Amendment #160 to H3400

Public Benefit Application Integrity

[Sponsors] Mr. Bastien of Gardner moves to amend the bill by adding at the end thereof the following three sections:

“SECTION 1. The General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 117A the following new chapter:-- Chapter 117B  Public Benefit Application Integrity Section 1. Definitions. As used in this chapter the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:- “Federal Public Benefits,” the same meaning as provided in section 1611 of Title 8 of the United States Code. “State Public Benefits,” the same meaning as provided in section 1621 of Title 8 of the United States Code.

Section 2. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section or where exempted by federal law, on and after January 1, 2012, each agency or political subdivision of the commonwealth shall include the following on applications for benefits above the applicants signature, “I hereby swear (or affirm) under the penalty of perjury, that the information I have provided on this form is truthful and that any knowing misrepresentation shall be subject to reimbursement for any and all monies received through this application for the benefit of the applicant.”  (b) A person, who knowingly makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in an affidavit executed pursuant to this section shall pay the greater amount of a fine of not less than $1,000 or not more than the amount of the obtained benefit plus an interest rate of 8%, or shall be sentenced to serve not less than 6 months nor more than 1 year in the House of Corrections. Each time that a person receives a public benefit based upon such a statement or representation they make shall constitute a separate violation of this section. (c) It shall be unlawful for an agency or political subdivision of the commonwealth to provide a federal public benefit or state or local public benefit in violation of this section. Each agency or department that administers a program that provides state of local public benefits shall provide an annual report with respect to its compliance with this section to the auditor and to the House and Senate chairs of the joint committee on state administration and regulatory oversight.

SECTION 3. If any provision of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held by any court to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of the section are declared to be severable.”