reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 43 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 2 - Authorization to Adopt a Plan of Government

Section 2. Any city, except Boston, which shall adopt, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, one of the plans of government provided in this chapter shall thereafter be governed by the provisions thereof; and the inhabitants of such city shall continue to be a municipal corporation under the name existing at the time of such adoption, and shall have, exercise and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, liabilities and obligations provided for in this chapter, or otherwise pertaining to or incumbent upon said city as a municipal corporation; provided, however, that sections one hundred and twenty-eight to one hundred and thirty-four, inclusive, shall apply to all cities of one hundred and fifty thousand or more inhabitants, as enumerated by the most recent federal decennial census except any city which has adopted the Plan E method of city government.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 3 - Effect of Chapter on Legislative Powers of Cities

Section 3. None of the legislative powers of a city shall be abridged or impaired by this chapter; but all such legislative powers shall be possessed and exercised by such body as shall be the legislative body of the city under this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 4 - Effect of Adoption of Governmental Plan on Ordinances, Etc.

Section 4. Ordinances, resolutions, orders or other regulations of a city or of any authorized body or official thereof, existing at the time when such city adopts a plan of government set forth in this chapter, shall continue in full force and effect until repealed, modified or superseded.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 5 - Existing Organization to Continue Until Superseded

Section 5. Until superseded under this chapter, the organization of the executive and administrative departments, and the powers and duties of the officers and employees of any city adopting any of the plans provided for in this chapter, and the fiscal year of such city shall remain as constituted at the time of the adoption of such plan; but the city council or other legislative body may at any time by ordinance, consistent with general laws, reorganize, consolidate or abolish departments, in whole or in part; transfer the duties, powers and appropriations of one department to another, in whole or in part; establish new departments; and increase, reduce, establish or abolish salaries of heads of departments or members of boards. This section shall not authorize any action in conflict with chapter thirty-one.  This section shall not authorize the city council in any city which adopts Plan D or E to take any action to accomplish any result not contemplated by the provisions of the said plans.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 6 - Wards, Number and Boundaries to Continue Until Changed Under Law

Section 6. The territory of a city adopting any of the plans of government provided for in this chapter shall continue to be divided into the same number of wards existing at the time of such adoption, which shall retain their boundaries until changed in accordance with general law.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 7 - Adoption of Plan; Filing of Petition Calling for Vote

Section 7. A petition addressed to the city council, signed by qualified voters of the city to a number equal at least to ten per cent of the registered voters at the state election next preceding the filing of the petition and in the form provided in section eight may be filed with the city clerk who shall forthwith transmit the same to the registrars of voters, who shall within sixty days certify the signatures thereon in accordance with the provisions of law and return the petition to the city clerk.  The petition shall be filed with the city clerk at least one hundred and forty days before the date of the election at which the question proposed by the petition is to be submitted to a vote of the voters.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 8 - Adoption of Plan; Form of Petition

Section 8. The petition shall be substantially in the following form:  To the city council of the city of  We the undersigned, qualified voters of the city, respectfully petition your honorable body to cause to be submitted to a vote of the voters the following question:—''Shall the city of adopt the form of government defined as Plan (A, B, C, D, E or F, as it is desired by petitioners), and consisting of (describe plan briefly, as government by a mayor and nine councillors elected at large; or government by a mayor and councillors elected partly at large and partly from wards or districts; or government by five commissioners, one of whom shall be the mayor; or government by a city council, one member of which shall be the mayor, and having a city manager; or government by a city council to be elected at large by proportional representation, one member of which shall be the mayor, and having a city manager; or government by a mayor and councillors elected partly at large and partly from wards or districts with the mayor and city councillors to be nominated in party primaries and elected in party elections, as the case may be), with elections to be held (in the case of Plan A, B, or C, annually, or biennially in every odd numbered year, as it is desired by petitioners, or, in the case of Plan D, E or F, biennially in every odd numbered year) (and in the case of Plan F) and the mayor and the members of the city council to receive for their services such salary, not exceeding (in the case of a city having a population of less than fifty thousand, $15,000 annually, or, in the case of a city having a population of fifty thousand or more, $20,000 annually) for the mayor and (in the case of a city having a population of less than fifty thousand, $2,000 annually, or, in the case of a city having a population of fifty thousand or more, $3,000 annually) for a member of the city council, as the city council may by ordinance determine, according to chapter forty-three of the General Laws relating to city charters?''  The petition may be in the form of separate sheets, each sheet containing at the top thereof the heading above set forth, and when attached together and offered for filing the several papers shall be deemed to constitute one petition, and there shall be endorsed thereon the name and address of the person presenting the same for filing.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 9 - Plan A, B, C, D or E; Proceeding After Filing of Petition; Submission to Electorate

Section 9. In the case of a petition for the adoption of Plan A, B, C, D or E, within seventy days after the petition has been filed with him by the petitioners the city clerk shall, except as provided in section ten, transmit a certified copy thereof to the city council, except that the signatures upon the petition need not be copied but in place thereof the city clerk shall state the number of signatures of registered voters thereon, certified as such by the registrars of voters. If any question arises as to the validity or sufficiency of the petition or of the signatures thereon, any registered voter of the city may appeal for a determination of said question to the applicable board referred to in section twelve of chapter fifty-three, by filing a notice of such appeal with the city council and with the clerk of the board of registrars of voters within eighty days after the date the petition was filed with the city clerk by the petitioners, and the board so appealed to shall within thirty days render a decision thereon. The board shall submit notice of its decision forthwith to the city council.  Any person aggrieved by the decision of the board under this section may appeal to the superior court sitting in equity, for the county in which the city is located; provided, that such appeal is filed in said court within ten days after such decision is rendered. It shall hear all pertinent evidence and determine the facts and, upon the facts as so determined, annul such decision if found to be erroneous in law or not warranted by the evidence, or make such other decree as justice and equity may require. The foregoing remedy shall be exclusive, but the parties shall have all rights of appeal and exception as in other equity cases.  No costs shall be allowed against the board unless the court finds that it acted with gross negligence or in bad faith.  Within ten days after the expiration of said period of eighty days, if no appeal has been taken, or after receipt of a decision on any appeal in favor of the validity or sufficiency of such petition or signatures, as the case may be, the city council shall, unless the number of valid signatures certified to it is found to be less than the number required by section seven, transmit such certified copy to the city clerk. If said certified copy is so transmitted to the city clerk at least thirty days before the regular city election, the question proposed by the petition shall be submitted upon the official ballot to a vote of the registered voters of the city at said regular city election, otherwise it shall be submitted at the regular city election next following the aforesaid election.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 10 - Number of Plans Considered at Election; Procedure on Subsequent Petitions

Section 10. The question of the adoption of not more than one plan may be submitted at an election. If, pending the determination of the question proposed by petition already filed, another petition presenting the question of the adoption of a different plan shall be presented for filing with the city clerk, no action shall be taken upon the later petition, except to file it, until after the submission to a vote of the question proposed by the earlier petition. Should the result of such vote be adverse thereto, proceedings shall then be had upon the later petition as though it had been filed upon the day when such vote on the earlier petition was cast.  If, pending the determination of the question proposed by a petition already filed under chapter fifty-four A, a petition presenting the question of the adoption of one of the plans provided for in this chapter shall be presented for filing with the city clerk, no action shall be taken upon the later petition, except to file it, until after the submission to a vote of the question proposed by the petition under said chapter fifty-four A. Should the result of such vote be adverse thereto, proceedings shall then be had upon the later petition as though it had been filed upon the day when such vote on the petition under said chapter fifty-four A was cast.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 11 - Majority Vote Required for Adoption of Plan; Effect of Adoption; Election of Officers

Section 11. If a majority of the total number of votes cast at a regular city election for and against the adoption of one of the plans of government provided for in this chapter shall be in favor of its adoption, this chapter, so far as applicable to the form of government under the plan adopted by the city, shall supersede the provisions of its charter and of the general and special laws relating thereto and inconsistent herewith, but not, however, until officers provided for under such plan shall have been duly elected and their terms of office shall have begun. The officers provided for under the plan so adopted shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of this chapter relating to such plan and in accordance with section fifteen, and their terms of office shall begin at ten o'clock in the forenoon of the first Monday of January following their election.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 12 - Petition for Other Plans After Unfavorable Election

Section 12. Should a majority of the votes cast be against the adoption of the plan proposed, no petition proposing the same plan shall be filed within four years thereafter; but a petition proposing the adoption of one of the other plans provided for in this chapter may be filed at any time thereafter, and, subject to section ten, proceedings thereon shall be had as though no prior petition under this chapter had been filed.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 13 - Duration of Plan Adopted

Section 13. Should any plan provided for in this chapter be adopted, it shall continue in force for at least four years from the beginning of the terms of office of the officials elected thereunder; and no petition proposing a different plan shall be filed until after three years and six months from such adoption.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 14 - Officials to Expedite Transition to Adopted Plan

Section 14. The mayor, the aldermen and the common council, the city council or other legislative body, and the city clerk in office when any plan set forth in this chapter has been adopted, or is proposed for adoption, shall comply with all requirements of this chapter relating to such proposed adoption and to the election of the officers specified in said plan, in order that all things necessary for the nomination and election of the officers first to be elected under the provisions of this chapter and of the plan so adopted may be done.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 15 - Dates of Elections Under Adopted Plan; Municipal Year Defined

Section 15. After the adoption by any city of any plan provided for by this chapter  (a) If the plan adopted provides for annual elections, regular municipal elections under said plan shall take place in the year following its adoption, and thereafter, on the Tuesday next following the first Monday of December in each year; provided, that if said city accepts or has accepted section one hundred and three A of chapter fifty-four all regular municipal elections under such plan following such acceptance shall take place on the third Tuesday of December in each year;  (b) If the plan adopted provides for elections to be held biennially in every even-numbered year, the regular municipal election next succeeding the adoption of such plan shall take place on the Tuesday following the first Monday of December in the even-numbered year next succeeding the year of its adoption, and regular municipal elections thereafter shall take place on the Tuesday next following the first Monday of December in every even-numbered year; provided, that in any such city which accepts or has accepted said section one hundred and three A all regular municipal elections under said plan following such acceptance shall take place biennially on the third Tuesday of December in every even-numbered year; and  (c) If the plan adopted provides for elections to be held biennially in every odd-numbered year, the first regular municipal election following its adoption shall take place in the odd-numbered year next succeeding the year of its adoption on the day fixed for the holding of such elections under the laws in effect in such city immediately prior to such adoption, and regular municipal elections thereafter shall take place in every odd-numbered year on the day fixed as aforesaid; provided, that in any city which adopts Plan E all regular municipal elections shall take place as provided in section one hundred and nine.  In each city adopting any plan provided for by this chapter, the municipal year shall begin and end at ten o'clock in the morning of the first Monday of January in each year.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 16 - Primaries and Caucuses Prohibited

Section 16. No primary or caucus for municipal officers shall be held, except in a city under Plan F. Candidates for mayor, city council and school committee, and assessors, if elected by the people, shall, except in a city under Plan F, be nominated in accordance with section six of chapter fifty-three.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 16a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 16a - Plan F; Primaries and Caucuses

Section 16A. The city primary and election under Plan F shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, be conducted under the provisions of the statutes of the commonwealth relating to party primaries and elections. The city primary shall be held on the sixth Tuesday preceding the regular city election. At said primary each political party shall place in nomination a candidate for mayor, six candidates for school committeeman, as many candidates for councillor-at-large as there are councillors-at-large to be elected, and a candidate for councillor from each ward of the city. There shall not be printed on the ballot at such city primary the name of any person as a candidate for nomination for the office of mayor, school committee, or city councillor, unless a certificate from the registrars of voters of the city wherein such person is a registered voter that he is enrolled as a member of the political party whose nomination he seeks is filed with the city clerk on or before the last day for filing nomination papers.  Nominations of candidates, other than party nominations for any offices to be filled at a city election may be made by nomination papers containing the name of the candidate, his residence with street and number, if any, the office for which he is nominated and the principle, if any, which he represents in not more than three words. If a candidate is nominated otherwise than by a political party, the name of a political party shall not be used in his political designation, nor shall the name of any organization which has been adjudicated subversive under section 18 of chapter 264, be used in his political designation.  Such nomination papers shall be signed in the aggregate by not less than such number of voters as will equal three per cent of the entire vote cast for governor at the preceding biennial state election in the electoral district or division for which the officers are to be elected, but in no event by less than fifty voters.  A nomination paper for city office shall be filed with the city clerk by a responsible person who shall sign his name and address. The written acceptance of the candidate shall be filed therewith.  Such independent nomination papers for city offices shall be filed not later than the last day fixed for the filing of party nomination papers for the city primaries.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 17 - Oath of Office; Time of Taking

Section 17. On the first Monday in January following a regular municipal election, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, the mayor-elect if elected by the people, the councillors-elect, and the assessors-elect if elected by the people, shall meet and be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. The oath may be administered by the city clerk or by a justice of the peace, and a certificate thereof shall be entered in the journal of the city council. At any regular council meeting thereafter the oath may be administered in the presence of the city council to the mayor, or to any councillor absent from the meeting on the first Monday in January; provided, that, under Plan E, the oath may be so administered to the mayor and vice-chairman at the same meeting at which they are respectively elected.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 17a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 17a - Salaries of Mayor, City Manager and Council

Section 17A. The mayor or city manager and the members of the city council shall receive for their services such salary as the city council shall by ordinance determine, and they shall receive no other compensation from the city, except that a member of a city or town council in a municipality with a city or town council form of government may receive a salary for serving as a municipal employee of said municipality in lieu of receiving compensation for serving as a member of said council. No increase or reduction in the salaries of mayor or city councillors shall take effect during the year in which such increase or reduction is voted, and no change in such salaries shall be made between the election of a new council and the qualification of the new council. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable in a city under Plan F.
MA Gen L ch 43 § 17b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43 - City Charters|Section 17b - Compensation of Mayor and City Council

Section 17B. In a city under Plan F the mayor and the members of the city council shall receive for their services such salary as the city council shall by ordinance determine, and they shall receive no other compensation from the city. The compensation for the mayor shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars annually in cities having a population of less than fifty thousand or twenty thousand dollars annually in cities having a population of fifty thousand or more. The compensation for city councillors shall not exceed two thousand dollars annually in cities having a population of less than fifty thousand, or three thousand dollars annually in cities having a population of fifty thousand or more.