AN ACT PROTECTING WORKERS AND SMALL INVESTORS.
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 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following 2 sections:-
Section 68. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as Worker and Small Investor Protection Fund. There shall be credited to the fund all civil penalties and fines due the commonwealth collected under chapter 110A and any income derived from investment of amounts credited to the fund. Amounts credited to the fund shall be received and held in trust solely for investigations and enforcement of chapter 110A and dissemination of information about the requirements of said chapter. Revenues and expenditures of the fund shall be reported on the Massachusetts management and accounting and reporting system and maintained by the state treasurer. The fund shall not exceed a maximum of $500,000. Amounts collected in excess of the maximum shall be deposited in the General Fund.
Expenditures from the Worker and Small Investor Protection Fund shall be made without further appropriation but shall be approved in writing by the secretary of the commonwealth for the sole purposes of investigating or enforcing chapter 110A and the dissemination of information about the requirements of said chapter.
Section 69. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as Securities Fraud Prosecution Fund. There shall be credited to the fund all criminal penalties, fines and settlements not intended to compensate victims of securities fraud due the commonwealth collected under chapter 110A and any income derived from investment of amounts credited to the fund. Amounts credited to the fund shall be received and held in trust for investigations and enforcement of chapter 110A. Revenues and expenditures of the fund shall be reported on the Massachusetts management and accounting and reporting system and maintained by the state treasurer. The Fund shall not exceed a maximum of $500,000. Amounts collected in excess of the maximum shall be deposited in the General Fund.
Expenditures from the Securities Fraud Prosecution Fund shall be made without further appropriation but shall be approved in writing by the secretary of the commonwealth for the sole purposes of investigating or enforcing chapter 110A and the dissemination of information about the requirements of said chapter.
SECTION 3. Paragraph (e) of subdivision (2A) of section 23 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out clause (xiii) and inserting in place thereof the following 2 clauses:-
(xiii) acts as treasurer-custodian of the PRIT Fund and shall have the custody of the funds and securities of said fund.
(xiv) put a mechanism in place to monitor current market conditions to detect and immediately notify the board of potential high-risk corporate investments, so that the board can take action, when possible, to prevent investment losses.
SECTION 4. Section 407A of chapter 110A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 10, the words "exceed ten thousand dollars for each violation" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- exceed $25,000 for each violation and any fine collected shall be deposited in the Worker and Small Investor Protection Fund, established by section 68 of chapter 10.
SECTION 5. Section 409 of said chapter 110A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 5, the words "five thousand dollars" and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- $100,000.
SECTION 6. Said section 409 of said chapter 110A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 6, the words "three years" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- 10 years in the state prison.
SECTION 7. Subsection (a) of said section 409 of said chapter 110A is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-
Fines collected under this subsection shall be immediately sent to the state treasurer for deposit in the Securities Fraud Prosecution Fund, established by section 69 of chapter 10.