SENATE DOCKET, NO. 401        FILED ON: 1/16/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1519

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

James B. Eldridge

_________________

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 encouraging lawyers to practice public interest law.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

 

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

 

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

1/30/2017

Walter F. Timilty

Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth

2/1/2017

Eric P. Lesser

First Hampden and Hampshire

2/3/2017


SENATE DOCKET, NO. 401        FILED ON: 1/16/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1519

By Mr. Eldridge, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1519) of James B. Eldridge, Jason M. Lewis, Walter F. Timilty and Eric P. Lesser for legislation to encourage lawyers to practice public interest law.  Revenue.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

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

_______________

 

An Act encouraging lawyers to practice public interest law.

 

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. Section 6 of chapter 62 of the general laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after subsection (r) the following subsection:-

(t) A graduate of an accredited Massachusetts law school who is practicing public interest law as defined by the public service commission shall be allowed a credit equal to the amount of money that the graduate paid toward a law school loan in the preceding tax year; provided, however that the amount of the credit shall never exceed total amount of the loan.

SECTION 2. There is hereby established a public service commission. The purpose of the commission shall be to evaluate and categorize public legal services and to determine which legal services are provided directly to clients for the purposes of the tax credit enumerated in section 6 subsection (t) of chapter 62 of the general laws. Types of such services shall include but not be limited to, legal services corporations, public defenders offices, district attorneys’ offices, attorney generals offices and employment with other 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. The commission shall be responsible for making determinations as to the validity of the public legal services offered. The commission shall also conduct a study to encourage participation in public law services and furnish a study which will recommend tuition reimbursement programs to reduce law school loans. The commission shall be composed of the attorney general, who shall chair the commission, one representative appointed by the governor, the chair of the committee for public counsel or his designee, one representative appointed by the president of the senate and one representative appointed by the speaker of the house and one representative appointed by the chief administrative justice of the trial court. The commission shall file its report with the clerks of the house and senate by March 31, 2018.