SECTION 7. Section 2EEE of chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby repealed.
SECTION 8.
Chapter 32A of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
Section 24. (a) There shall be and set up on the books of the commonwealth a fund to be known as the State Retiree Benefits Trust Fund, hereinafter in this section referred to as the fund. The pension reserves investment management board established pursuant to section 23 of chapter 32, in this section called the board, shall be the trustee of and shall administer the fund. For the purposes of this section the secretary of the executive office of administration and finance, or his designee, and the executive director of the group insurance commission established pursuant to section 3 of chapter 32A or his designee, shall be members of the board. The provisions of section 23 of chapter 32 shall apply to the management of the fund. The fund shall be an expendable trust not subject to appropriation.
(b) The purpose of said fund shall be for depositing, investing and disbursing amounts set aside solely to meet liabilities of the state employees' retirement system for health care and other non-pension benefits for retired members of the system. There shall be credited to the fund any revenue from appropriations or other monies authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund, and any gifts, grants, private contributions, investment income earned on the fund's assets and all other sources. Money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.
(c) Upon request of the group insurance commission established, the board may expend amounts in the fund, without further appropriation, to pay the costs of health care and other non-pension benefits for retired members of the state retirement system; provided, however, that said group insurance commission shall remain responsible for administering the payment of, and determining the terms, conditions, schedule of benefits, carriers and eligibility for, health care and other non-pension benefits for retired members of the state retirement system.
(d) Upon authorization by the board, any other retirement system of the commonwealth may participate in the fund using the same procedures required for participation in the PRIT Fund pursuant to section 22 of chapter 32.
(e) The fund shall be revocable only when all such health care and other non-pension benefits, current and future, payable pursuant to this chapter have been paid or defeased.
SECTION 14. Section 25 of chapter 118G of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 24 and 25, the words "Health Care Security Trust Fund established pursuant to chapter 29D" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- General Fund.
SECTION 32. Section 2 of chapter 772 of the acts of 1987 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 33. Section 7 of said chapter 772 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 34.
Paragraph (g) of section 146 of chapter 204 of the acts of 1996 is amended by striking out, in line 2, the word "ten" and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- 20.
SECTION 37. Section 593 of chapter 26 of the acts of 2003 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 44. The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project oversight commission established pursuant to item 1599-1969 of section 2B of chapter 205 of the acts of 1996, shall be dissolved on December 31, 2007. Under the direction of the attorney general, the attorney general, the inspector general and the state auditor, or their designees, shall continue to meet on a quarterly basis to coordinate oversight activities relative to the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project.
SECTION 50. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall, on or before June 30, 2008, transfer $240,000,000 to the General Fund from the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund, established in section 2H of chapter 29 of the General Laws.
SECTION 51. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall, on or before June 30, 2008, transfer from the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund to the General Fund the lesser of: (1) the interest paid on the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund during fiscal year 2008, or (2) $75,000,000.
SECTION 52. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2008, the comptroller shall, according to a schedule developed in consultation with the state treasurer and the secretary of administration and finance, transfer $343,242,800 from the General Fund to the State Retiree Benefits Trust Fund, established in section 24 of chapter 32A of the General Laws.
SECTION 53.
** Item is being returned for amendment. Text of recommendations can be found in Attachment E.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall not less than 10 days after the effective date of this act, transfer $150,000,000 to the General Fund from the Health Care Security Trust Fund, established in section 1 of chapter 29D of the General Laws.
SECTION 54. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, and on or before June 30, 2008 the comptroller shall transfer the balance in the Health Care Security Trust to the State Retiree Benefits Trust Fund.
SECTION 55. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall, in consultation with the state treasurer, the secretary of administration and finance and the secretary of health and human services, develop a schedule for transferring funds among the General Fund, the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund established pursuant to section 2OOO of chapter 29 of the General Laws and the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, established in section 36 of chapter 118G of the General Laws. Not less than $789,650,000 shall be transferred from the General Fund to the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund and not less than $33,900,000 shall be transferred from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund to the Health Safety Net Trust Fund; provided further, that the executive office of health and human services shall make expenditures required for fiscal year 2008 pursuant to section 122 of chapter 58 of the acts of 2006. The schedule shall provide for transfers in increments considered appropriate to meet the cash flow needs of these funds. The transfers shall not begin before July 1, 2007 and shall be completed on or before June 30, 2008. The secretary of administration and finance, in consultation with the secretary of health and human services and the executive director of the commonwealth health insurance connector, shall on a quarterly basis evaluate the revenue needs of the health safety net program funded by the Health Safety Net Trust Fund and the Commonwealth Care subsidized health insurance program funded from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, and if necessary, transfer monies between these funds for the purpose of ensuring that sufficient revenues are available to support projected program expenditures. The secretary of health and human services in consultation with the secretary of administration and finance and the executive director of the commonwealth health insurance connector shall submit a quarterly report to the house and senate committees on ways and means and joint committee on healthcare financing which shall include, but not be limited to, the projected and actual expenditures and revenues for the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund and any transfers made between the Health Safety Net Trust Fund and the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund.
SECTION 57. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller shall, in consultation with the office of the state treasurer, the executive office of administration and finance, and the executive office of health and human services, develop a schedule and make a series of transfers not to exceed $346,000,000 from the General Fund to the MassHealth provider payment account in the Medical Assistance Trust Fund established pursuant to section 2QQQ of chapter 29 of the General Laws; provided that, the comptroller has determined that General Fund revenues are sufficient to accommodate said schedule of transfers. Any increase in payment made from said trust totaling an amount greater than $251,000,000 in fiscal year 2008 shall be made only after the secretary of the executive office of health and human services certifies that any said increase in payments from said trust shall not exceed the negotiated limit for section 1115 waiver spending. The secretary of health and human services shall notify, in writing, the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on healthcare financing of said certification within 15 days of such certification.
SECTION 59. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary and on or before October 1, 2007, the comptroller shall transfer to the General Fund the balance in the Health Care Quality Improvement Trust Fund, established in section 2EEE of chapter 29 of the General Laws.
SECTION 61. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2008, the comptroller shall transfer from the Health Care Security Trust established pursuant to section 1 of chapter 29D of the General Laws to the General Fund an amount equal to 100 per cent of the total of all payments received by the commonwealth in fiscal year 2008 pursuant to the master settlement agreement in the action known as Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Phillip Morris, Inc. et. al., Middlesex Superior Court, No. 95-7378 and 100 per cent of the earnings generated in fiscal year 2008 from the Health Care Security Trust as certified by the comptroller pursuant to paragraph (f) of section 3 of chapter 29D of the General Laws for certain health care expenditures appropriated in section 2.
SECTION 65. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, during fiscal year 2008 the comptroller shall not transfer 0.5 per cent of the total revenue from taxes in the preceding fiscal year to the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund as otherwise required pursuant to clause (a) of section 5C of chapter 29 of the General Laws.
SECTION 66. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the amounts transferred pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 22C of chapter 32 of the General Laws shall be made available for the Commonwealth's Pension Liability Fund, established in section 22 of said chapter 32. The amounts transferred pursuant to said subdivision (1) of said section 22C of said chapter 32 shall meet the commonwealth's obligations under said section 22C of said chapter 32, including retirement benefits payable by the state employees' and the state teachers' retirement systems, for the costs associated with a 3 per cent cost-of-living adjustment pursuant to section 102 of said chapter 32, the reimbursement of local retirement systems for previously authorized cost-of-living adjustments pursuant to said section 102 of said chapter 32, and for the costs of increased survivor benefits pursuant to chapter 389 of the acts of 1984. The state board of retirement and each city, town, county and district shall verify these costs, subject to the rules adopted by the treasurer. The treasurer may make payments upon a transfer of funds to reimburse certain cities and towns for pensions to retired teachers, including any other obligations which the commonwealth has assumed on behalf of any retirement system other than the state employees' or state teachers' retirement systems and also including the commonwealth's share of the amounts to be transferred pursuant to section 22B of said chapter 32 and the amounts to be transferred pursuant to clause (a) of the last paragraph of section 21 of chapter 138 of the General Laws. All payments for the purposes described in this section shall be made only pursuant to distribution of monies from the fund, and any distribution and the payments for which distributions are required shall be detailed in a written report filed quarterly by the commissioner of administration with the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on public service in advance of such distribution. Distributions shall not be made in advance of the date on which a payment is actually to be made. The state board of retirement may expend an amount for the purposes of the board of higher education's optional retirement program pursuant to section 40 of chapter 15A of the General Laws. To the extent that the amount transferred pursuant to said subdivision (1) of said section 22C of said chapter 32 exceeds the amount necessary to adequately fund the annual pension obligations, the excess amount shall be credited to the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund of the commonwealth for the purpose of reducing the unfunded pension liability of the commonwealth.
SECTION 67.
(a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, upon the request of the board of selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city or the mayor in any other city, the department of revenue may recalculate the minimum required local contribution, as defined in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. Based on the criteria established in this section, the department shall recalculate the minimum required local contribution for a municipality's local and regional schools and shall certify the amounts calculated to the department of education.
(b) A city or town that used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year which will not be available for use in the next fiscal year, or that will be required to use revenues for extraordinary non school-related expenses for which it did not have to use revenues in the preceding fiscal year, or that has an excessive certified municipal revenue growth factor which is also greater than or equal to 1.5 times the state average municipal revenue growth factor, may appeal to the department of revenue on or before October 1, 2007 for an adjustment of its minimum required local contribution and net school spending.
(c) If a claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue may reduce proportionately the minimum required local contribution amount based on the amount of shortfall in revenue or based on the amount of increase in extraordinary expenditures in the current fiscal year, but no adjustment to the minimum required local contribution on account of an extraordinary expense in the budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2008 shall affect the calculation of the minimum required local contribution in subsequent fiscal years. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include, but not be limited to, extraordinary amounts of free cash, overlay surplus and other available funds.
(d) If, upon submission of adequate documentation, the department of revenue determines that the municipality's claim regarding an excessive municipal revenue growth factor is valid, the department shall recalculate the municipal revenue growth factor and the department of education shall use the revised growth factor to calculate the preliminary local contribution, the minimum required local contribution and any other factor that directly or indirectly uses the municipal revenue growth factor. Any relief granted as a result of an excessive municipal revenue growth factor shall be a permanent reduction in the minimum required local contribution.
(e) The board of selectmen in a town, the city council in a plan E city, the mayor in any other city, or a majority of the member municipalities of a regional school district, which used qualifying revenue amounts in a fiscal year that will not be available for use in the next fiscal year, may appeal to the department of revenue not later than October 1, 2007 for an adjustment to its net school spending requirement. If the claim is determined to be valid, the department of revenue shall reduce the net school spending requirement based on the amount of the shortfall in revenue and reduce the minimum required local contribution of member municipalities accordingly. Qualifying revenue amounts shall include, but not be limited to, extraordinary amounts of excess and deficiency, surplus and uncommitted reserves.
(f) If the regional school budget has already been adopted by two-thirds of the member municipalities then, upon a majority vote of the member municipalities, the regional school committee shall adjust the assessments of the member municipalities in accordance with the reduction in minimum required local contributions approved by the department of revenue or the department of education in accordance with this section.
(g) Notwithstanding clause (14) of section 3 of chapter 214 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the amounts so determined pursuant to this section shall be the minimum required local contribution described in chapter 70 of the General Laws. The department of revenue and the department of education shall notify the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education of the amount of any reduction in the minimum required local contribution amount.
(h) If a city or town has an approved budget that exceeds the recalculated minimum required local contribution and net school spending amounts for its local school system or its recalculated minimum required local contribution to its regional school districts as provided by this section, the local appropriating authority shall determine the extent to which the community shall avail itself of any relief authorized pursuant to this section.
(i) The amount of financial assistance due from the commonwealth in fiscal year 2008 pursuant to chapter 70 of the General Laws or any other law shall not be changed on account of any redetermination of the minimum required local contribution pursuant to this section.
(j) The department of revenue and the department of education shall issue guidelines for their respective duties pursuant to this section.
SECTION 68. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services may, pursuant to section 16 of chapter 6A of the General Laws, acting in its capacity as the single state agency pursuant to Title XIX of the Social Security Act and as the principal agency for all of the agencies within the executive office and other federally assisted programs administered by the executive office, enter into interdepartmental services agreements with the University of Massachusetts medical school to perform activities that the secretary, in consultation with the comptroller, determines are appropriate and within the scope of the proper administration of Title XIX and other federal funding provisions to support the programs and activities of the executive office. These activities shall include: (1) providing administrative services, including, but not limited to, activities such as providing the medical expertise to support or administer utilization management activities, determining eligibility based on disability, supporting case management activities and similar initiatives; (2) providing consulting services related to quality assurance, program evaluation and development, integrity and soundness and project management; and (3) providing activities and services for the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, third party liability and recouping payments to third parties. Federal reimbursement for any expenditures made by the University of Massachusetts medical school relative to federally reimbursable services the university provides under these interdepartmental service agreements or other contracts with the executive office of health and human services shall be distributed to the university, and recorded in the state accounting system. The secretary of health and human services may negotiate contingency fees for activities and services related to the purpose of pursuing federal reimbursement or avoiding costs, and the comptroller shall certify these fees and pay them upon the receipt of this revenue, reimbursement or demonstration of costs avoided. Contracts for contingency fees shall not extend longer than 3 years, and shall not be renewed without prior review and approval from the executive office of administration and finance. The secretary shall not pay contingency fees in excess of $40,000,000 for state fiscal year 2008. The secretary of health and human services shall submit to the secretary of administration and finance and the senate and house committees on ways and means a quarterly report detailing the amounts of the agreements, the ongoing and new projects undertaken by the university, the amounts spent on personnel and the amount of federal reimbursement and recoupment payments that the university collected.
SECTION 71. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of administration and finance or his designee, hereinafter referred to as the secretary, the jury commissioner or her designee and the state secretary or his designee shall convene a working group to establish an administrative records list of all residents 17 years of age and older for the purpose of testing the feasibility of using such a list for the creation of jury pools and purging voter lists. The working group shall consist of representatives of appropriate executive and judicial agencies and others, as determined by the secretary. The secretary shall consult with and work collaboratively with the working group in carrying out this section. All state agencies possessing an electronic database which contains information relative to these persons including, but not limited to, the state secretary, the registry of motor vehicles, the department of revenue, the board of higher education, the department of transitional assistance, the office of medicaid, the department of public health and the division of unemployment assistance, shall provide in electronic form a copy of the database in a format acceptable to the secretary. In addition, a city or town that conducts an annual census shall provide the data to the secretary and all public and private colleges and universities shall provide the data from enrollment records. To the extent possible, the data shall include the name, residential address, mailing address, race, gender, social security number and date of birth of each person. In those cases where a federal or state waiver or authorization is necessary to provide this information, each agency or entity shall take all necessary steps to obtain such authorization or waiver, and no state agency shall unreasonably withhold such authorization or waiver. No information shall be provided to the secretary beyond that required to create the administrative records list. Nothing shall be included in a printed administrative records list that would indicate from which source list the information on an individual resident was derived. The secretary may secure and use additional lists from nongovernmental institutions and sources in order to create the administrative records list. The secretary, on behalf of the working group, shall provide in electronic form a copy of the administrative records list, without social security numbers, to the jury commissioner for the purpose of testing the feasibility of using that list for the creation of jury pools. The secretary shall provide, in electronic form, a copy of the administrative records list to the state secretary only for the purposes of testing its use to maintain voter registration lists and for testing its use as a source for street lists for cities and towns and to the Massachusetts state data center at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute for the purposes of testing the administrative records list and supporting efforts to improve United States Census Bureau population estimates for the commonwealth only. The secretary, the state secretary, the jury commissioner, the department of revenue, the Massachusetts state data center and all others who have access to data under this section shall treat all such data confidentially and such data and any record created, received or maintained from such data under this section shall not be a public record and shall not be disclosed except as provided in this section. Testing of the administrative records list shall not replace or alter any requirements of current law for creating jury pools, maintaining voting lists or establishing street lists, until further act of the general court. The jury commissioner and the state secretary shall submit an annual report to the clerks of the house and the senate, the chairs of the committee on election laws and the chairs of the committee on state administration and regulatory oversight until such time as the testing is complete. For the purposes of establishing an administrative records list, the commissioner of revenue shall disclose to the secretary the names, social security numbers and addresses of residents filing personal income tax returns, but such information shall not be disclosed if the IV-D agency has been provided with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm pursuant to section 5A of chapter 119A of the General Laws. For the purposes of this section, the information contained in the wage reporting match system may be disclosed to the secretary for the purpose of establishing an administrative records list. Only information required to create the administrative records list shall be provided to the secretary including, but not limited to, the name and social security number of each individual listed.
SECTION 73.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, and effective June 28, 1984, Patricia M. Walsh of 19 Jonathan street in the city of New Bedford shall be eligible for the insurance benefits made available to the divorced or separated spouses of an employee or retiree who has such health insurance or coverage as provided in section 11A of chapter 32A of the General Laws.
SECTION 77. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, pension benefits authorized pursuant to chapters 712 and 721 of the acts of 1981, chapter 154 of the acts of 1983, chapter 67 of the acts of 1988, and chapter 621 of the acts of 1989, for the compensation of veterans who may be retired by the state board of retirement, including individuals formerly in the service of the division of employment security whose compensation for that service was paid in full from a grant from the federal government and for the cost of medical examinations in connection therewith, for pensions of retired judges or their widows or widowers, for retirement allowances of certain employees formerly in the service of the administrative division of the metropolitan district commission, for retirement allowances of certain veterans and police officers formerly in the service of the metropolitan district commission, for retirement allowances of certain veterans formerly in the service of the metropolitan sewerage district, for retirement allowances of certain veterans formerly in the service of the metropolitan water system and for annuities for widows or widowers of certain former members of the uniformed branch of the state police shall be funded from the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund, established in subdivision (8) of section 22 of chapter 32 of the General Laws.
SECTION 81. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any agency, board, bureau, department, division, section, or commission of the commonwealth required to submit a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means pursuant to this act shall submit a copy of said report to the executive office of administration and finance.
SECTION 82. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be a special commission to investigate and study the commonwealth's liability for paying retiree health care and other nonpension benefits. The commission shall specifically examine further legislation necessary to comply with statement number 43 and statement number 45 of the Government Accounting Standards Board, a possible amortization schedule to fund the commonwealth's liability and, alternatively, state borrowing against future tobacco litigation proceeds to fund the commonwealth's liability for said retiree healthcare and other non-pension benefits. The commission shall consist of the chairs of the joint committee on public service, who shall chair the commission, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the secretary of administration and finance, or his designee, the state treasurer, or his designee, the state comptroller, or his designee, the executive director of the pension reserves investment management board or his designee, the house minority leader or his designee, the senate minority leader or his designee, and the executive director of the group insurance commission or his designee. The commission shall report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the clerks of the senate and house of representatives and to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before December 31, 2007.
SECTION 88. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of the executive office of administration and finance shall investigate ways to reduce administrative costs related to providing notice via first class mail to any person entitled to receive such notice pursuant to any general or special law. In conducting said investigation, the secretary shall consider the potential financial benefit to the commonwealth of allowing electronic notification in lieu of requiring notice only via first class mail and shall also consider alternative ways of notifying persons entitled to receive such notice pursuant to any general or special law who lack access to electronic communications equipment. The secretary shall report his findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the clerk of the senate, the clerk of the house of representatives and to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before December 31, 2007.
SECTION 91. Sections 7, 15, 39, 41 and 45 shall take effect on October 1, 2007.
SECTION 93. Except as otherwise specified, this act shall take effect as of July 1, 2007.