HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 776        FILED ON: 1/17/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1617

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Denise Provost

_________________

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 to support educational opportunity for all.

_______________

PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 776        FILED ON: 1/17/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1617

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2668 OF 2015-2016.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

An Act to support educational opportunity for all.

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 63 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 38FF the following section:

SECTION 38GG. (a) Any private institution of higher learning that has an endowment fund with aggregate funds in excess of $1,000,000,000 shall be subject to an annual excise of 2.5 per cent of all monies in aggregate in said endowment fund.  For the purposes of this section an endowment fund shall be an institutional fund, which may consist of multiple funds, of a private institution of higher learning not wholly expendable by the institution on a current basis under the terms of the applicable gift instrument. All monies collected from this annual excise shall be deposited in the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund established by subsection (b) of this section. 

(b)  There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund, hereinafter called the fund.  The fund shall be administered by the executive office of education, as directed by the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees established in subsection (c), and in consultation with the department of higher education and the department of early education and care. The fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes of subsidizing the cost of higher education, early education and child care for lower-income and middle-class residents of the commonwealth.  No expenditure from the fund shall cause the fund to be in deficiency at the close of a fiscal year.

(c)  The Educational Opportunity Trust Fund shall be managed by a board to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees, hereby established, which shall have general supervision of the trust and shall direct all expenditures from the fund. The full duties and obligations of the board shall be set forth in a declaration of trust to be adopted by the board. The board of trustees shall consist of 7 trustees, including the commissioner of the department of higher education or a designee, the commissioner of the department of early education & care or a designee, and 5 additional trustees appointed by the secretary of education, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in higher education, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in early education and child care, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in representing the child care workforce as a leader in a labor organization, 1 of whom shall be an employee of a Massachusetts community college as defined in section 10 of Chapter 15A, and 1 of whom shall be an employee of a private institution of higher learning subject to the annual excise tax established in subsection (a) of this section.  The appointed trustees shall serve for terms of two years. Trustees shall be eligible for reappointment. The members of the board shall elect 1 of the trustees to serve as the chair.