SENATE DOCKET, NO. 682        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1280

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Jason M. Lewis

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to police training.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 682        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1280

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

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An Act relative to police training.

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 6 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 116 the following section:-

Section 116 1/2. (a) Sums for the estimated expenses of providing annual in-service specialized and statutorily-mandated training programs conducted by the Municipal Police Training Committee for veteran and reserve municipal police officers and for those officers employed by agencies of the commonwealth who exercise police powers and receive this training from the Municipal Police Training Committee, including but not limited to environmental police officers and campus police officers of the University of Massachusetts and state universities who exercise police powers, shall be paid to the commissioner of insurance by property and casualty insurance companies writing motor vehicle insurance policies in the commonwealth by means of a policy surcharge imposed upon the policyholder of any private passenger automobile policy issued by any property and casualty insurance company writing motor vehicle insurance policies in the commonwealth. These programs shall include new recruit training provided by the Municipal Police Training Committee; development and delivery of distance learning programs by the Municipal Police Training Committee; a standards and evaluations program for training courses and instructors of or certified by the Municipal Police Training Committee; the development and updating of training programs including curricula by the Municipal Police Training Committee, hiring, equipping, and training new state police recruits; and the development and operation of a state police cadet program including the hiring, equipping, and training of state police cadets, subject to appropriation, and the estimated cost of fringe benefits associated with this training hiring and employment. Specialized trainings by the Municipal Police Training Committee shall include 2-day mental health training for new police recruits, covering mental health diagnoses and symptoms and de-escalation skills. Not less than twenty five percent of the aggregate amount of said surcharge shall be transferred to the Department of Mental Health for the administration of services supporting police departments in responding to mental health crises in communities, including Crisis Intervention Team training, the establishment of regional Crisis Intervention Team Training and Technical Assistance Centers. The Municipal Police Training Committee and the Department of Mental Health may each allocate a portion or all of the funds resulting from said surcharge towards the development of a statewide Institute on Community Policing and Behavioral Health that would establish best practices in police response to people with mental illness and provide training and technical support. The amount of any surcharge shall be separately stated on either a billing or policy declaration sent to an insured. The rate of the policy surcharge shall be determined and adjusted annually by the commissioner of insurance to a rate sufficient to generate a surcharge to fund the expenses estimated by the secretary of public safety and security for the purposes described above.

(b) The policy surcharge shall be collected and remitted to the commissioner of insurance by the property and casualty insurance companies writing motor vehicle insurance policies in the commonwealth on a quarterly basis on or before the twenty-fifth day of the month succeeding the end of the quarter in which it is collected. Any company failing or refusing to collect and remit to the commissioner of insurance any policy surcharge or whose surcharge payments are not postmarked by the due dates for quarterly filing shall be liable for a penalty of up to $100 for each day of delinquency, to be assessed by the commissioner of insurance. The estimated costs shall include an amount equal to the cost of fringe benefits as established by the secretary of administration and finance under section 5D of chapter 29. Any surcharge collected in a fiscal year but not expended by the municipal police training committee or department of state police for the purposes set forth in this section shall be retained by the commonwealth solely for use by the municipal police training committee or department of state police.