SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2460

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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in Section 8, by striking out, in line 2, the word “section” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- “sections”; and in said Section 8, in proposed chapter 29, by inserting after proposed section 2PPPPP the following section:-

“Section 2QQQQQ. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term “target population” shall mean any person who meets not less than 2 of the following characteristics: (i) is under 25 years of age; (ii) is a victim of violence; (iii) is over 18 years of age and does not have a high school diploma; (iv) has been convicted of a felony; (v) has been unemployed or has had family income below 250 per cent of the federal poverty level for not less than 6 months; or (vi) lives in a census tract where over 20 per cent of the population falls below the federal poverty line.

(b)(1) There shall be a Justice Reinvestment Workforce Development Fund. There shall be credited to the fund any revenues from appropriations or other monies authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund and any gifts, grants, private contributions, investment income earned on the fund’s assets and all other sources. Monies transferred to the fund shall be continuously expended, without regard for fiscal year, exclusively for carrying out the purposes of this section. Money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

(2) There shall be a board of directors for the fund that shall consist of 13 members to be appointed by the secretary of housing and economic development, with the approval of the governor. The board shall be comprised entirely of individuals who belong to a demographic of socially and economically disadvantaged and historically underrepresented groups and not less than 6 of the members of the board shall be, or shall have been, members of the target population. The board shall include a combination of appointees with professional case management experience, entrepreneurial or business management experience, professional youth development experience, experience providing professional or vocational training or experience in labor market analysis. The members shall elect a chair and shall meet not less than bi-annually. Members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed by the fund for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties. Upon notification by the chair that a vacancy exists, the secretary of housing and economic development shall appoint, with the approval of the governor, another member to fill the unexpired term.

(3) The executive office of housing and economic development shall provide staff support to the board of directors. The total expenditure from the fund for administration, including salaries and benefits of supporting staff, shall not exceed 5 per cent of the total amount disbursed by the fund in any given fiscal year.

(c) (1) Concurrent with the submission of the governor’s annual budget, the department of correction shall publish on its website a breakdown of its prior fiscal year spending by functional category, including, but not limited to, food, medical expenses, facility maintenance, administrative costs, correctional personnel, rehabilitative programming and re-entry programming. The department of correction shall also publish a breakdown of its budget for the upcoming fiscal year as reflected in the governor’s annual budget proposal by the same categories and the governor’s office shall include a link to this data on its budget website.

Annually, the executive office of public safety and security shall calculate the aggregate annual population of inmates in state correctional facilities and houses of correction and shall calculate the average marginal cost rate per inmate among the department of correction and the houses of correction based on the actual marginal cost rates used by the department of correction and the houses of correction for their budgeting purposes. The executive office of public safety and security shall publish this data on its website.

(2) Annually, the secretary of housing and economic development shall determine the difference between the combined population of the department of correction and the houses of correction in fiscal year 2019 multiplied by the rate of total population growth of the commonwealth since fiscal year 2019 and the actual combined population of the department of correction and the houses of correction in that year. The secretary shall multiply the difference by the average marginal cost rate per inmate. Annually, not later than October, the secretary shall report this calculation to the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the senate and house committees on ways and means and the secretary of administration and finance. 

(3) An amount equal to not more than one half of the product of the calculation in paragraph (2), but not more than $10,000,000, shall be transferred, subject to appropriation, to the fund annually.

(d) Money in the fund shall be used for competitive grants for programs to develop and strengthen communities with a high percentage of individuals in the target population by creating opportunities for job training, job creation and job placement for those who face high barriers to employment. 

(e) Eligible grant recipients shall exhibit a model of creating employment opportunities for members of the target population or, in the case of programs serving a target population aged 20 years and under, demonstrate a model of building the skills necessary for future employment within such population. Models shall be supported by research and evaluation and may include: (i) transitional employment programs; (ii) social enterprise, pre-apprenticeship or other training programs; (iii) school-based or community-based high school dropout prevention and re-engagement programs; (iv) cooperative and small business development programs; and (v) community-based workforce development programs. Components of a successful program may include, but shall not be limited to: (i) job training in both soft skills and skills identified as lacking in growth industries; (ii) stipends or wage subsidies; (iii) serving as employer of record with private employers; (iv) case management; (v) cognitive behavioral therapy; and (vi) supports such as childcare vouchers or transportation assistance. The fund may give priority to programs that include access to housing stabilization services, addiction treatment and trauma-informed mental health care as relevant to the fund’s mission, but such services by themselves shall not be eligible for monies from the fund. Training programs that do not include in their grant application a strong presumption of full employment by a specific employer or entry into a bona fide apprenticeship program recognized by the commonwealth upon successful completion by each participant of such training program shall not be eligible for funding; provided, however, that high school dropout prevention and re-engagement programs shall not need to include such a presumption in their grant application.

(f) Not less than once every 5 years, the board shall review and, if appropriate, recommend to the general court, changes to the eligibility criteria of the fund, including the services provided by grant applicants.

(g) Annually, not later than October 1, the board shall provide a report of the grants given and a breakdown of expenditures made by the fund. The report shall be posted on the website of the executive office of housing and economic development.”.