Amendment #825, as changed to H3800

RTA/MassDOT Memorandum of Understanding

Representatives Peake of Provincetown, Linsky of Natick, Robinson of Framingham, Kane of Shrewsbury, Vega of Holyoke, Gifford of Wareham, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Sabadosa of Northampton, Meschino of Hull, Fernandes of Falmouth, Lewis of Framingham, Muratore of Plymouth, Finn of West Springfield, Carey of Easthampton, Garry of Dracut, Puppolo of Springfield, Crocker of Barnstable, Haddad of Somerset, Ferguson of Holden, Hay of Fitchburg, Minicucci of North Andover, Keefe of Worcester, Mark of Peru, Blais of Sunderland, Domb of Amherst, Ciccolo of Lexington, D'Emilia of Bridgewater and Hunt of Sandwich <w:p><w:r><w:t xml:space="preserve">moves to amend the bill by striking out section 51 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, for fiscal year 2020, each regional transit authority receiving state assistance pursuant to item 1595-6370 of this act and the Massachusetts department of transportation, hereinafter referred to as “the department”, shall develop a bilateral memorandum of understanding; provided however, the memorandum of understanding and distribution of  base revenue and any additional assistance or inflation increase shall be executed and distributed not less than forty-five days after the effective date of this act.

Any disputes about the content of a memorandum of understanding will be reviewed by the secretary of transportation and, if agreement cannot be reached, referred for resolution to a three-person committee consisting of the secretary of transportation, a member representing the Massachusetts Association of Regional Transit Authorities who is not an employee or board member of the regional transit authority whose memorandum of understanding is in dispute and a third person selected by the other two members; provided further, that a regional transit authority that does not enter into a memorandum of understanding for fiscal year 2020 within sixty days of the effective date of this act shall receive the same amount of money apportioned to the regional transit authority under item 1595-6370 in fiscal year 2019 until such time as agreement is reached on a memorandum of understanding or the dispute is resolved pursuant to the aforementioned dispute resolution process, whichever comes first; provided however, that for the purposes of this section, funding provided pursuant to section 72 of chapter 154 of the acts of 2018 shall not be considered a part of the money apportioned to a regional transit authority under item 1595-6370 in fiscal year 2019.

Based on a system of performance metrics to be established by the department, each memorandum of understanding shall incorporate performance targets most relevant to each regional transit authority’s unique system in the following categories: ridership, customer service and satisfaction, asset management and financial performance, including farebox recovery. Performance targets shall be measured against regional transit authority established baselines. Each memorandum of understanding will also include agreed upon timelines for implementation and reporting to meet targets and shall not be punitive.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #825, as changed to H3800

RTA/MassDOT Memorandum of Understanding