HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 735        FILED ON: 1/17/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2824

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Natalie M. Higgins and Christine P. Barber

_________________

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 to support educational opportunity for all.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Natalie M. Higgins

4th Worcester

1/17/2023

Christine P. Barber

34th Middlesex

1/17/2023

Mindy Domb

3rd Hampshire

1/23/2023

Lindsay N. Sabadosa

1st Hampshire

1/24/2023

Manny Cruz

7th Essex

1/24/2023

Samantha Montaño

15th Suffolk

1/24/2023

Susannah M. Whipps

2nd Franklin

1/24/2023

Kenneth I. Gordon

21st Middlesex

1/24/2023

Patricia A. Duffy

5th Hampden

1/24/2023

Tram T. Nguyen

18th Essex

1/25/2023

Brian W. Murray

10th Worcester

1/25/2023

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/26/2023

Margaret R. Scarsdale

1st Middlesex

1/26/2023

James K. Hawkins

2nd Bristol

1/27/2023

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf

17th Worcester

1/31/2023

Ryan M. Hamilton

15th Essex

1/31/2023

Vanna Howard

17th Middlesex

2/3/2023

Carol A. Doherty

3rd Bristol

2/3/2023

Mary S. Keefe

15th Worcester

2/8/2023

Tricia Farley-Bouvier

2nd Berkshire

2/8/2023

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

2/21/2023

Erika Uyterhoeven

27th Middlesex

2/23/2023

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

10/17/2023

Danillo A. Sena

37th Middlesex

3/15/2024


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 735        FILED ON: 1/17/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2824

By Representatives Higgins of Leominster and Barber of Somerville, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2824) of Natalie M. Higgins, Christine P. Barber and others relative to the imposition of an annual excise tax upon certain private institutions of higher learning.  Revenue.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2931 OF 2021-2022.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

_______________

 

An Act to support educational opportunity for all.

 

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.Chapter 63 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 38FF the following section:

SECTION 38GG. (a) Any private institution of higher learning that has an endowment fund with aggregate funds in excess of $1,000,000,000 shall be subject to an annual excise of 2.5 per cent of all monies in aggregate in said endowment fund. For the purposes of this section an endowment fund shall be an institutional fund, which may consist of multiple funds, of a private institution of higher learning not wholly expendable by the institution on a current basis under the terms of the applicable gift instrument. All monies collected from this annual excise shall be deposited in the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund established by subsection (b) of this section.

(b) There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund, hereinafter called the fund. The fund shall be administered by the executive office of education, as directed by the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees established in subsection (c), and in consultation with the department of higher education and the department of early education and care. The fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes of subsidizing the cost of higher education, early education and child care for lower-income and middle-class residents of the commonwealth. No expenditure from the fund shall cause the fund to be in deficiency at the close of a fiscal year.

(c) The Educational Opportunity Trust Fund shall be managed by a board to be known as the Educational Opportunity for All Trust Fund Board of Trustees, hereby established, which shall have general supervision of the trust and shall direct all expenditures from the fund. The full duties and obligations of the board shall be set forth in a declaration of trust to be adopted by the board. The board of trustees shall consist of 7 trustees, including the commissioner of the department of higher education or a designee, the commissioner of the department of early education & care or a designee, and 5 additional trustees, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in higher education appointed by the President of the Senate, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in early education and child care appointed by the Speaker of the House, 1 of whom shall have demonstrated expertise in representing the child care workforce as a leader in a labor organization appointed by the President of the Senate, 1 of whom shall be an employee of a Massachusetts community college as defined in section 10 of Chapter 15A appointed by the Speaker of the House, and 1 of whom shall be an employee of a private institution of higher learning subject to

the annual excise tax established in subsection (a) of this section appointed by the secretary of education. The appointed trustees shall serve for terms of two years. Trustees shall be eligible for reappointment. The members of the board shall elect 1 of the trustees to serve as the chair.