Amendment #12 to H4789

Imagination Library

Ms. Ferrante of Gloucester moves to amend the bill by adding the following sections:-

SECTION XX. Chapter 15D of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following sections:

Section 19. For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

“Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library”, a nonprofit organization that organizes the national Imagination Library program.

“Imagination Library of Massachusetts”, a comprehensive statewide initiative for encouraging preschool age children to develop a love of reading and learning.

“Qualified local entities”, an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library that agrees to fund up to 50 per cent of the costs of the local program.

“Nonprofit organization”, a not-for-profit organization that has received such designation from the Internal Revenue Service and that is awarded a contract with the department to implement this Chapter.

“State Program”, the Imagination Library of Massachusetts.

“The Fund”, the Imagination Library of Massachusetts Fund, established in section 2BBBBBB of chapter 29.

Section 20. (a) Subject to appropriation, within the department, there shall be established the Imagination Library of Massachusetts. Said program shall promote the development of a comprehensive statewide initiative for encouraging preschool age children to develop a love of reading and learning.

(b) The state program shall use its funds to provide, through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, 1 age-appropriate book to each registered child from birth to age 5 in participating counties. Books shall be sent monthly to each child's home at no cost to families.

(c) The state program shall contribute the 50 per cent match of the funds, if available, required of local programs participating in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

(d) The department shall administer the program and develop, implement, promote, and foster a comprehensive statewide initiative for encouraging children from birth to 5 years of age, inclusive, to develop a love of reading and learning.

Section 21. (a) The department shall coordinate contracts with a nonprofit organization focused on the promotion of reading by young children in the commonwealth to implement sections 19 through 22, inclusive.

(b) Said nonprofit shall:

1. Promote the statewide development of local Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library programs;

2. Coordinate with qualified local entities to ensure continual and increased enrollment;

3. Engage with community and nonprofit leaders across the Commonwealth;

4. Implement a statewide marketing and communications campaign, including but not limited to, an ongoing public awareness campaign to make donors aware of the opportunity to donate to the Imagination Library of Massachusetts as well as to make the public aware of the opportunity to register eligible children to receive books through the program; and

5. Coordinate the local match requirement for approved qualified local entities as well as the reimbursement of local program costs for books and mailing, as needed.

6. The nonprofit organization shall be authorized to solicit donations, gifts, and other funding to              financially support local Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library programs.

(c)  The department shall coordinate with the nonprofit organization to submit a report to the clerks of the house of representatives and senate, the house and senate committees of ways and means, the joint chairs of the committee on education, the executive office for administration and finance and the executive office of education. The report shall be submitted no later than March 15 annually and shall include: (i) the number of children enrolled by home municipality and county and the number of books that have been sent to enrolled children; (ii) the number of children whose books have been returned as undeliverable by home municipality and county; (iii) deposits made to, and expenditures made from, the Imagination Library of Massachusetts Fund established under section 2BBBBBB of chapter 29; (iv) the number of qualified local entities across the Commonwealth, their locations, the amount of their local match and local partners, if any; and (v) any information about the waiver of local match requirements, including the number of waivers and total cost.

Section 22. The Department shall coordinate with the awarded nonprofit organization to ensure that all personally identifiable information is handled in accordance with all state and federal laws and regulations.

The Department may promulgate regulations as may be needed for the implementation of the Statewide Imagination Library of Massachusetts Program.

SECTION YY. Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting, after section 2AAAAAA, the following section:-

Section 2BBBBBB. (a) There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate, non-budgeted special revenue fund to be known as the Imagination Library of Massachusetts Fund, which shall be administered by the secretary of education. There shall be credited to the fund: (i) revenue from appropriations and other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) funds from public and private sources such as gifts, grants and donations; and (iv) interest earned on money in the fund. Amounts credited to the fund shall be expended without further appropriation.  The unexpended balance in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall remain available for expenditure in subsequent fiscal years.  No expenditure made from the fund shall cause the fund to be in deficit at any point.

(b) Funds shall be made available to provide age-appropriate books on a monthly basis, at home, to each child registered in the program, from birth to their fifth birthday, inclusive, at no cost to families, in coordination with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, as defined in section 19 of chapter 15D. The secretary may subgrant funding from the Fund to qualified local entities.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #12 to H4789

Imagination Library