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. The second paragraph of section 22F of chapter 40 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1994 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following sentence:- The provisions of this section shall not apply to any certificate, service or work required by chapters fifty to fifty-six, inclusive, or by chapter sixty-six.

SECTION 2. Section 7 of chapter 41 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 7, the word "thirty" and inserting in place thereof the word:- sixty.

SECTION 3. Section 14 of said chapter 41, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- A temporary clerk appointed under this section shall not be required to be a resident nor a registered voter of the city or town.

SECTION 4. Section 19 of said chapter 41, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- An assistant clerk appointed under this section shall not be required to be a resident nor a registered voter of the town.

SECTION 5. Section 23 of said chapter 41, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- A town may, after a vote under section twenty-one has been in effect therein for a period of not less than three years, by a vote at a meeting held at least sixty days before the annual town election, rescind such action in whole or in part and thereupon such town shall, at the next town election, nominate and elect such officers as are necessary to carry out the duties exercised in accordance with section twenty-one by the board of selectmen or officers appointed by them.

SECTION 6. Section 5 of chapter 43B of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 11, the word "twenty-eighth" and inserting in place thereof the following word:- thirty-fifth.

SECTION 7. Section 1F of chapter 51 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 7, the words "ten o'clock post meridian of the twenty-eighth" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- eight o'clock post meridian of the twentieth.

SECTION 8. Section 37 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "preaddressed", in line 60, the following words:- and postage prepaid.

SECTION 9. Section 38 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- They shall strike therefrom the name of every deceased voter which has been transmitted to them under section fourteen or which has been electronically transmitted to them. After the name of a voter has been placed upon the current annual register or upon the inactive voters list, they shall not strike such name therefrom unless: (a) the voter has died; (b) they have received a duplicate copy of an affidavit of registration from the registrars of another city or town; (c) they have received a change of address notification from the registry of motor vehicles; (d) they have received a written request from the voter or the voter has confirmed in writing that he has moved to another city or town; or (e) the voter has not responded to the notice described in section thirty-seven and has not voted in the next two biennial state elections following the mailing of such notice.

SECTION 10. Section 41 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 6, the word "records" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- records, except large print affidavits of registration.

SECTION 11. The third paragraph of section 42A of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- No such person shall be provided with an affidavit of registration after the close of registration nor in any city or town other than that in which he claims the right to vote; provided, however, if the applicant is in the military or naval service of the United States, he may so register up until four o'clock post meridian on the day preceding a primary election, preliminary election or election.

SECTION 12. The first paragraph of section 42G of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Registration agencies shall transmit forthwith, within five calendar days, each completed affidavit of voter registration to the board of registrars of the city or town wherein the registrant resides.

SECTION 13. Section 42H of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 12 to 14, inclusive, the words "to the registrars shall be sufficient for this purpose, if the affidavit is maintained on file at the registration agency" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- of registration shall be sufficient for such purpose.

SECTION 14. Said chapter 51 is hereby further amended by striking out section 47C, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 47C. Subject to appropriation, the state secretary shall maintain a central registry of voters which shall contain, if provided by the registrars, the names, addresses and effective dates of registration of all registered voters in the commonwealth and which shall contain the name, date of birth, occupation, nationality, if not a citizen of the United States, for street list purposes only, and residence on January first in the preceding year and in the current year, of every person three years of age or older in the commonwealth, and shall adopt regulations governing the operation of said central registry. The names and addresses contained in said central registry shall not be a matter of public record; provided however, that they shall be available to state party committees, statewide candidate committees, state ballot question committees, the jury commissioner and any other individual, agency or entity that the state secretary shall designate by regulation consistent with the purposes of this section, at a fair and reasonable cost not to exceed the cost of printing or preparing computer readable documents.

SECTION 15. Section 55 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first two sentences and inserting in place thereof the following three sentences:- Registrars shall, from the names entered in the annual register and from the names maintained on the inactive voters list, prepare voting lists for use at elections; provided, however, that such registrars shall not enter the names of women voters in separate columns or lists. In such voting lists, such registrars shall place the names of all voters entered on the annual register and those maintained on the inactive voters list and opposite to the name of each his residence and party enrollment. The registrars shall maintain separate voting lists for active and inactive voters or one voting list if inactive voters are designated as such on the voting list.

SECTION 16. The second paragraph of said section 59 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Whenever the presiding officer, after a reasonable attempt, is unable to identify a voter whose name does not appear on the voting list, such voter may request permission to vote from the registrars of voters.

SECTION 17. Section 9 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "candidate", in line 26, the following words:- , including a candidate for presidential elector,.

SECTION 18. Section 1 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

For any city that fails to act by October fifteenth, the local election districts review commission shall, within thirty days, make such division of the city into wards and precincts or appoint a master who shall make such division which shall be subject to approval and amendment by the commission. The cost of redistricting by a master shall be paid by the city.

SECTION 19. Section 6 of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "having", in line 5, the following words:- precincts or.

SECTION 20. Said section 6 of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 14, the words "of six thousand, two hundred or more inhabitants".

SECTION 21. Said section 6 of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

For any town that fails to act by September twentieth, the local election districts review commission shall, within thirty days, make such division of the town into precincts or appoint a master who shall make such division which shall be subject to approval and amendment by the commission. The cost of redistricting by a master shall be paid by the town.

SECTION 22. Section 42C of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary establishing a later time, a city or town clerk shall not print on a city or town election ballot any question to the voters for which he receives final written notice after the thirty-fifth day before such election.

SECTION 23. Chapter 56 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 27, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 27. Whoever, not being entitled to vote under the laws relative to absent voting, votes or attempts to vote thereunder or whoever being entitled to vote under said laws knowingly votes or attempts to vote in violation thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars and by imprisonment for not more than five years.

SECTION 24. Said chapter 56 is hereby further amended by striking out section 27A, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 27A. Whoever, at any election at which absent voting is permitted, knowingly and wilfully delivers an absent voter ballot to a voter or other person in any other manner than as provided for in section ninety-one A and ninety-one B of chapter fifty-four shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars.

SECTION 25. Section 60 of said chapter 56, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the word "clerk" and inserting in place thereof the following word:- clerk,.

SECTION 26. Paragraph (m) of section 21C of chapter 59 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out clause (3) and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

(3) the first election at which the referendum question appears on the ballot must take place no later than forty-five days after the date of the close of the town meeting at which the appropriation vote occurs; provided, however, that no such election shall take place later than ninety days after such meeting.

SECTION 27. Section 15 of chapter 71 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

The selectmen or council of each of the several towns shall, upon receipt of the recommendation that a regional school district should be formed and of a proposed agreement therefor submitted in accordance with the provisions of sections fourteen to fourteen B, inclusive, or otherwise in the form and with the approval required by said sections, cause to be presented the question of accepting the provisions of sections sixteen to sixteen I, inclusive, and the proposed agreement or agreements. Said question shall be determined, in a town having an open town meeting, by vote with printed ballots at an annual or special town meeting to be held in either case within thirty days after receipt of such recommendation by the selectmen and, in a town having a representative town meeting or council, at an annual or special town election to be held in either case not less than thirty-five nor more than fifty days after receipt of such recommendation. The article in the warrant for such annual or special town meeting or election and the question on the printed ballots to be used at such meeting or election shall be in substantially the following form:

Shall the town accept the provisions of sections sixteen to sixteen I, inclusive, of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws providing for the establishment of a regional school district, together with the towns of , and , etc., and for construction, maintenance and operation of a regional school by said district in accordance with the provisions of a proposed agreement filed with the selectmen _____________