AN ACT RELATIVE TO REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY FUNDING DISTRIBUTION
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to provide forthwith for regional transit authority funding distribution, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, for fiscal year 2021, of the $94,000,000 transferred in item 1595-6370 of section 2E of chapter 227 of the acts of 2020, $90,500,000 shall be considered operating assistance and distributed to regional transit authorities based on fiscal year 2020 distributions, in accordance with the fiscal year 2020 bilateral memorandum of understanding between each regional transit authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation; provided, however, that each regional transit authority shall receive operating assistance from this item of not less than the amount received in fiscal year 2020; and provided further, that notwithstanding the forgoing, $3,500,000 of said operating assistance shall be distributed to each regional transit authority using a formula based on total transit ridership, the population of its member communities and service coverage area, provided that the formula be unanimously agreed to by all regional transit authorities and approved by the department. The operating assistance amount shall be spent to advance the goals and targets in the fiscal year 2020 bilateral memorandum of understanding between each regional transit authority and the department.
Of the amount to be distributed under said item 1595-6370 of said section 2E, $3,500,000 shall be distributed as performance grants to regional transit authorities. The performance grants shall be distributed to regional transit authorities that best demonstrate compliance with, or a commitment to, the service decisions, quality of service and environmental sustainability recommendations from the report of the task force on regional transit authority performance and funding established pursuant to section 72 of chapter 154 of the acts of 2018. The department may require each regional transit authority to provide data on ridership, customer service and satisfaction, asset management and financial performance, including farebox recovery, and shall compile any collected data into a report on the performance of regional transit authorities and each authority's progress toward meeting the performance metrics established in the memorandum of understanding. The report shall be filed with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the senate and house committees on ways and means and the joint committee on transportation not later than July 31, 2021.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect as of July 1, 2020.
Approved, December 31, 2020.