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

Section 21C of chapter 59 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out paragraph (m) and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

(m) A town may appropriate from the tax levy, from available funds, or from borrowing, contingent on the passage of a ballot question under paragraph (g), (i>) or (k), but: (1) the statement of the purpose of the appropriation shall be substantially the same as the statement of purpose in the ballot question; (2) the appropriation vote shall not be deemed to take effect until the approval of the ballot question; (3) no election at which the question appears on the ballot shall take place later than the September 15 following the date of an appropriation vote adopted at an annual town meeting, or 90 days after the date of the close of any other town meeting at which an appropriation vote was adopted; and (4) after a contingent appropriation from the tax levy, a tax rate for a town shall not be submitted for certification by the commissioner under section 23 until after a ballot question under paragraph (g), (i>) or (k) has been voted upon, or until the expiration of the time for holding an election at which the question appears on the ballot, whichever period is shorter.