Section 102 Victim and Witness Assistance Board 1

Section 4 of chapter 258B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

There shall be a victim and witness assistance board consisting of 7 members who shall serve without compensation. Notwithstanding any provision of section 6 of chapter 268A to the contrary, the board shall consist of the attorney general or a designee, who shall serve as chair, and 6 persons to be appointed by the governor, 2 of whom shall be district attorneys and 4 of whom shall be members of the public of whom 3 shall be victims of a crime and 1 shall represent a community disproportionately impacted by high rates of violence and crime or a population underserved due to racial or ethnic identity; provided, however, that the 3 members who are victims of a crime shall be selected from a list of not less than 5 nominations provided by the executive director of the Massachusetts office of victim assistance. For the purposes of this paragraph, "members of the public" shall not include any current local, state or federal elected officials. Members of the board shall be selected from diverse ethnicities, races, religions, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic status and geographical backgrounds from throughout the commonwealth. All members shall serve for terms of 3 years and until their successor is duly appointed and qualified; provided, however, that any person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve only for the remainder of the unexpired term. Members of the board shall be eligible for reappointment.