reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 4 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 1 - Effective Date of Statutes

Section 1. A statute enacted by the general court which may be made the subject of a referendum petition and which is declared therein to be an emergency law, unless otherwise expressly provided therein, shall take effect as soon as it has the force of a law conformably to the constitution. A statute so enacted which may not be made the subject of such a petition and for which a different time of taking effect is not therein expressly provided shall take effect as soon as it has the force of a law as aforesaid if it is declared therein to be an emergency law, otherwise on the thirtieth day next after the earliest day on which it has the force of a law as aforesaid; provided, that a statute so enacted which may not be made the subject of such a petition and which is to take effect upon its acceptance by a municipal or other corporation or by any board or officer thereof, unless otherwise expressly provided therein, shall, for the purpose of such acceptance only, take effect as soon as it has the force of a law as aforesaid.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 1a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 1a - Reorganization Plans for Executive Department

Section 1A. Any plan presented to the general court by the governor, purporting to be a reorganization plan as provided for under Article LXXXVII of the amendments to the constitution, which does not contain a bill in which is incorporated such amendments of general and special laws, or repeals thereof, as will accomplish the desired reorganization, shall not be deemed to be a reorganization plan within the meaning of said Article LXXXVII.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 2 - Effective Date of Resolves

Section 2. A resolve, unless otherwise expressly provided therein, shall take effect as soon as it has the force of a law conformably to the constitution.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 2a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 2a - Special Legislative Commissions

Section 2A. Unless otherwise provided, the provisions of this section shall apply to each special commission established to make an investigation and study of any matter.  If it is provided that members of the senate and house of representatives shall be members of such commission, such members shall be designated by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives, respectively.  Such commission (1) shall be provided with quarters in the state house or elsewhere; (2) may expend for expenses and for expert, legal, clerical and other assistance such sums as may be appropriated therefor; (3) may travel within the commonwealth; (4) may hold hearings; (5) shall report to the general court the results of its investigation and study and its recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect by filing the same with the clerk of either branch; and (6) may report from time to time but shall file its final report not later than the last Wednesday in January in the following year, if it is established, continued, or revived and continued, in an odd-numbered year, or not later than the last Wednesday in December in the same year, if it is established, continued, or revived and continued in an even-numbered year.  Private or executive meetings of each special commission shall be open to the public unless a majority of the members of such commission shall vote otherwise. A notice of each such meeting shall be filed with the clerk of either branch, and the notice or a copy thereof shall be publicly posted in the office of such clerk at least twenty-four hours prior to such meeting, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.  If such commission is continued, or revived and continued, it shall continue to exercise and perform all the rights, powers and duties previously conferred or imposed on it.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 3 - Enacting Style of Initiative Measures

Section 3. The enacting style of all measures submitted to the people in pursuance of an initiative petition for a law shall be: Be it enacted by the People, and by their authority.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 4 - Mode of Acceptance of Statute by Municipality or District

Section 4. Wherever a statute is to take effect upon its acceptance by a municipality or district, or is to be effective in municipalities or districts accepting its provisions, this acceptance shall be, except as otherwise provided in that statute, in a municipality, by vote of the legislative body, subject to the charter of the municipality, or, in a district, by vote of the district at a district meeting.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 4a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 4a - Revocation of Acceptance by Towns of Special Acts

Section 4A. At any time after the expiration of three years from the date on which any special act of the general court has been accepted by the voters of a town, and not less than ninety days before the date of an annual meeting, a petition signed by not less than ten per cent of the registered voters of the town may be filed with the selectmen, requesting that the question of revoking the acceptance of any special act be submitted to the voters. Thereupon the selectmen shall cause the question of revocation of the acceptance of such special act to be placed on the ballot at the next annual election. At said election the vote shall be taken in answer to the following question, which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used for the election of town officers:— ''Shall the acceptance by the town of of an act passed by the General Court in the year , being chapter of the acts of , entitled 'An Act providing in the town of ' be revoked?'' If such revocation is favored by a majority of the voters voting thereon by ballot, the acceptance of said act shall be revoked and said act shall become null and void beginning with the first day of the month next following said revocation. This section shall not apply in towns having a population in excess of fifteen thousand inhabitants, nor shall it apply to any acceptance by a town authorizing but not requiring it to act in any manner, to any action taken under chapters thirty-one or thirty-two, to any special act in which other provision is made for revocation, to any special act which authorizes the making of a capital outlay or public improvement, nor to any special act involving participation or membership in a district including a regional school district. No revocation of a special act hereunder shall affect in any manner any contractual rights, civil service rights, rights of tenure, or pension or retirement rights arising from the provisions of such special act.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 5 - Return Showing Action of Body Accepting or Rejecting Statute

Section 5. If a statute is to take effect upon action by a body politic or corporate or by any board or officer of such a body, or to become or cease to be operative, in whole or in so far as it affects such a body, upon action as aforesaid, a return of the result of any action so taken shall be made by the clerk of such body, or officer having like powers, to the state secretary within thirty days thereafter. If a statute prescribes a time within which such action may be taken, and within the time limited no action is taken thereon, said clerk or other officer shall, within thirty days after the expiration of the time so limited, make to the state secretary a return to that effect.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 8 - Construction of Special Acts Authorizing Municipalities to Incur Indebtedness

Section 8. In construing any special act authorizing a city, town or district to incur indebtedness for a specified purpose to a limited amount, such limitation of amount shall be deemed to apply only to the indebtedness authorized by the special act, and not to affect any other power which the city, town or district may have to incur indebtedness for said purpose under any other provisions of law; and in special acts authorizing loans to be payable by proportionate payments, such provision shall be construed to mean payments as nearly equal in amount as is possible without unreasonable fractions, but no payment of the principal shall be greater than any preceding payment.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 9 - Time for Performance of Acts Performable on Sunday or Holiday

Section 9. Except as otherwise provided, when the day or the last day for the performance of any act, including the making of any payment or tender of payment, authorized or required by statute or by contract, falls on Sunday or a legal holiday, the act may, unless it is specifically authorized or required to be performed on Sunday or on a legal holiday, be performed on the next succeeding business day.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 9a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 9a - Recital Giving Unsealed Instrument Effect of Sealed Instrument; ''person'' Defined

Section 9A. In any written instrument, a recital that such instrument is sealed by or bears the seal of the person signing the same or is given under the hand and seal of the person signing the same, or that such instrument is intended to take effect as a sealed instrument, shall be sufficient to give such instrument the legal effect of a sealed instrument without the addition of any seal of wax, paper or other substance or any semblance of a seal by scroll, impression or otherwise; but the foregoing shall not apply in any case where the seal of a court, public office or public officer is expressly required by the constitution or by statute to be affixed to a paper, nor shall it apply in the case of certificates of stock of corporations. The word ''person'' as used in this section shall include a corporation, association, trust or partnership.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 9b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 9b - Stamping Seal on Documents

Section 9B. The impression or stamping of the established seal of a court, public office, public officer or corporation upon a paper shall be taken and held to be the seal of such court, public office, public officer or corporation, and valid in law to the same extent that an impression of such seal would be if made on wax or wafer attached to such paper.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 10 - Daylight Saving Time

Section 10. At two o'clock ante-meridian of the last Sunday in April of each year, the standard time in this commonwealth shall be advanced one hour, and at two o'clock ante-meridian of the last Sunday in October of each year the standard time in this commonwealth shall, by the retarding of one hour, be made to coincide with the mean astronomical time of the degree of longitude governing the zone wherein the commonwealth is situated, the standard official time of which is described as United States standard eastern time, so that between the last Sunday of April at two o'clock ante-meridian and the last Sunday in October at two o'clock ante-meridian in each year the standard time in this commonwealth shall be one hour in advance of the United States standard eastern time. And in all laws, statutes, orders, decrees, rules and regulations relating to the time of performance of any act by any officer or department of the commonwealth, or of any county, city, town or district thereof, or relating to the time in which any rights shall accrue or determine, or within which any act shall or shall not be performed by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, and in all the public schools and in all institutions of the commonwealth, or of any county, city, town or district thereof, and in all contracts or choses in action made or to be performed in the commonwealth, it shall be understood and intended that the time shall be United States standard eastern time as changed by this section.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 11 - Marginal References

Section 11. Marginal references to statutes shall refer to general acts, unless otherwise expressly noted.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 12 - Bi-Partisan Boards; Political Affiliations of Members

Section 12. Establishment, cancellation or change of enrollment in a political party shall, for the purposes of any law establishing or limiting the number of members of any board, commission or other body who shall or may be members of any political party or the same political party, take effect two years thereafter. Any enrollment required for appointment to such a board, commission, or other body must have been maintained continuously during the two years immediately preceding appointment.
MA Gen L ch 4 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title I - Jurisdiction and Emblems of the Commonwealth, the General Court, Statutes and Public Documents|Chapter 4 - Statutes|Section 13 - Legal Notices Required to Be Published in Newspapers; Electronic Publication

Section 13. (a) As used in this section, ''statewide website'' shall mean a website established and maintained as a repository for legal notices and operated as a cooperative effort of a majority of Massachusetts newspapers that distribute newspapers to subscribers residing in the commonwealth.  (b) If a person, corporation, state agency, including its political subdivisions, a state authority, including its political subdivisions, municipality, including its political subdivisions, or other legal entity is required by a statute, ordinance, by-law or judicial order to publish a legal notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, the person, corporation, agency, authority, municipality or other legal entity shall publish said notice in a newspaper which shall ensure that the legal notice appears in: (i) a newspaper's print publication; (ii) on the newspaper's website; and (iii) on a statewide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices; provided, however, that if a newspaper does not maintain its own website, publication on a statewide website and reference to the statewide website in the print publication notice shall satisfy the requirement of publication on the newspaper's website.  (c) When publishing legal notices on a newspaper's website or a statewide website, the operator of the website shall:  (i) ensure access by the public to the website at all times, other than during website maintenance or due to causes beyond the operator's control;  (ii) make the full text of legal notices available in a searchable format for the period of time that the legal notice is required to be posted;  (iii) ensure that the website substantially complies with the accessibility standards of section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended and codified at 29 U.S.C. section 794d;  (iv) provide access to view legal notices on the website, and to perform searches for legal notices on such websites, for no fee; provided, that operators of newspaper websites may charge a fee for enhanced search and customized content delivery features;  (v) maintain an archive of legal notices that are no longer displayed on the website for at least 90 days; and  (vi) charge no additional fee for publication on a website in excess of the fee for publishing the legal notice in the print newspaper.  (d) An error in a legal notice published on a newspaper's website or the statewide website that is the result of (i) an error of the website operator; or (ii) a temporary website outage or service interruption that prevents the publication or display of a legal notice on the website shall not constitute a defect in publication of the legal notice; provided, however, that the legal notice appears correctly in the newspaper's print publication and satisfies all other legal notice requirements.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 1 - Salary of Governor; Housing Expenses; Other Sources of Income

Section 1. (a) The governor shall receive a salary of $185,000 and an additional amount to be adjusted biennially to reflect the aggregate quarterly change in salaries and wages in the commonwealth for the most recent 8 quarters as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of Commerce.  (b) The governor shall receive $65,000 annually for expenses related to housing.  (c) The governor shall not receive earned income from any other source, but may receive unearned or passive income.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 2 - Salary of Lieutenant Governor; Other Sources of Income

Section 2. (a) The lieutenant governor shall receive a salary of $165,000 and an additional amount to be adjusted biennially to reflect the aggregate quarterly change in salaries and wages in the commonwealth for the most recent 8 quarters as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of Commerce.  (b) The lieutenant governor shall not receive earned income from any other source but may receive unearned or passive income.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 3 - Salary of Council Members; Term Limitation

Section 3. Each member of the council shall receive a salary of $36,025.  Notwithstanding other provisions of this section to the contrary, any member of the council who has served, or but for resignation would have served, four consecutive terms in that office within the preceding nine years shall receive no compensation. For the purpose of this section, any person serving as a member of the council as of January 15, 1995 shall be deemed to be serving his first term in that office.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 4 - Traveling Expenses of Lieutenant Governor and Council Members; Term Limits

Section 4. The lieutenant governor and each member of the council shall be paid for his travel from his abode to the place of sitting of the governor and council, and return, such amounts as he certifies in writing that he has actually expended therefor in the performance of his official duties.  Notwithstanding other provisions of this section to the contrary, no lieutenant governor who has served, or but for resignation would have served, two consecutive terms in that office within the preceding eleven years and no member of the council who has served, or but for resignation would have served, four consecutive terms in that office within the preceding nine years shall receive any payment annually for expenses, mileage, meals, lodging or travel. For the purpose of this section, any person serving in one of the foregoing offices as of January 15, 1995 shall be deemed to be serving his first term in that office.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 5 - Governor's Employees; Compensation

Section 5. The governor may appoint such employees as may be necessary, who shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor, and shall receive such salaries as may be approved by the governor.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 8 - Entertainment of Distinguished Guests; Expenditures

Section 8. The governor may expend each year such sums as may be appropriated for the entertainment of the president of the United States and other distinguished guests while visiting or passing through the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 6 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth|Chapter 6 - The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Council, Certain Officers Under the Governor and Council, and State Library|Section 9 - Cooperation With Federal Surveys of Waters, Etc.

Section 9. The governor and council shall co-operate in behalf of the commonwealth in all scientific surveys made by the United States government of harbors, rivers, shores or waters within the commonwealth, and shall represent the commonwealth in relation to such surveys, and protect its interests therein.