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Protecting the Rights of Victims and Witnesses of Crimes II

SECTION 134.   There shall be a task force established to conduct a court-by-court assessment and develop an implementation plan regarding the designation or creation of separate and secure waiting areas in district and superior courthouses for victims and witnesses of crimes, as required under section 17 of chapter 211B and clause (i) of the first paragraph of section 3 chapter 258B of the General Laws.

The task force shall be chaired by both the executive director of the Massachusetts office for victim assistance and the chief justice for administration and management or their designees; the task force shall include, but not be limited to, the chair of the victim and witness assistance board or a designee; 1 victim, public member of the victim and witness assistance board chosen by the chairs; 1 community-based victim services provider chosen by the executive director of the Massachusetts office for victim assistance; the commissioner of capital asset management or a designee; 1 district attorney victim witness program director to be chosen by the president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association; 1 representative from the court clerks chosen by the chief justice for administration and management; 1 representative of the chief probation officers to be chosen by the commissioner of probation; 1 representative of the administrative office of the trial court fiscal department chosen by the chief justice for administration and management; and 1 representative of the court facilities department chosen by the chief justice for administration and management. Additional members may be appointed by the governor in consultation with the co-chairs of the task force.

The task force shall convene no later than January 1, 2011 and develop a plan for conducting the court-by-court assessment and a timeline to guide the completion of the implementation plan. The implementation plan shall include, but not be limited to, a definition of a separate and secure waiting area under section 17 of chapter 211B and clause (i) of the first paragraph of section 3 of chapter 258B of the General Laws; a list of courthouses that do and do not have separate and secure waiting areas that meet the definition; the feasibility of allocating existing space for use as a separate and secure waiting area in those courts that do not have waiting areas; a comprehensive fact-based analysis of the fiscal and operational impacts, if any, of such allocations; a recommendation on who would staff the safe and secure waiting areas; the fiscal impact of such staffing recommendations, if any; a timeline for designating or creating the spaces in those courthouses in which allocation of such space is deemed feasible; the sequence in which separate and secure waiting areas shall be designated or created in courthouses in which the task force has determined that such allocation is feasible; and a recommendation for interim accommodations, where allocation of such space is not deemed immediately feasible and such interim accommodations are practicable. For those district and superior courthouses undergoing new construction or substantial renovation as defined by the task force, the separate and secure waiting areas shall be included in the final plans and completed construction. The task force chairs shall file an implementation progress report every 365 days and a final plan to the chairs of the house and senate ways and means committees, the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on the judiciary and the clerks of the senate and house of representatives not later than July 1, 2012.