Section 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there is hereby established a commission to study how the Department of Transitional Assistance and the Department of Unemployment Assistance may best connect unemployed workers in the Commonwealth with job openings. The commission must ensure that such means of connecting unemployed workers do not result in increased expenditures above what is already appropriated to the Department of Transitional Assistance and the Department of Unemployment Assistance.

Section 2. The commission shall consist of 10 members: the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, or their respective designees; the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on labor and workforce development, one member of the committee to be appointed by the senate minority leader, and one member of the committee to be appointed by the house minority leader; the The Secretary of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, or a designee; the president of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, or a designee; the president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO chapter, or a designee; and one member to be appointed by the governor.

The commission shall submit its report and findings, along with any recommendations and drafted legislation and regulations, to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on labor and workforce development, and the clerks of the house of representatives and senate within 12 months of the passage of this act.