HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 5469 FILED ON: 12/14/2020
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5185
Section 101 contained in the engrossed Bill making appropriations for the fiscal year 2021 for the maintenance of the departments, boards, commissions, institutions and certain activities of the commonwealth, for interest, sinking fund and serial bond requirements and for certain permanent improvements (see House, No. 5164), which had been returned by His Excellency the Governor with recommendation of amendment (for message, see Attachment I of House, No. 5190). December 14, 2020. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)
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An Act relative to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service interruptions.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to prevent forthwith Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service interruptions, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
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. In fiscal year 2021, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shall, to the extent feasible, as part of the Forging Ahead service planning process, utilize any increase in revenue collections that results from the changes under sections 29 and 30 to prevent the elimination of transit services and closure of commuter rail stations and ensure the continued progress of capital projects of which substantial progress has been made. Not less than 90 days before any commuter rail or transit station closure, ferry closure or bus route elimination, the authority shall hold at least 1 public hearing in the community where the station or route is located. Nothing in this act shall prohibit the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from making reasonable service reductions to frequency or schedules; provided, however, that no such change shall unduly harm public transit riders or the communities served by the Massachusetts Bay Transpiration Authority. If, after the effective date of this act, the authority receives additional federal funding in response to the COVID-19 emergency, the authority shall make reasonable efforts, consistent with any federal or state requirements, to prioritize the use of such funding for the restoration of any capital projects scaled back and any service eliminations or reductions that unduly impact ridership as a result of the Forging Ahead service planning process. The authority shall submit to the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the senate and house committees on ways and means and the joint committee on transportation a report detailing any proposed service reduction, route elimination, commuter rail station closure or capital project delay not less than 30 days before any such reduction, elimination, closure or delay is scheduled to begin.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect as of July 1, 2020.