Budget Amendment ID: FY2013-S4-54
OTH 54
Play by the Rules
Messrs. Moore and Tarr moved that the proposed new text be amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new sections:-
SECTION __. The first paragraph of section 2 of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the second and third sentences and inserting in place thereof the following sentences:—
If the owner is a corporation or business entity, the application shall contain the name of the corporation or business entity, the full address, including the street, city or town, state and zip code, a federal tax identification number or social security number if the business entity is a sole proprietorship and does not have a federal tax identification number. If the applicant is a natural person, the application shall contain the name of the applicant, full residential address, date of birth, license number or identification card number issued by the registrar and such other particulars as the registrar may require. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter or in regulations adopted by the registrar, no registration shall be issued for a motor vehicle or trailer owned or leased by a natural person unless one of its registering owners or lessees holds a valid license, social security card issued by Social Security Administration, a federal tax identification number or other proof of legal presence. The registrar shall provide by regulation for exemptions for out-of-state students, military personnel, senior citizens and disabled persons.
SECTION __. Section 12 of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting in place thereof the following subsections:—
(a) Whoever knowingly employs for hire as a motor vehicle operator any person not licensed in accordance with this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 for a first offense, or, for a second or subsequent offense by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,000 or imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 1 year, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) Whoever knowingly permits a motor vehicle owned by him or under his control to be operated by a person who is unlicensed or whose license has been suspended or revoked shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 1 year for a first offense, or, for a second or subsequent offense by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,000 or imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years, or both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION __. Section 20 of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 10, the words “of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000” and inserting in place thereof the following:-— by a fine of not more than $500 for a first offense, by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000, for a second offense, by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,000, for any subsequent offense.
SECTION __. Section 24B of chapter 90 of the general laws is hereby amended by inserting, after the first paragraph, the following paragraph:—
Whoever falsely makes forges or counterfeits a learner’s permit, a license to operate motor vehicles or an identification card issued under section 8E with the intent to distribute such learner’s permit, license to operate motor vehicles or identification card or assists another to do so shall be punished as follows: (i) for the above acts involving 1 to 5 documents, by a fine of not more than $2,500 or by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years, or both such fine and imprisonment; (ii) for acts involving 5 to 10 documents, by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment in state prison for not more than 5 years, or both such fine and imprisonment; (iii) for acts involving more than 10 documents, by a fine of not more than $25,000 or by imprisonment in state prison for not more than 10 years or both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION __. The registrar of motor vehicles shall investigate and report on any compliance issues with the implementation of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 occurring on January 15, 2013, as it pertains to the issuance of licenses to operate motor vehicles. The registrar shall file the report, accompanied by any legislative recommendations, with the clerks of the house of representatives and senate and the chairs of the joint committee on public safety on or before October 1, 2012.
SECTION __. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the MassHealth program within the executive office of health and human services shall: (i) continue to implement the state option provided by section 1902(ee) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. section 1396a(ee), to verify the citizenship or nationality of individuals declaring to be United States citizens or nationals; and (ii) continue to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE system, to verify the immigration status of applicants presenting an alien admission number or alien file number.
Consistent with federal and state law and notwithstanding (a)(ii) of this section, the SAVE system may be incorporated into a system for the executive office of health and human services and all agencies organized therein, to determine common eligibility standards for applicants. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the development of a system of common eligibility standards that includes additional agencies outside the executive office of health and human services, provided that such system shall include the use of the SAVE system.
(b) Annually, on or before February 1, or as further developments warrant, the executive office of health and human services or the executive office of administration and finance shall report to the senate and house committees on ways and means the status of efforts to implement a system to determine common eligibility standards for applicants.
(c) Annually, on or before February 1, the executive office of health and human services shall report to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the executive office for administration and finance the amount of money recovered from recipients, providers or other vendors who fraudulently received benefits or payments under chapter 118E of the General Laws.
SECTION __. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, to prevent fraud and misuse of public assistance benefits, the department of transitional assistance shall continue to:
(1) consistent with federal and state law, require all applicants for benefits to declare in writing under penalty of perjury whether the individual is a citizen of the United States and if not whether the individual meets applicable immigration status requirements; provided, however, that noncitizens shall be required to provide documentation from the United States Department of Homeland Security or such other documents as the department determines constitutes reasonable evidence of required immigration status; provided further, that consistent with federal and state law, the state shall provide a reasonable opportunity to submit evidence of required immigration status and will not delay, deny, reduce or terminate benefits on the basis of immigration status until such verification is provided; provided further, that the department of transitional assistance shall use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements or SAVE system to verify the immigration status of any noncitizen whose documentation includes an alien registration number to determine whether the individual meets noncitizen requirements for benefit eligibility purposes and shall verify the social security number of each individual seeking benefits, citizens as well as noncitizens, in accordance with procedures established by the Social Security Administration;
(2) implement data matching with the department of revenue, the department of children and families, the division of unemployment assistance and any other relevant state agencies to verify financial and categorical eligibility criteria;
(3) cooperate fully with the food and nutrition service of the United States Department of Agriculture in pursuing and prosecuting vendor fraud;
(4) refer all credible reports of fraud received from its fraud hotline or any other source to the bureau of special investigations for investigation in accordance with protocols for prioritizing cases;
(5) pursue, to the fullest extent possible, consistent with protocols for prioritizing cases, administrative disqualification penalties for instances of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and cash assistance fraud; and
(6) report annually to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the executive office for administration and finance the amount of money recovered by the department from those who received benefits fraudulently and the number of recipients who were issued partial or lifetime disqualifications.
SECTION __. Consistent with federal and state law, and to prevent fraud and misuse of unemployment benefits, the division of unemployment assistance shall continue to:
(1) maintain interagency agreements with the United States Social Security Administration and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security to utilize a primary verification system to determine citizenship or work authorization at the time of new claim filings through the SAVE system;
(2) require noncitizen claimants to provide their alien registration number; provided, however, that the division of unemployment assistance shall verify claimant information and alien registration number with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security;
(3) require noncitizen claimants who cannot provide an alien registration number during the new claim process to send copies of any official documents they have that authorize them to work in the United States to the division of unemployment assistance;
(4) institute a secondary verification process for claims for which a non-citizen does not have an alien registration number or if primary verification does not establish satisfactory status, using division staff to review the documents and transmit pertinent information from the documents for verification with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security;
(5) flag expiration dates of work authorizations or in the unemployment insurance system if such dates exist; and
(6) report annually to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the executive office for administration and finance the amount of money recovered by the division of unemployment assistance from those who received benefits fraudulently as well as the numbers of recipients who were issued disqualifications.
SECTION __. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, an applicant for the MassGrant program administered by the department of higher education office of grant assistance shall complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or other federal student loan program that verifies both financial and citizenship eligibility.
(b) The secretary of education shall continue to report annually to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the executive office for administration and finance the amount of money recovered by the department of education from those who received assistance fraudulently and the number of recipients who were issued partial or lifetime disqualifications.
SECTION __. (a)(1) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of housing and economic development shall continue to direct local housing authorities to:
(i) require an applicant to provide the local housing authority with access to reliable and reasonably obtainable documentation verifying the accuracy of information provided by an applicant on an application form or otherwise necessary at the time of determining final eligibility and qualification; provided, however, that income of applicants shall be verified by the procedure set forth in paragraph (2); provided further, that if the local housing authority has verified any information when making a preliminary determination of eligibility for the applicant, the local housing authority shall reverify that information on its final determination of eligibility and qualification; and provided further, that nonreceipt of requested documentation, without good cause established by the applicant, shall be cause for determining that the applicant is unqualified;
(ii) require an applicant to provide the names and current addresses of all landlords or housing providers for the applicant and the applicant’s household members during the 5 years immediately preceding the application to the date of the final determination; provided, however, that if after request the local housing authority has failed to receive a reference from a landlord or a housing provider, it shall notify the applicant of nonreceipt and the local housing authority shall request that the applicant use his best efforts to cause his landlord or housing provider to submit the reference to the local housing authority; provided further, that in the event that the applicant uses his best efforts but is unsuccessful, the applicant shall cooperate with the local housing authority in securing information from other sources relative to the tenancy; and provided further, that nonreceipt of a reference from a landlord or housing provider shall be cause for determining an applicant unqualified unless the applicant can show that he has used best efforts to secure the reference and that he has complied with reasonable requests for cooperation in securing other information;
(iii) obtain criminal offender record information for each applicant and, if necessary, check public records, credit reports, other sources of public information and other reliable sources; provided, however, that the local housing authority may conduct a home visit, which shall be scheduled reasonably in advance; and provided further, that observations by the person making such a visit shall be promptly reduced to writing and placed in the applicant's file; and
(iv) obtain information regarding eligibility or qualification from interviews with the applicant and with others from telephone conversations, letters or other documents and from other oral or written materials; provided, however, that all such information received shall be recorded in the applicant's file, including the date of its receipt, the identity of the source and the person receiving the information.
(2) The local housing authority shall assess financial eligibility by reviewing the applicant’s net household income. In reviewing the applicant’s financial status, the local housing authority shall assess net household income pursuant to regulations and guidelines promulgated by the department of housing and community development.
(b) The secretary of housing and economic development shall report annually to the senate and house committees on ways and means and the executive office for administration and finance the amount of money recovered by the department from those who received assistance fraudulently and the number of recipients who were issued partial or lifetime disqualifications.
SECTION __. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the house and senate committees on post audit and oversight shall conduct a joint hearing during each session of the General Court to consider the operation of, and compliance with, citizenship verification measures for the receipt of public assistance benefits. The committees may invite the secretaries of health and human services, administration and finance, education, labor and workforce development and housing and economic development, and any other relevant agency representative, to testify as to the agency’s activity, including, but not limited to, (1) compliance with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE system; (2) development of a system of common eligibility standards; (3) prevention of fraud and misuse of public benefits, including the amount of money recovered from those who received benefits fraudulently and the number of recipients who were issued disqualifications; (5) the status of interagency agreements; (6) and areas of difficulty in enforcing citizenship verification measures, including the net cost of such measures. The committee shall inform the membership of the General Court of the findings of the hearing by filing a report with the clerks of the house and senate.
(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of administration and finance shall prepare a report no later than September 1, 2012 on the total amount of MassHealth spending in fiscal year 2012 on individual, family, and other benefits for citizens of the United States who are residents and non-residents of Massachusetts: qualified immigrants; aliens with special status; and persons who have provided no documentation to fit into other categories. In calculating the amounts described herein, the executive office of administration and finance shall use generally accepted accounting principles encompassing all state spending. Said report shall be filed with the chairs and ranking minority members of the house and senate committee on ways and means and the clerks of the house of representatives and senate.