FILED ON: 3/28/2016

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2196

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

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

_______________

An Act Text of the Senate amendment (Senator Spilka) to the House Bill making appropriations for the fiscal year 2016 to provide for supplementing certain existing appropriations and for certain other activities and projects (House, No. 4116).

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.  To provide for supplementing certain items in the general appropriation act and other appropriation acts for fiscal year 2016, the sums set forth in sections 2 to 2C, inclusive, are hereby appropriated from the General Fund unless specifically designated otherwise in this act or in those appropriation acts, for the several purposes and subject to the conditions specified in this act or in those appropriation acts and subject to the laws regulating the disbursement of public funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016.  These sums shall be in addition to any amounts previously appropriated and made available for the purposes of those items. 

SECTION 2.

JUDICIARY

Committee for Public Counsel Services

0321-1510$25,000,000

0321-1520$1,100,000

SUFFOLK DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Suffolk District Attorney

0340-0198$81,853

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH

Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth

0521-0000$443,308

TREASURER AND RECEIVER-GENERAL

Office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General

0610-0050$70,000

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

Department of Fish and Game

2310-0200$870,000

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services

4000-0700$11,000,000

Department of Transitional Assistance

4400-1100$3,488,689

Department of Public Health

4590-0918$4,000,000

Department of Children and Families

4800-0015$2,686,662

4800-0025$144,197

4800-0038$3,226,463

4800-0041$8,830,544

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Department of Housing and Community Development

7004-0101$41,000,000

7004-0108$2,500,000

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

7061-9400$1,800,000

University of Massachusetts

7100-0200$10,901,699

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY

Sex Offender Registry Board

8000-0125$200,000

Department of Correction

8900-0001$1,000,000

OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER

Office of the State Comptroller

1599-3384$12,506,260

SECTION 2A.  To provide for certain unanticipated obligations of the commonwealth, to provide for an alteration of purpose for current appropriations and to meet certain requirements of law, the sums set forth in this section are hereby appropriated from the General Fund unless specifically designated otherwise in this section, for the several purposes and subject to the conditions specified in this section and subject to the laws regulating the disbursement of public funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016.  These sums shall be in addition to any amounts previously appropriated and made available for the purposes of these items. These sums shall be made available until June 30, 2016.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

Office of the Secretary of Administration and Finance

1599-4445For a reserve to meet the fiscal year 2016 costs of quarter point benefits authorized by collective bargaining agreements with the executive branch and ratified by the general

court$ 4,939,821

1599-4447For a reserve to meet the fiscal year 2016 costs of salary adjustments authorized by collective bargaining agreements with the executive branch that have not yet been ratified by the general court; provided, however, that no funds shall be expended from this item prior to ratification of the collective bargaining agreements by the general court              $11,373,102

1599-8910For a reserve for identified current year deficiencies documented by the sheriffs

…………………………$18,000,000

PLYMOUTH DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Plymouth District Attorney

0340-0802For costs associated with the moving and relocation of the Plymouth district attorney’s office …….....................................................................................................$2,409,170

SECTION 2C.I.  For the purpose of making available in fiscal year 2017 balances of appropriations which otherwise would revert on June 30, 2016, the unexpended balances of the appropriations listed below, not to exceed the amount specified below for each item, are hereby re-appropriated for the purposes of and subject to the conditions stated for the corresponding item in section 2 of chapter 46 of the acts of 2015.  For items which do not appear in said section 2 of said chapter 46, the amounts in this section are hereby re-appropriated for the purposes of and subject to the conditions stated for the corresponding item in section 2 or 2A in prior appropriation acts.  The sums re-appropriated in this section shall be in addition to any amounts previously made available for these purposes.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services

1599-0321$300,000

SECTION 3. Subsection (a) of section 2MMMM of chapter 29 of the General Laws, as amended by section 45 of chapter 46 of the acts of 2015, is hereby further amended by adding the following sentence:- Amounts credited to the fund shall not be subject to further appropriation and monies remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

SECTION 4. Section 47C of chapter 51 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following 3 paragraphs:-

The registry of motor vehicles shall provide data, as requested by the state secretary, for the purposes of maintaining accurate and complete voter lists.  Not less than every 2 months, the registry of motor vehicles shall electronically transmit to the state secretary all data requested by the state secretary relative to voter registration including, if available: (i) the name, current address, mailing address, date of birth, driver’s license or identification card number and telephone number; (ii) the date, time and nature of the last change to any such information; and (iii) any additional information requested by the state secretary for voter registration purposes and reasonably related to maintaining accurate and complete voter lists.

The state secretary shall enter into an agreement with the Electronic Registration Information Center for the purpose of maintaining accurate and complete voting lists; provided, however, that the agreement shall specify the terms and conditions of the commonwealth’s membership in the center.  The state secretary shall provide to the center the names, addresses and other data contained in the central registry and any information received from the registry of motor vehicles relative to voter registration.  Information sent to and received from the center shall not be a public record under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4. 

The state secretary shall implement, if practicable, a centralized system to manage and evaluate data received from the Electronic Registration Information Center to send required mailings to voters and residents identified as eligible but not registered centrally.  The secretary shall provide information to the election registrars in electronic form.

SECTION 5. Section 11 of chapter 61A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 10 and 11, the words “, prior to January first of each year,”.

SECTION 6. Said section 11 of said chapter 61A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 17, the words “February first” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- April 1.

SECTION 7. Section 87CC of chapter 112 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence.

SECTION 8. Chapter 120 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 16, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 16. A person committed to the department until the age of 18 as a delinquent child, if not already discharged, shall be discharged upon reaching the person’s eighteenth birthday. A person committed to the department until the age of 19 as a delinquent child, if not already discharged, shall be discharged upon reaching the person’s nineteenth birthday. A person committed to the department until the age of 20 as a delinquent child, if not already discharged, shall be discharged upon reaching the person’s twentieth birthday.  A person committed to the department until the age of 21 as a youthful offender, if not already discharged, shall be discharged when such person reaches the person’s twenty-first birthday. The department may continue to have responsibility for any person provided for in this chapter who is under 22 years of age for specific educational or rehabilitative programs and under conditions agreed upon by both the department and any such person, terminable by either.  Such programs shall be offered prior to the person’s discharge date as provided herein; provided, however, that a person may request and the department shall consider any such request for the programs described, for up to 90 days after person’s effective date of discharge, even if the person has previously declined to participate in any such program or the person’s participation in any such program was terminated for noncompliance; and provided further, that the department may reach agreement with the person, terminable by either, to participate in the a program described herein until the person attains the age of 22.

SECTION 9. Section 46 of chapter 151A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (c) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:

(c) The department shall disclose, upon request, such information in the following circumstances to:

(i) an employer, information concerning the employer’s record;

(ii) a claimant or the claimant’s authorized agent, information concerning the claimant’s own record;

(iii) the heads of the departments of career services, transitional assistance, revenue, veterans’ services, office of Medicaid and industrial accidents, information necessary in the performance of their official duties;

(iv) the heads of governmental agencies who are partners in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, information necessary to comply with performance reporting requirements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act;

(v) probation or parole officers working for a governmental agency, information necessary in the performance of their official duties;

(vi) the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury, information necessary to administer federal unemployment taxes;

(vii) the state police, including the state police violent fugitive apprehension section, and local police departments, identifying and locating information, upon request for the sole purpose of identifying and locating individuals wanted on default or arrest warrants. Only identifying information including, but not limited to, name, date of birth, all pertinent addresses, telephone number and social security number shall be made available to the state police and local police departments pursuant to this section;

(viii) the commonwealth health insurance connector authority, information under an interagency agreement for the administration and enforcement of chapter 176Q; and

(ix) the executive office of health and human services, information under an interagency agreement for the administration and enforcement of paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of section 69 of chapter 118E.

SECTION 10. Item 4000-0321 of section 2 of chapter 46 of the acts of 2015 is hereby amended by inserting after the word “system”, in line 25, the following words:-  ; provided further, that after providing payments due in accordance with the terms of the contingency contracts, the office may use available funds to support special MassHealth projects that will receive enhanced federal revenue opportunities, including MassHealth eligibility operations and systems enhancements that support reforms and improvements to the MassHealth programs; provided further, that any enhanced federal financial participation received for these special projects, including the Implementation Advanced Planning Document or other eligibility operations and systems enhancement that support reforms and improvements to the MassHealth program shall be deposited into this account.

SECTION 11. Item 4000-0700 of said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by inserting after the word “cases”, in line 33, the following words:- ; provided further, that MassHealth shall expend not less than $11,000,000 for payments in addition to its standard payment amount per discharge, or SPAD, above rate year 2013, or of reimbursement provided under any subsequent inpatient payment methodologies and for additional payments above its standard outpatient payment amount per episode, or PAPE, above rate year 2013, or of reimbursement provided under any subsequent outpatient payment methodologies to any acute care hospital that has greater than 63 per cent of its gross patient service revenue from governmental payers and free care as determined by the executive office of health and human services.

SECTION 12. Item 4590-0918 of said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 2, the figure “$14,000,000” and inserting in place thereof the following figure:-  $18,000,000.

SECTION 13. Said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby further amended by striking out item number 5046-0005 and inserting in place thereof the following item number:-  5046-0006.  

SECTION 14. Item 7004-0101 of said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by inserting after the word “costs”, in line 137, the following words:-  except the department may expend not more than $360,000 for the direct costs associated with the coordination and placement of homeless families in hotels and motels used as overflow shelter capacity and oversight of hotel and motel compliance with state requirements.

SECTION 15. Item 7035-0002 of said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 20, the words “Lawrence/Methuen Community Coalition” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- Family Services of the Merrimack Valley, Inc.

SECTION 16. Item 8900-0011 of said section 2 of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by adding the following words:- ; and provided further, that the commissioner of correction may allocate year-end net profits to the cost of the drug, substance abuse and rehabilitative programming.

SECTION 16A.  Item 9110-1630 of said section 2 of chapter 46 is hereby amended by adding the following words:- ; provided further, that the executive office of elder affairs shall report to the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than January 1, 2017 on: (i) enrollment data and any other information relevant to caseload forecasting for this item and 9110-1500 at current levels; (ii) projected utilization of services provided by this item and said 9110-1500 with eligibility expanded to include the individuals whose income does not exceed 275 per cent of the federal poverty level and with eligibility expanded to include the individuals whose income does not exceed 300 per cent of the federal poverty level; (iii) the projected fiscal impact of expanding eligibility to include the individuals whose income does not exceed 275 per cent of the federal poverty level and the individuals whose income does not exceed 300 per cent of the federal poverty level; (iv) program design considerations regarding the application of cost-sharing revenues to best support individuals in an expansion population of up to 300 per cent of the federal poverty level; and provided further, that the executive office of health and human services shall file a state plan amendment for section 1915(i) of the Social Security Act to maximize the opportunity for federal financial participation for any future expansion of eligibility for individuals whose incomes exceed current limits.

SECTION 17. Item 8900-0021 of section 2B of said chapter 46 is hereby amended by adding the following words:- ; provided, that the commissioner of correction may allocate year-end net profits to the cost of the drug, substance abuse and rehabilitative programming.

SECTION 18. Item 0330-0612 of section 2A of chapter 119 of the acts of 2015 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 7, the figure “2017” and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- 2016.

SECTION 19. Said item 0330-0612 of said section 2A of said chapter 119 is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 17, the figure “ 2016” and inserting in place thereof the following figure:-  2017.

SECTION 20. Section 54 of said chapter 119 of the acts of 2015 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 5, the word “March” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- November.

SECTION 21. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of health and human services, with the written approval of the secretary of administration and finance, may authorize transfers of surplus among items 4000-0320, 4000-0430, 4000-0500, 4000-0600, 4000-0640, 4000-0700, 4000-0875, 4000-0880, 4000-0885, 4000-0940, 4000-0950, 4000-0990, 4000-1400, 4000-1420 and 4000-1425 of chapter 46 of the acts of 2015 for the purpose of reducing any deficiency in those items but any such transfer shall be made not later than September 1, 2016.

SECTION 22. The salary adjustments and other economic benefits authorized by the following collective bargaining agreements shall be effective for the purposes of section 7 of chapter 150E of the General Laws:

(i) between the Sheriff of Essex County and the Essex County Correctional Officers Association;

(ii) between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local S-28 and S-29;

(iii) between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union;

(iv) between the Sheriff of Worcester County and the New England Police Benevolent Association, Local 550;

(v) between the Sheriff of Essex County and the National Correctional Employees Union, Local 123; and

(vi) between the Sheriff of Essex County and the Essex County Regional Emergency Communication Dispatchers.

SECTION 23. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, for fiscal year 2016, the health safety net office shall maintain eligibility criteria for the health safety net at the level in effect as of March 1, 2016.  For fiscal year 2016, the health safety net office shall continue to provide services to persons whose income is below: (i) 400 per cent of the federal poverty level and who are otherwise eligible for reimbursement and that shall continue to be reimbursable pursuant to this section; and (ii) 200 per cent of the federal poverty level and who are otherwise eligible for reimbursement and that shall continue to be reimbursable pursuant to this section without any cost sharing burden to the patient.  A hospital or community health center providing a service otherwise eligible for reimbursement by the health safety net shall be reimbursed if the service is provided up to 6 months before the date on which the application for reimbursement is submitted to the health safety net office.

SECTION 24. There shall be an interagency task force to make recommendations on the commonwealth’s ability to most accurately and efficiently count low-income students in public school districts, hereinafter called the task force. The task force shall develop recommendations on topics including, but not limited to: (i) accounting for low-income students who are not present in commonwealth databases serving low-income populations, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and transitional assistance for families with dependent children, or  TAFDC; (ii) overcoming existing obstacles and improving the ability of the commonwealth’s data systems to successfully identify matches between school enrollment rosters and enrollment in the SNAP, TAFDC, the department of children and families' foster care program and the office of Medicaid; and (iii) ensuring that there is no loss of federal Title I and other funds from school districts due to undercounting of low-income students.

The task force shall include 1 designee from each of the following: the Massachusetts office of information technology; the department of elementary and secondary education; the department of transitional assistance; the office of Medicaid; the executive office of health and human services; the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents; the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute; Project Bread; Health Care for All; and the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. The designees from the department of elementary and secondary education and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents shall serve as co-chairs.

The task force shall:

(i) identify best practices in the counting of low-income student populations in other states, including  assessing whether using probabilistic matching algorithms would improve direct certification rates in the commonwealth and  assessing whether there are other changes to the matching algorithm that would improve direct certification rates in the commonwealth;

(ii) identify all relevant data fields currently collected within each of the relevant databases in the commonwealth, and determining additional data needed in each of the databases that would improve the ability of the systems to generate successful direct certification matches including, but not limited to, expanded use of the State Assigned Student Identifier and additional name fields and recommendations for implementing any necessary changes to data fields included in the databases;

(iii) determine necessary steps to allow the commonwealth to identify partial matches with the Medicaid database and to implement those changes;

(iv) recommend methods to ensure that direct certification includes all relevant commonwealth programs;

(v) recommend methods to ensure the commonwealth is able to accurately identify students eligible for free meals and students with incomes up to 185 per cent of the federal poverty level; and

(vi) analyze the format in which data are received and reviewed by schools and school districts and the procedures used by schools and school districts to review the data, in order to determine whether there are ways to simplify procedures for direct certification and the resolution of partial matches at the local level.

The task force shall file its recommendations with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on education and the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than August 31, 2016.