Chapter 55

6005-0015 ...................................................................................................................... $5,555,806

Department of Education

7061-0010 ...................................................................................................................... $2,983,671

SECTION 3. Chapter 8 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 9A, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 9A. The state superintendent of state office buildings shall establish and charge a fee or service charge to nongovernmental individuals, entities and groups using the state house for meetings, receptions or exhibits, which may be waived at the discretion of the superintendent. The superintendent or his designee shall establish such fee or charge based upon the actual cost of use, including personnel, requests for security, preparation, equipment replacement, cleanup, utilities used and compensation for wear on the building. The superintendent or his designee may, in their discretion, require a nongovernment entity to enter into a written agreement indemnifying the commonwealth against any claims for casualty liability and may require the posting of an insurance bond. All monies received by the superintendent under this section shall be by check made payable to the State House Special Event Fund and shall be deposited in that Fund, established by section 35P of chapter 10; provided, however, that the superintendent may retain an amount not to exceed $200,000 annually to be expended after consultation with the state secretary for equipment replacement and educational and cultural programs at the state house.

SECTION 4. Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 35P, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 35P. There shall be established upon the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the State House Special Event Fund. The state superintendent of state office buildings shall establish and charge a fee or service charge to nongovernmental individuals, entities and groups using the state house for meetings, receptions or exhibits, which may be waived at the discretion of the superintendent. The superintendent or his designee shall establish such fee or charge based upon the actual cost of use, including personnel requests for security, preparation, equipment replacement, cleanup, utilities used and compensation for wear on the building. The superintendent or his designee may, in their discretion, require a nongovernmental entity to enter into a written agreement indemnifying the commonwealth against any claims for casualty liability and may require the posting of an insurance bond. All monies received by the superintendent under this section shall be by check made payable to and deposited in said fund; provided, however, that the superintendent may retain an amount not to exceed $200,000 annually to be expended after consultation with the state secretary for equipment replacement and educational and cultural programs at the state house.

SECTION 5. The first paragraph of section 11 of chapter 161A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence.

SECTION 6. Section 34 of chapter 262 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out clause (42), as amended by section 504 of chapter 24 of the acts of 2003.

[Section 14 was vetoed by the Governor, see House, No. 4127.]
SECTION 7. Said chapter 262 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 34 the following section:-

Section 34B. The fee for entering notice of intention to marry and issuing certificates thereof shall be at least $50 of which $46 shall be deposited in the General Fund of the commonwealth. A town by town meeting action, a city by city council action and a town with no town meeting by town council action may, by adoption of appropriate by-laws and ordinances, set a fee in excess of $50 but in no case shall an amount less than $46 be transferred quarterly to the commonwealth for deposit into its General Fund in accordance with the guidelines established by the commissioner of revenue. Cities and towns that have set fees in excess of $4 that are in effect on September 1, 2003 may add such excess to the $50 fee established in this section.

[Section 8 was vetoed by the Governor, see House, No. 4127, and subsequently overridden.]
SECTION 8. Item 1108-5200 of section 2 of chapter 26 of the acts of 2003 is hereby amended by adding the following words:-
; provided, that notwithstanding the provisions of this item or any general or special law to the contrary, the authority's share of such premiums for employees of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, to whom a collective bargaining agreement in force on July 1, 2002, other than because of a rollover, applies, shall be as provided in that agreement until that agreement expires but not including any rollover period.

SECTION 9. Said section of said chapter is hereby further amended by striking out item 8400-0222 and inserting in place thereof the following item:-

8400-0222
The registry of motor vehicles may expend not more than $3,500,000 from revenues collected from registry renewal fees for the purpose of maintaining registry services, including the operation of branch offices .............................................$3,500,000

[Section 10 was vetoed by the Governor, see House, No. 4127, and subsequently overridden.]
SECTION 10. Said chapter 26 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 713 the following section:-

Section 713A. Section 175 of this act shall take effect on November 1, 2003.

SECTION 11. Chapter 46 of the acts of 2003 is hereby amended by striking out section 129 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 129. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any city or town within the counties of Barnstable, Nantucket, Dukes and Bristol which accepts this section pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) may impose an embarkation fee upon all passenger ferry trips, excluding those ferry boats that are licensed to transport not more than 100 passengers, originating from a port located within such city or town, at a rate of $.50 per passenger per departing trip.

(b) The local appropriating authority, as defined in section 21C of chapter 59 of the General Laws, in each city and town with a port may submit to the voters at the next city or town election the following question, which the city or town clerk shall cause to be printed on the municipal ballot: Shall the (city or town) accept the law that allows the (city or town) to impose an embarkation fee of $.50 per passenger per departing ferry trip?" If a majority of votes cast on this question is in the affirmative, the city or town shall have accepted this section, but not otherwise.

(c) The operator of the ferry service shall pay the embarkation fee imposed under this section to the commissioner of revenue on a quarterly basis. The operator shall keep records on the number of passengers subject to the embarkation fee departing from each port that has accepted this section, and forward the records to the commissioner of revenue at the time of payment of the fee in order to determine how the money is to be distributed to each participating port municipality. The commissioner shall credit 100 per cent of the monies to a city or town which has accepted this section and does not share any harbor with any other city or town. If a city or town has no ferry service but shares a harbor with a city or town which has accepted this section, 25 per cent shall be paid to that city or town, and the remaining 75 per cent shall be distributed to the city or town which voted to accept this section. All sums received by the commissioner under this section as embarkation fees, penalties or forfeitures, interest, costs of suit and fines shall be distributed, credited and paid by the state treasurer at least quarterly upon certification of the commissioner to each city or town that has accepted this section.

(d) Any city or town which receives monies from this section shall deposit them in a special fund, to be solely appropriated for the purpose of mitigating the impacts of ferry service on the city or town. Monies deposited may be appropriated for services including, but not limited to, providing harbor services, public safety protection, emergency services or infrastructure improvements within and around the harbor of any city or town which receives monies from this section.

(e) Commuter excursion fares and school-related rates shall be exempt from the embarkation fee. For the purposes of this section, "commuter fare" shall mean any fare paid for through the purchase of a book of multiple tickets or through the Steamship Authority's Islands Preferred Excursion Program.

(f) This section shall take effect in a city or town on January 1 of the calendar year following its acceptance of subsections(b) and (c).

SECTION 12. Said chapter 46 is hereby further amended by striking out section 138 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 138. There shall be a special commission to investigate, study and make legislative recommendations on the adequacy and efficiency of laws and regulations governing public construction projects. The commission shall consist of 20 members, 1 of whom shall be appointed by the governor who shall serve as co-chairman of the commission; 3 members of the senate, 1 of whom shall serve as co-chairman of the commission and 1 of whom shall be appointed by the minority leader; 3 members of the house of representatives, 1 of whom shall serve as co-chairman of the commission and 1 of whom shall be appointed by the minority leader; the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance; the inspector general; the chairperson of the Massachusetts Municipal Association or his designee; the president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council or his designee; the president of the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts or his designee; the president of the Building Trades Employers Association or his designee; the president of Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts or his designee; the president of Construction Industries of Massachusetts or his designee; the president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO or his designee; the president of Women in the Building Trades or his designee; the president of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors or his designee; the president of the Massachusetts Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors or his designee and the executive director of the Boston Society of Architects or his designee. The commission shall file a report on the results of its study, together with its recommendations, if any, and drafts of legislation necessary to carry such recommendations into effect, with the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate not later than January 15, 2004.

SECTION 13. Notwithstanding section 18 of chapter 91 of the General Laws, or any other general or special law to the contrary, the department of environmental protection may enter into memoranda of understanding with any political subdivision concerning the development or use of property owned by that political subdivision for nonwater dependent uses and the licensure of any project involving any such property. If such a memorandum of understanding has been approved by the secretary of environmental affairs and published in accordance with section 2C of chapter 30 of the General Laws, it shall have the full force and effect of law, and any adjudicatory hearing or judicial review concerning a decision of the department to grant or deny a license under said chapter 91 for any project covered by such a duly approved and published memorandum of understanding shall be limited in scope to the question whether the project meets the criteria and conditions set forth in the memorandum of understanding. This section shall apply to projects and licenses covered by memoranda of understanding that exist as of the effective date of this act and to adjudicatory hearings or judicial reviews concerning licenses issued for any project covered by such memoranda.

[Section 14 was vetoed by the Governor, see House, No. 4127.]
SECTION 14. Sections 6 and 7 of this act shall take effect as of September 1, 2003.

Approved August 21, 2003.