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.
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