Bill S.2101

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2206 FILED ON: 8/8/2009

SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2101

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act Text of the further amendment (Menard) to the Senate Bill mobilizing economic recovery in the Commonwealth (Senate, No. 2061).

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

“Eligible”, a bidder or offeror who is able to meet all requirements for bidders or offerors set forth in sections forty44A to 44H, inclusive of chapter 149 of the General Laws and who shall certify that he is able to furnish labor that can work in harmony with all other elements of labor employed or to be employed on the work.; provided, however, that eligible shall not include a bidders or offeror that, at the time of procurement, is: (1) debarred from bidding under section 44C of said chapter 149 or any other applicable law; (2) debarred by any other state or by any agency of the United States, as determined by the Commonwealth after diligent efforts; or (3) otherwise excluded from public contracting or subcontracting for the reasons set forth in subsection (c) of section 29F of chapter 29 of the General Laws; and provided further, that notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Attorney General may waive or adjust the preceding requirements if he determines in writing that special circumstances exist which justify such waiver or adjustment.

SECTION 45. (a) The provisions and definitions of terms in the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 shall apply to this section; provided, however, that to the extend such definitions are in conflict with or supplement the provisions and definitions of terms in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the provisions and definitions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 shall apply to this section.

(b) With respect to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after February 22, 2009, and continuing until the week ending prior to the last week for which 100 per cent federal sharing is authorized by subsection (a) of Section 2005 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for all claims except for entities described in Section 3306(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code, the following shall apply:

(1) In addition to the “state ‘on’ indicator” set forth in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 30A of chapter 151A of the General Laws, there shall be a “state ‘on’ indicator” for the commonwealth for a week if the director determines, in accordance with the regulations of the United States Secretary of Labor, that:

(A) the rate of insured unemployment for the period consisting of such week and the immediately preceding 12 weeks equaled or exceeded 6 per cent, regardless of the rate of insured unemployment in the 2 previous years; or

(B) (i) the average rate of total unemployment, seasonally adjusted, for the period consisting of the most recent 3 months for which data for all states are published before the close of such week equals or exceeds 6.5 per cent; and

(ii) the average rate of total unemployment (seasonally adjusted) for the three-month period referred to in clause (i) equals or exceeds 110 per cent of such average rate for either or both of the corresponding 3-month periods ending in the 2 preceding calendar years.

(2) There shall be a state “off” indicator for the commonwealth for any week if none of the requirements specified in paragraph (1) of this section and in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of said section 30A of said chapter 151A are satisfied.

(3) (A) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term “high unemployment period” shall mean any period during which an extended benefit period would be in effect if clause (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) were applied by substituting 8 per cent for 6.5 per cent.

(B) Effective with respect to weeks beginning in a high unemployment period, subsection (5) of said section 30A of said chapter 151A shall be applied by substituting: (i) 80 per cent for fifty per cent in paragraph (a); (ii) 20 times for thirteen times in paragraph (b); and (3) 46 times for thirty-nine times in paragraph (c).

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the governor may, if permitted by federal law, suspend the payment of extended unemployment benefits under this section, to the extent necessary to ensure that otherwise eligible individuals are not denied, in whole or in part, the receipt of emergency unemployment compensation benefits authorized by the federal Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and that the state receives maximum reimbursement from the federal government for the payment of those emergency benefits.

(e) This section shall not be implemented unless the director of workforce development determines that these provisions have been approved by the United States Department of Labor. The director shall immediately provide a copy of this section to the United States Department of Labor for review.

SECTION 46. Sections 4 to 11, inclusive, sections 14 to 28, inclusive and section 33 shall apply only to contracts advertised after the effective date of this act.