Section 4C: Application of Sec. 12(h); tax exemption for corporation debt obligations and income therefrom; restrictions on directors affiliated with participating businesses or institutions
Section 4C. (a) The provisions of section twelve (h) of this chapter shall be deemed to apply to any and all proprietary information received by the corporation.
(b) Notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, and in consideration of the essential public function of the corporation, debt obligations of the corporation, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit made on the sale thereof, shall at all times be free from taxation of every kind by the commonwealth and by the municipalities and other political subdivisions in the commonwealth;
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections six and twenty-three of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A of the General Laws, a director who is affiliated with a participating business or participating institution within the meaning of this chapter may participate in a particular matter affecting the financial interests of said participating business or participating institution with which such individual is affiliated; provided, however, that (1) said particular matter is confined to the establishment, expansion, curtailment, termination, or other matter of general application involving a center or a particular component of a center, or of a program authorizing the lease or licensing of a center's facilities or the provision of services to customers, or of a technology partner program within the meaning of this chapter; (2) said particular matter does not affect the financial interests of said director, or an immediate family member or partner of said director; (3) the financial interest of said director's participating business or participating institution is substantially the same as the interest of other members of the class of participating businesses or participating institutions with which that director is affiliated; (4) said particular matter is not a decision to purchase from, sell to, borrow from, contract with or otherwise deal with said participating business or participating institution, in which case the provisions of the fourth paragraph of section three of this chapter shall apply; and (5) the interest of any said director's participating business or participating institution is disclosed in advance to the directors or, if not known or foreseen in advance by said director, then such interest is disclosed to the directors as soon as practicable after it becomes known or apparent to said director, and such disclosure is recorded in the minutes of the proceedings of the corporation, and a copy of the disclosure forwarded to the state ethics commission. Where a director participates in a particular matter as described in clause (1) and discloses an interest as provided in clause (5) of the preceding sentence, then any contract or acquisition or disposition of real property required to implement or prosecute said particular matter, to be made or awarded subsequent to such disclosure, and which could materially affect said disclosed interest, shall be made or awarded by the corporation pursuant to regulations which require open and fair competition therefor in a manner consistent with the purpose and intent of chapter thirty B of the General Laws; provided, that the term ''contract'' as set forth in the first clause of this sentence shall be as defined in section two of said chapter thirty B, subject to the stipulation that any agreement or dealing between the corporation and a participating university the purpose of which is to assist said participating university to assume an active role in furthering the public purposes of this chapter shall be deemed to be excluded from said term as a ''grant agreement'' as defined in said section two, and subject to the further stipulation that any cash donation agreement between the corporation and a participating business, the terms and conditions of which are disclosed as provided pursuant to clause (l) of section four of this chapter, shall also be deemed to be excluded from said term; provided, further, that the term ''acquisition or disposition of real property'' as set forth in the first clause of this sentence shall be as generally employed by section sixteen of said chapter thirty B, subject to the stipulation that any license agreement which is either subject to termination at the will of the corporation or of less than two years duration and nonexclusive to the licensee shall be deemed to be excluded from said term.