Bill S.2112

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2073        FILED ON: 2/10/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2112

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

PRESENTED BY:

James B. Eldridge

_______________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
              Court assembled:

              The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:

An Act Establishing a State Emergency Response Fund.

____________ ___

PETITION OF:

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand and Nine

_______________

An Act Establishing a State Emergency Response Fund.


 

              Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 35JJ the following section:-

Section 35KK.   There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a State Emergency Response Fund to provide payment for expenses incurred by local governments as a result of activities associated with the preparation for and response to an emergenc y or disaster following a declaration by the governor if the local governmental unit or public or private property within the local governmental unit is in the area so designated under the declaration. The expenditure for such purpose from another source m ay be eligible to be repaid from the fund if the agency utilizing the fund has certified the necessity of such action to the director of the Massachusetts emergency management agency.  There shall be credited to the fund amounts appropriated to it for its purposes.   Monies in the fund shall be invested in the same manner as monies in the General Fund.  Interest earned on investment of monies in the fund shall be deposited in and credited to the fund.  Unexpended and unencumbered monies in the fund shall re main in the fund.  Monies in the fund shall be appropriated, administered and used solely as provided in subsection (b).

(b) Monies in the fund shall be expended at the discretion of the director of the Massachusetts emergency management agency and shall be used to provide funds to that agency.  Assistance under this section may be provided only during the 90-day period following the date of a declaration of a major disaster or emergency.  Monies in the fund may also be utilized to provide bridge funding i n anticipation of reimbursements from the federal government or another source.  Any reimbursement received for expenses paid from the fund shall be returned to and deposited into the fund.

(c) The fund may make low-interest or interest-free loans to loca l government al units to help fund all or part of emergency public works projects. Emergency public works projects shall include the construction, repair, reconstruction, replacement, rehabilitation or improvement of any public infrastructure damaged or ma de otherwise unusable within a declared disaster area. The loans may be used less any reimbursement from any of the following sources: (1) f ederal disaster or emergency funds, including funds from the federal emergency management agency ; (2) disaster or e mergency funds from the commonwealth ; (3) insurance settlements; or (4) litigation.