SECTION 1.  Section 4 of chapter 29A of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 10 of chapter 93 of the acts of 2011, is hereby amended by inserting, at the end of the last sentence of the second paragraph, after the word “taxes”, the following:- and in no event shall payments for rent to a county, city, or town be less than the prevailing rent a commercial establishment would pay for comparable space in that geographic area, excluding that portion of said prevailing rent attributable to property taxes.

SECTION 2.  Section 4 of chapter 29A of the General Laws, is hereby further amended by inserting, after the fourth paragraph, the following paragraph:- Each fiscal year, appropriation for the purposes of court facilities rental payments to each county, city, or town shall be made by the legislature through individual line-items within the general appropriation act for that fiscal year. Under the provisions of this section in no event shall the legislature make an appropriation to any county, city, or town of a sum less than 102.5 per cent of the amount owed to such county, city, or town in the prior fiscal year.