Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 2NNNN – Regional Water Entity Reimbursement Fund
[Text of section added by 2014, 259, Sec. 17. See also, Section 2NNNN added by 2014, 286, Sec. 13, below.]
Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 2NNNN
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
Section 2NNNN. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Regional Water Entity Reimbursement Fund, in this section called the fund. The fund shall be administered by the state treasurer and shall be funded by the commonwealth, by and through the state treasurer and subject to appropriation, to reimburse the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for its costs: in providing cities and towns, within its sewer service area, financial assistance in the form of interest free grants and loans to rehabilitate collection systems in cities and towns; and to structurally reduce infiltration and inflow into the tributary to the treatment facilities owned by the authority. Such reimbursement shall be in addition to the contract assistance amounts in section 6 of chapter 29C, subject to the limit set forth in said chapter 29C, but shall not be greater than 10 per cent of the maximum amount set forth in said chapter 29C.
[Text of section added by 2014, 286, Sec. 13. See also, Section 2NNNN added by 2014, 259, Sec. 17, above.]
Section 2NNNN. (a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a Climate Change Adaptation Infrastructure Investment Fund into which shall be deposited amounts credited or transferred to the fund by the general court or any other source including, without limitation, federal grants, loan repayments, investment earnings on monies in the fund and any other amounts required to be credited to the fund by law or by resolution or agreement entered into by the department of conservation and recreation, the office of coastal zone management or the department of fish and game. The fund shall be administered by the secretary of energy and environmental affairs. Monies deposited into the fund that are unexpended at the end of the fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund and shall be available for expenditure in the subsequent fiscal year.
(b) Amounts credited to the fund may be used, without further appropriation, for the costs associated with the operations of the division of waterways and the office of dam safety within the department of conservation and recreation, the department of environmental protection, the department of fish and game and its divisions and the office of coastal zone management for the costs associated with operations but such expenditures shall be solely for the purposes stated in this section and no funds shall be transferred from the trust to any other fund. The fund shall be used to provide grants or loans to agencies of the commonwealth and local governmental bodies to finance or refinance costs of inspection, repair and removal projects including, but not limited to, projects related to seawalls, jetties, revetments, retaining wall, and inland flood control; provided, however, that the secretary of energy and environmental affairs shall require a local match for any funds provided to a local governmental body. The amount expended from the fund during any fiscal year for the costs of employees shall not exceed 5 per cent of the funds expended from the fund in that fiscal year. As used in this section, a ”local governmental body” shall include a municipality, district or regional governmental unit and a commission or board of a municipality and a district or regional governmental unit.
(c) Annually, not later than September 1, a local governmental body or public flood control infrastructure owner may apply to the secretary of energy and environmental affairs for assistance in financing the cost of an eligible infrastructure project. Priority shall be given to projects that are owned or operated by agencies of the commonwealth or local governmental bodies.