter one hundred seventy-five of the General Laws for fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three do not exceed monies so collected during fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two by the amount appropriated herein, the commissioner is hereby authorized and directed to make an assessment on or before June thirtieth nineteen hundred and ninety-three against all licensed insurers in the Commonwealth at a rate sufficient to produce revenue to reimburse the Commonwealth for said difference, notwithstanding the provisions of section eight C of chapter twenty-six of the General Laws to the contrary; and provided further, that no funds appropriated herein shall be expended until such time that all legislation relative to obtaining said accreditation has been filed with the clerks of the senate and the house of representatives `tc6 $2,000,000 `tc5 Division of Insurance Trust Fund 100.0% `tcol;end

SECTION 3. Section 11 of chapter 6B of the General Laws, as appearing in section 12 of chapter 495 of the acts of 1991, is hereby amended by striking paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and by striking the number "(4)".

SECTION 4. Section 2 of chapter 62E of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 8, after the first sentence, the following sentences:- Upon the hiring of an employee, such employers shall, in addition, notify the department of revenue of the hiring of the employee. The commissioner shall, by regulation, prescribe the timing and the form of such reports and the information to be provided in the reports, which may include disclosure of the existence of an outstanding child support order. All such reports shall be part of the wage reporting system established pursuant to section three of this chapter.

SECTION 5. Section 3 of said chapter 62E, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking, in line 6, the words "and IV-D agency and" and by inserting, in line 7, after the word "Corporation" the following new words:- and any IV-D agency for purposes of administering the child support enforcement program,.

SECTION 6. Subsection (d) of section 47 of chapter 94C of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 445 of chapter 133 of the acts of 1992, is hereby further amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following:- Such petition shall be filed in the court having jurisdiction over said conveyance, real property, monies or other things of value or having final jurisdiction over any related criminal proceeding brought under any provision of this chapter.

SECTION 7. Subsection (f) of said section 47 of said chapter 94C, as most recently amended by sections 457, 458 and 459 of said chapter 133, is hereby further amended by striking out the first two sentences of subparagraph (2) and inserting in place thereof the following:- There shall be created within the division of capital planning and operations an office of seized property management to which a district attorney or the attorney general may refer any real property, and any furnishings, equipment and related personal property located therein, for which seizure is sought. The office of seized property management shall be authorized to preserve and manage such property in a reasonable fashion and to dispose of such property upon a judgment ordering forfeiture issued pursuant to the provisions of said section (d), and to enter into contracts to preserve, manage and dispose of such property.

SECTION 8. Section 2 of chapter 118F of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 18 of chapter 495 of the acts of 1991, is hereby amended by inserting the following definition:- "Private sector charges", gross patient service revenue attributable to all patients less gross patient service revenue attributable to Titles XVIII and XIX, other publicly aided patients, free care and bad debt.

SECTION 9. Section 15 of chapter 118F of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 19 of said chapter 495, is hereby amended by striking paragraphs (1) through (4), inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraphs:-

(1) The department shall administer an uncompensated care pool consisting of revenues produced by hospital assessments calculated by the department pursuant to this section, federal funds as may be appropriated from federal financial participation made available for uncompensated care payments to certain hospitals, and any sums paid by hospitals pursuant to paragraph (viii) of section fifty-one of chapter four hundred and ninety-five of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-one. For purposes of this paragraph, "revenues produced by hospital assessments" shall equal the value of and have the same meaning as "a hospital's liability to the pool" as established pursuant to this section.

(2) A hospital's liability to the pool shall equal the product of: (a) the ratio of its private sector charges to all hospitals' private sector charges; and (b) the private sector liability to the uncompensated care pool as determined by the general court. In calculating said ratio, the department shall exclude from the numerator and the denominator private sector charges attributable to non-contracting, non-insured individuals which have exceeded the applicable price cap calculated pursuant to said section fifty-one of said chapter four hundred and ninety-five and other private sector charges in excess of a hospital's maximum gross inpatient service revenue limitation calculated pursuant to said section fifty-one of said chapter four hundred and ninety-five. Prior to the beginning of each hospital fiscal year, the department shall establish each hospital's liability to said pool using the most recent four quarters' private sector charge information available. The department shall update each hospital's liability to said pool as updated information becomes available. For any fiscal year, a hospital's final liability to said pool shall be based upon its actual private sector charges as filed with the department and as adjusted by audit.

(3) The pool's liability to a hospital shall be calculated periodically by the department based on the best data available. Said data shall include but not be limited to allowable free care charges as determined by the department and the cost-to-charge ratio calculated for each hospital by the rate setting commission pursuant to section eleven of chapter six B of the General Laws. The department shall specify by regulation an appropriate mechanism for interim determination and payment of a hospital's liability to said pool. The final settlement of the pool's liability to a hospital shall equal the product of allowable actual free care charges, adjusted for any audit findings, multiplied by its final cost-to-charge ratio.

(4) The department shall administer said pool and require payments to the pool and disburse funds from the pool consistent with the hospital's liability to the pool and the pool's liability to the hospital. The department shall specify by regulation appropriate mechanisms that provide for interim determination and payment of a hospital's liability to and from the pool during each fiscal year and for final settlement of the pool for each fiscal year.

SECTION 10. Said section 15 of said chapter 118F, as so amended, is hereby further amended by inserting the following paragraphs:-

(9) The department shall by regulation designate information necessary to effect the purposes of this section. An acute hospital which fails to file any data, statistics or schedule or other information required under this section or by any regulation promulgated by the department or which knowingly and willfully falsifies same, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for each day on which such violation occurs or continues, which penalty may be assessed in an action brought on behalf of the commonwealth in any court of competent jurisdiction. The attorney general shall bring any appropriate action, including injunctive relief, as may be necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.

(10) For fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two only, a hospital's liability to the pool shall equal the product of the uniform statewide allowance previously in effect, multiplied by private sector patient care costs established pursuant to the most recent hospital agreement. This liability shall be calculated net of all payments made by the hospital to the extent it participated in the uncompensated care pool on a voluntary basis prior to the calculations made in accordance with this act. For fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-two, payments by purchasers and third party payers exclusive of Titles XVIII and XIX and publicly aided patients for purposes of said pool, shall be made using the allowance previously in effect and included in charges.

SECTION 11. Paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of section 12 of chapter 119A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 81 and 82, the words "the IV-D agency which shall transfer the assignment to the subsequent employer" and by inserting in place thereof the following words:- his subsequent employer of his child support order and the IV-D agency of his new employment and the IV-D agency shall transfer the assignment to the subsequent employer.

SECTION 12. Paragraph 7 of subsection (f) of section 12 of said chapter 119A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 167, the following sentence:- Any subsequent employer of the obligor shall, upon notice of an income assignment, comply with the provisions of this section.

SECTION 13. Section 1 of chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- A cogeneration facility shall also include any electrical generating unit having a power production capacity which, together with any other facilities located at the same site, is not greater than thirty megawatts and which produces electric energy and steam or other form of useful energy utilized for industrial, commercial, heating or cooling purposes that is in the confines of an industrial park, which park existed prior to March first, nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and in which park there existed as of said date electrical generating capacity of more than fifteen megawatts, and in which park there existed, since said date, a cogeneration facility, as defined herein, or a small power production facility.

SECTION 14. Item 9749-0100 of Section 2 of chapter 133 of the acts of 1992 is hereby amended by striking out the text and inserting in place thereof the following text:- For the expenses of the joint special committee on legislative and executive council redistricting, prior appropriation continued.

SECTION 15. Section 2 of chapter 152 of the acts of 1992 is hereby amended by striking item 9000-1900 in its entirety.

SECTION 16. Section 1 of chapter 198 of the acts of 1992 is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following words:- in an amount not to exceed six million four hundred forty-five thousand five hundred dollars.

SECTION 17. For hospital fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three, the private sector liability of purchasers and third party payers to the uncompensated care trust fund established pursuant to section seventeen of chapter one hundred and eighteen F of the General Laws shall be the lesser of the sum of all of the products of each hospital's allowable free care charges and such hospital's cost-to-charge ratio, calculated by the commission pursuant to section eleven of chapter six B of the General Laws, or three hundred and fifteen million dollars. For state fiscal year nineteen hundred and ninety-three, notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, fifteen million dollars generated by federal financial participation made available under Title XIX of the Social Security Act to match the costs of said trust fund for disproportionate share hospitals shall be deposited into said trust fund.

SECTION 18. The comptroller may exclude from a certificate defined in section three of chapter seven A of the General Laws, any amount otherwise due a hospital which owes an overdue debt to the uncompensated care pool established pursuant to section seventeen of chapter one hundred and eighteen F of the General Laws, upon the filing of an affidavit by the commissioner of the department of medical security with the comptroller that such debt exists, the amount due and the name of the debtor. Any such debt may be charged by the comptroller against any amount otherwise due from the commonwealth to such debtor.

SECTION 19. Notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-nine A of chapter twenty-nine of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the department of mental retardation is hereby authorized and directed to pay certain consultants for services rendered in an amount not to exceed twenty-six thousand dollars.

SECTION 20. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the rate setting commission, in setting nursing home prospective rates of reimbursement for the rate year beginning January first, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, shall use as base year costs for rate determination purposes the reported costs of the calendar year not more than four years prior to said rate year, adjusted for reasonableness, and to incorporate any audit findings applicable to said base year costs; provided that no base year cost shall be incorporated unless a comprehensive desk audit has been completed for the costs incurred in that base year.

SECTION 21. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of administration and finance shall conduct a statewide study of the feasibility and long range goals of the privatization, consolidation or closure of ice rinks owned by the state and operated by the department of environmental management. Said study shall include a cost-benefit analysis of any such privatization, consolidation or closure. No ice rink owned by the state and operated by said department shall be privatized, consolidated or closed prior to the completion and submission of said study to the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and the approval of said study by the General Court. Said section shall not apply to state-owned ice rinks operated by said department that were privatized, consolidated or closed prior to September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two.

SECTION 21A. Section 2 of Chapter 133 of the acts of 1992 is hereby amended in item 4800-1100 by inserting after the word "expenses" the following:- and for the reimbursement of any employee who participated in the early retirement incentive program, so-called, pursuant to chapter 22 of the acts of 1992, for any unused vacation pay not reimbursed by said department; provided, that said reimbursement shall cover said employee's vacation leave remaining as a balance as of July 1, 1992, including any credits for June, 1992 and shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars;.

SECTION 21B. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the Medicaid office within the Department of Public Welfare shall reimburse federally designated Chapter 410 sole community providers and state designated sub-acute long term care rural providers from the FY-93 appropriation for prior years' obligations not to exceed $1,000,000.

SECTION 22. Sections three, eight, nine, ten and seventeen shall be effective as of October first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two.

SECTION 23. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage. `tuc ENDORSEMENTS FOLLOW ON PAGE 13 `t+99