Section 1.  Chapter 7 of the General Laws, as amended by section 69 of chapter 165 of the acts of 2012, is hereby amended by inserting after section 62 the following section:-

Section 63.  (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of administration and finance shall direct all state agencies under the control of the governor or a secretary that are responsible for the issuance of public benefits or licensure to register for the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system.  The secretary shall further instruct said agencies and departments to use SAVE to verify whether applicants for a public benefit or license, whose documentation is not available or is questionable, are qualified for benefit eligibility purposes.

(b) Consistent with federal and state law, the registration for the SAVE system pursuant to this section shall be incorporated into a uniform system with such state agencies to determine common eligibility standards for applicants.

(c) The secretary of administration and finance shall, on or before December 31, 2013, provide a written report to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the clerks of the senate and house or representatives detailing the steps it has undertaken to implement SAVE.  Should a state agency required to register for the SAVE system under subsection (a) fail to implement the system prior to December 31, 2013, the secretary shall include in his report the specific reasons that agency has been unable to implement the SAVE program and a proposed action plan, including any legislation or requests for appropriations, to effectuate the registration of the SAVE system within 6 months.