reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 40 § 20 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 20 - Selling Price of Necessities; Accounting

Section 20. Articles furnished or services rendered under the preceding section shall be charged for, so far as practicable, at rates calculated to cover all costs and charges connected with the particular undertaking or service, and shall be paid for in cash at the time of delivery or performance. Any town acting under said section shall keep accounts, in the form prescribed by the director of accounts, covering separately, so far as practicable, the cost of the particular undertaking or service in respect to each commodity included therein; and a report in detail of receipts and expenditures connected with such undertaking or service shall be included in the annual report of the town treasurer.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 21a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 21a - Powers of Cities and Towns; Regulation of Working Conditions of Employees

Section 21A. A town by by-law and a city by ordinance, unless repugnant to the charter of such city, may establish the hours, days and weeks of work and the hours, days and weeks of leave without loss of pay, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, holiday leave, vacation leave and sick leave, for any or all employees of such town or city other than those appointed by the school committee; provided, that the number of working hours, days or weeks so established shall not exceed, and the number of hours, days or weeks of leave without loss of pay shall not be less than, the number prescribed by any general or special law applicable to such town or city on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-two.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 21b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 21b - Personnel Relations Review Board; Establishment; Purpose; ''grievance'', Defined

Section 21B. Any town by by-law adopted at an annual town meeting, any city having a Plan D or Plan E charter by ordinance adopted in accordance with the provisions of its charter, and any other city by ordinance approved by its mayor may establish a personnel relations review board and may empower such board to adjust the grievances of all employees of such town or city other than those appointed by the school committee; provided, that such a board, by such an adjustment, shall not involve the city or town in an expenditure of money in excess of the appropriation made for the use of such board. As used in this section, the word ''grievance'' shall be construed to mean any dispute between an employee of a city or town and his appointing authority arising out of an exercise of administrative discretion by such authority under the contract of employment between the employee and the city or town, except a dispute concerning a change in one or more of the terms of such contract and except also a dispute which is, or upon proper appeal would be, within the jurisdiction of the civil service commission or the contributory retirement appeal board. No ordinance establishing in any city a personnel relations review board required by this section to be approved by the mayor of such city shall be amended except by ordinance likewise approved.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 21c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 21c - Union Conventions; Leave of Absence

Section 21C. An employee of a city or town which accepts this section may be granted a leave of absence with pay while attending a convention of an employee union as an officer, delegate or alternate delegate.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 21c1/2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 21c1/2 - Employees Who Are Veterans; Participation in Veterans or Memorial Day Exercises; Time Off Granted; Exceptions

Section 21C1/2. An employee of a city or town which accepts the provisions of this section who is a veteran as defined in clause Forty-third of section seven of chapter four or is a member of a department of war veterans listed in section seventeen of chapter eight, and who desires to participate in a Veterans Day or Memorial Day exercise, parade or service, may be allowed and granted a reasonable and sufficient period of time off from his duties to attend and participate in such services or exercises. This section shall not apply to employees whose duties and services are critical and essential to the public safety as determined by ordinance or by-law, and the city or town may determine whether such time shall be with or without pay.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 21e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 21e - Municipal Charges and Bills; Due Dates; Interest

Section 21E. Any city or town may, by ordinance or by-law, and any district by vote of the district meeting, establish due dates for the payment of municipal charges and bills, and may fix a rate at which interest shall accrue if such charges remain unpaid after such due dates; provided, however, that the rate of interest shall not exceed the rate at which interest may be charged on tax bills under the provisions of section fifty-seven of chapter fifty-nine.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22 - Regulation of Vehicles; Penalties for Violation; Disabled Veterans and Handicapped Persons Excepted From Parking Violations; Taxicab Licenses

Section 22. Except as otherwise provided in section eighteen of chapter ninety and subject, so far as applicable, to section two of chapter eighty-five and sections eight and nine of chapter eighty-nine, a city or town may make ordinances or bylaws, or the board of aldermen or the selectmen or the town council may make rules and orders, for the regulation of carriages and vehicles used therein, and may set penalties for the violation thereof; and may set and receive an annual fee for each license granted to a person to use any such carriage or vehicle therein. No such rule or order shall prohibit the use of passenger or station wagon type motor vehicles whose gross weight is less than five thousand pounds and which are registered for commercial use, on ways, parkways or boulevards where noncommercial passenger-type motor vehicles are permitted to operate. Such rules and orders shall not take effect until they have been published at least once in a newspaper published in the city, town or county.  No penalty shall be imposed upon any disabled veteran or handicapped person, whose vehicle bears the distinctive number plates, or displays the special parking identification plate authorized by section two of chapter ninety or bears the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, for parking such vehicle on any way for a longer period of time than permitted by said ordinances, by-laws, rules or orders.  Except in the counties of Dukes and Nantucket every metered taxicab licensed under this section shall have the name or the trade name of the owner and the name of the city or town in which it is licensed painted on the sides thereof in letters not less than four inches high and one half inch wide.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22a1/2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22a1/2 - Parking Benefit Districts

Section 22A1/2. A city or town may establish 1 or more parking benefit districts, as a geographically defined area, in which parking revenue collected therein may be designated in whole or in part for use in that district through a dedicated fund in accordance with the purposes and uses listed in section 22A. A parking benefit district may be managed by a body designated by the municipality, including, but not limited to, a business improvement district or main streets organization.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22a3/4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22a3/4 - Designation of Parking Space for Veteran Parking at City or Town Hall

Section 22A3/4. (a) A municipality may designate a parking space at the city or town hall for the parking of a veteran in a motor vehicle that is owned and operated by the veteran and that displays a veteran registration plate issued pursuant to section 2 of chapter 90. The parking space shall be available during the normal business hours of the city or town hall for use by such veteran without charge. The municipality shall erect and maintain a sign designating such a parking space that shall bear the words ''Veteran Parking Only— this space is reserved for those who have served. Unauthorized Vehicles May Be Removed At The Vehicle Owner's Expense''. The parking space shall only be used by a veteran that meets the requirements of this subsection.  (b) A violation of subsection (a) shall be punished by a fine of $100 and the city or town may provide for the removal of a vehicle in the manner provided in section 22D. The penalty shall not be a surchargeable offense under section 113B of chapter 175.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22b - Acquisition and Maintenance of Off-Street Parking Areas and Facilities; Conditions; Exceptions

Section 22B. In a city or town that accepts this section and installs parking meters or coin-operated locking devices for bicycle parking, the city or town may acquire off-street parking areas and facilities by purchase, gift, eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or chapter eighty A, by lease not to exceed five years, or otherwise, and may pay for such acquisition or lease, including the cost of policing, constructing or reconstructing, surfacing, operating and maintaining such areas and facilities, and including any debt together with interest thereon incurred for such acquisition, in whole or in part and pay for the removal of architectural barriers in public facilities in accordance with the provisions of section thirteen A of chapter twenty-two, from any receipts from said parking meters or such devices and may in each year transfer or pay into its general funds from said receipts a sum or sums in lieu of taxes for the year in question upon the average assessed valuation of said areas and facilities for the three years immediately prior to the date of said acquisition, determined by multiplying each one thousand dollars of such average valuation or fraction thereof by the tax rate set for said city or town for that year; provided, that the off-street parking areas and facilities are located not more than six hundred feet from a building in which the principal activity is business, commercial, manufacturing or industrial in character, and which building is in a business, commercial, manufacturing or industrial zone, but is not more than six hundred feet from the nearest parking meter of any group of not less than thirty parking meters approved by the department of highways, or are located not more than six hundred feet from a public beach area.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22c - Off-Street Parking Lots; Installation of Parking Meters and Other Devices; Use of Receipts

Section 22C. Any city or town, having installed parking meters or coin-operated locking devices for bicycle parking under section 22A, may install parking meters in municipally owned or leased off-street parking lots and other devices for controlling the off-street parking lots. In a city or town that accepts this sentence, the city or town may use any receipts from those parking meters and other devices for the purpose of purchase or lease of additional parking lots, the care and maintenance of the parking lots, the purchase or lease of a commuter shuttle or commuter shuttle services between the parking lots and available public transportation, the care and maintenance of public transportation station accessibility improvements and in general for traffic control or traffic safety purposes, including payment for public liability coverage in connection with the purchase, lease and use of the municipally owned or leased parking lots and commuter shuttles or commuter shuttle services or any of the purposes and uses listed in section 22A.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22e - Lease of Air Space Above Structures and Facilities

Section 22E. Whenever the board or officer having charge of a structure or facility owned by a city or town, and not within the limits of playgrounds or lands held for park, conservation or similar purposes whether acquired under general or special law and irrespective of the date of acquisition, determines that the whole or any part of the airspace above such structure or facility is not required for the purposes thereof, such board or officer shall publish once a week for at least three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in such city or town an advertisement of such determination, identifying the structure or facility involved. Such advertisement shall invite sealed proposals for the leasing of such airspace for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years and for the construction of a building therein pursuant to basic drawings and outline specifications to be submitted with such proposal. Such advertisement shall also fix a time, not less than three months after the first publication of such advertisement, and specify a place, at which time and place such board or officer shall publicly open and read such sealed proposals.  Any provision of general or special law to the contrary notwithstanding, the city manager in the case of a city having a Plan D or Plan E charter, when authorized thereto by an affirmative vote of a majority of the city council, the mayor in the case of any other city, when authorized thereto by majority vote of the city council, and the selectmen in the case of a town, when authorized thereto by vote of the town at a town meeting, may lease, in accordance with whichever of the proposals so submitted is deemed most advantageous to such city or town, the whole or any part of the airspace determined as aforesaid to be not required for the purposes of such structure or facility and such parts of such structure or facility or the site thereof as may be necessary for structural supports and means of ingress and egress to and from the building to be erected in such airspace. Buildings and other things erected or affixed pursuant to the lease of any such airspace shall be taxed to the lessee thereof or his assigns in the same manner and to the same extent as if such lessee or his assigns were the owners of the land in fee and the value of the land shall be included in any such assessment.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22f (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22f - License Fees; Service Charges; Acceptance of Section

Section 22F. Any municipal board or officer empowered to issue a license, permit, certificate, or to render a service or perform work for a person or class of persons, may, from time to time, fix reasonable fees for all such licenses, permits, or certificates issued pursuant to statutes or regulations wherein the entire proceeds of the fee remain with such issuing city or town, and may fix reasonable charges to be paid for any services rendered or work performed by the city or town or any department thereof, for any person or class of persons; provided, however, that in the case of a board or officer appointed by an elected board, the fixing of such fee shall be subject to the review and approval of such elected board.  A fee or charge imposed pursuant to this section shall supersede fees or charges already in effect, or any limitations on amounts placed thereon for the same service, work, license, permit or certificate; provided, however, that this section shall not supersede the provisions of sections 31 to 77, inclusive, of chapter 6A, chapter 80, chapter 83, chapter 138, sections 121 to 131N, inclusive, of chapter 140 or section 10A of chapter 148. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any certificate, service or work required by chapters fifty to fifty-six, inclusive, or by chapter sixty-six. The fee or charge being collected immediately prior to acceptance of this section for any license, permit, certificate service or work will be utilized until a new fee or charge is fixed under this section.  The provisions of this section may be accepted in a city by a vote of the city council, with the approval of the mayor if so required by law, and in a town by vote of the town meeting, or by vote of the town council in towns with no town meeting.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 22g (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 22g - Funds Received From Fines for Handicap Parking Violations; Deposits in Account; Expenditures

Section 22G. Any city or town which has accepted the provisions of section eight J is hereby authorized to allocate all funds received from fines assessed for violations of handicap parking in said city or town to the commission on disabilities.  Funds so received shall be deposited by the city or town treasurer in a separate account and shall be used solely for the benefit of persons with disabilities. Said account shall be established by the city or town treasurer and shall be kept separate and apart from all other monies. Expenditures from said account, including accrued interest, if any, shall be made upon the recommendation of the commission on disabilities in accordance with the accepted procedures of the city or town for the disbursement of funds, including the approval of the mayor and city council or the town manager or board of selectmen. The city or town accountant shall submit annually a report of said account to the mayor and city council or the town manager and board of selectmen for review and a copy of said report shall be forwarded to the bureau of accounts.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 23 - Powers of Cities; Regulation of Erection and Maintenance of Balustrades; Penalty for Violation

Section 23. A city council may make rules and regulations for the erection and maintenance of balustrades or other projections upon the roofs or sides of buildings therein, with penalties for the violation thereof of not more than twenty dollars for each offence; but no such rule or regulation shall take effect until sixty days after its publication in a newspaper published in the city or in the county where the city is situated.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 24 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 24 - Powers of Cities; Regulation of the Quality of Ice; Penalty for Violation

Section 24. A city may make ordinances to secure the inspection of ice sold therein and to prevent the sale of impure ice, and affix penalties of not more than twenty dollars for each violation thereof.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 31 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 31 - Powers of Towns; Performance of Duty Imposed by By-Laws

Section 31. If a town by-law imposes a duty and affixes a penalty for the neglect or violation thereof, it may also provide that upon such neglect or violation the duty may be performed by officers therein named, at the expense of the person liable to perform the same; and such expense, to an amount not exceeding the penalty, may be recovered in contract by the town.
MA Gen L ch 40 § 32a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 40 - Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns|Section 32a - Publication of Ordinances

Section 32A. The provisions in the charter of a city which accepts this section by vote of its city council, requiring newspaper advertising of certain ordinances and proposed ordinances shall, in case of any ordinance or proposed ordinance, or codification thereof, exceeding in length eight octavo pages of ordinary book print, be deemed to be complied with if the same is published by the city council in a municipal bulletin or printed pamphlet, but otherwise in conformity with said provisions, except for zoning ordinances or amendments thereto, a summary of which shall be published at least two times in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. The publication of such zoning summaries shall include a statement indicating where copies of the ordinance may be examined and obtained and a statement that claims of invalidity by reason of any defect in the procedure of adoption may only be made within ninety days after the posting or the second publication.