Amendment #759 to H4100

Drunk Driving Trust Fund

Representatives Rogers of Norwood, Lawn of Watertown, Ashe of Longmeadow, Levy of Marlborough and Diehl of Whitman move to amend the bill by inserting the following section:

"Section ##. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Victims of Drunk Driving Trust Fund. The fund shall consist of monies paid to the courts pursuant to the third paragraph of subparagraph (1) of paragraph (a) of subdivision (1) of section 24 of chapter 90, together with any interest or earnings accrued on such monies through investment or deposit. The state treasurer shall be the custodian of the fund and shall receive, deposit and invest all monies transmitted to him under this section in accordance with sections 34, 34A and 38 of chapter 29 in such a manner as to secure the highest rate of return available consistent with the safety of the fund, and shall credit interest and earnings on the trust fund corpus to the trust fund. The state treasurer shall transfer funds from the income and receipts of the fund to the victim and witness assistance board, as established in section 4 of chapter 258B, from time to time, at the request of the board. The board shall administer grants from the fund, without further appropriation, and may award them to community-based programs and public agencies in the commonwealth to provide counseling and support services to victims, witnesses, and their family members of crashes caused by persons driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  The board may also permit the allocation of funds for the purposes of impaired driving prevention, education, and training services.  The board shall develop, in conjunction with the department of public health’s bureau of substance abuse and the Massachusetts chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, written criteria for the awarding of  grants and other funding allocations, which shall be evaluated and, if necessary, revised on an annual basis. For the purposes of this section, the words “victim,” “witness,” and “family member” shall have the same meaning as defined in section 1 of said chapter 258B.

The board shall file a report detailing the amount of funds collected and expended from the fund along with a copy of the written criteria used to expend the funds to the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than February 28 of each calendar year. An amount not to exceed 5 per cent of the total funds deposited in the fund may be expended by the board for administrative costs directly attributable to the grants and programs funded by the fund, including, but not limited to, the costs of clerical and support personnel. Any unexpended balance of monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund but shall remain available for expenditure from such fund in subsequent fiscal years. No expenditure made from the fund shall cause the fund to become deficient at any point during a fiscal year."