reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 161b § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. Wherever used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words or terms shall have the following meanings:  ''Authority'', an authority established by section three or section fourteen.  ''Council'', the regional transit authority council established in section 27.  ''Department'', the mass transit transit division within the department of transportation.  ''Equipment'', all rolling stock, and other conveyances, vehicles, rails, signal and control systems, lighting and power distribution systems, fences, station equipment, fare collection equipment, incidental apparatus and other tangible personal property, whether or not affixed to realty, required or convenient for the mass movement of persons.  ''Fiscal year'', the year beginning with July first and ending with the following June thirtieth.  ''Mass transportation facilities'', all real property, including land, improvements, terminals, stations, garages, yards, shops, and structures appurtenant thereto, and all easements, air rights, licenses, permits and franchises, used in connection with the mass movement of persons.  ''Net cost of service'', the difference between (a) all income received by the authority, including but not limited to revenues and receipts from operations, advertising, parking, sale of capital assets in the ordinary course of business, and gifts and grants for current purposes, and (b) all current expenses incurred by the authority, including but not limited to expenses for operations, wages, contracts for service by others, maintenance, debt service, including any debts, liabilities and obligations assumed under the provisions of law and including any applicable sinking fund requirements, taxes and rentals, payments into a reserve account established pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (q) of section six, and all other expenses which the authority determines not to capitalize, when such expenses exceed such income. Expenditures from the proceeds of bonds or bond anticipation notes shall not be included in current expenses.  ''Net saving'', any excess of the income items included in the definition of the net cost of service over the expense items included in that computation.  ''Secretary'', the adminstrator of transportation for mass transit within the department of transportation.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 2 - Transit Authorities Authorized; Territories; Powers, Duties and Liabilities

Section 2. The territory within and the inhabitants of each of the following groups of cities and towns may, upon compliance with section fourteen, become a body politic and corporate and a political subdivision of the commonwealth under the name preceding each group.  Southeastern Regional Transit Authority. The cities of New Bedford and Fall River, and the towns of Westport, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Somerset and Swansea;  Greater Attleboro–Taunton Regional Transit Authority. The cities of Attleboro and Taunton and the towns of North Attleborough, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Mansfield, Norton, Raynham, Berkley and Dighton;  Brockton Regional Transit Authority. The city of Brockton and the towns of Abington, Avon, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Easton, Hanson, Stoughton, West Bridgewater and Whitman;  Montachusetts Regional Transit Authority. The cities of Gradner, Fitchburg and Leominster, and the towns of Lunenburg and Westminster;  Merrimac Valley Regional Transit Authority. The cities of Lawrence and Haverhill and the towns of Andover, Groveland, Merrimac, Methuen and North Andover;  Lowell Regional Transit Authority. The city of Lowell and the towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro and Westford;  Berkshire Regional Transit Authority. The city of Pittsfield and the towns of Dalton, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Hindsdale and Richmond;  ''The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority''. The cities of Chicopee, Holyoke, Northampton, Springfield, Westfield, and the towns of Agawam, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Hadley, Longmeadow, Ludlow, South Hadley, West Springfield, Wilbraham and Amherst;  Worcester Regional Transit Authority. The city of Worcester and the towns of Auburn, Boylston, Grafton, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Paxton, Shrewsbury and West Boylston;  Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority. The towns of Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth.  An authority established under the provisions of section three or section fourteen shall have the power to hold property, to sue and be sued in law and equity and to prosecute and defend in all actions relating to its property and affairs. Each authority shall be liable for its debts and obligations, but the property of an authority shall not be subject to attachment or levied upon by execution or otherwise. Process may be served upon the administrator of an authority or his designee. Section three of chapter twelve shall not apply to the authorities established under this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 3 - Creation of Regional Transit Authorities; Name; Notice to Governor; Appointment of Administrator; Powers, Duties, etc.; Joinder of Contiguous Territory; Membership in Additional Authority

Section 3. Any city or town, or group or combination of cities or towns, other than a city or town included in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in which the Authority operates a fixed bus service, may, upon compliance with this section and with the approval of a city manager in the case of a city under a Plan E form of government, the mayor and city council in the case of all other cities, or the board of selectmen in the case of a town, be made into a body politic and corporate and a political subdivision of the commonwealth under the name of the municipality within the new authority having the greatest population, or under any other appropriate regional name agreed to by a majority of the member municipalities, and followed by the words ''Transit Authority''.  Any such authority shall be deemed to be established upon written notification to the governor that the member municipalities have voted to establish a regional transit authority. Having so notified the governor, the advisory board established pursuant to section five shall proceed to appoint an administrator in accordance with section four. Once established, each such authority shall have the same powers, limitations, duties and organization as an authority established pursuant to section fourteen and shall in all respects be subject to the provisions of this chapter, except section fourteen, as if it were an authority so established.  Any city or town, or group or combination of cities or towns, other than a city or town included in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in which the Authority operates fixed route bus service may, with the approval of a city manager in the case of a city under a Plan E form of government, the mayor and city council in the case of all other cities or the board of selectmen in the case of a town and subject to the approval of the advisory board to a regional transit authority, join an authority which is not separated from the city or town or group or combination of cities and towns by more than 1 other municipality.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town that is a member of an authority may, with the approval of the city manager in the case of a city under a Plan E form of government, the mayor and city council in the case of all other cities or the board of selectmen in the case of a town, join an additional authority, subject to the approval of the advisory board of the additional authority and provided that the city or town adjoins a city or town that is a member of the additional authority.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 4 - Administrator; Appointment; Tenure; Salary; Bond

Section 4. The affairs of an authority shall be managed by an administrator who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the advisory board of the authority established pursuant to section five; provided, however, that the administrator shall not be appointed until after the board has provided the notification required by clause (c) of section fourteen; and provided, further, that the administrator shall not hold any elective office, except that of town meeting member, in any city or town within the jurisdiction of such authority. The administrator shall be the chief executive officer of the authority and shall receive such annual salary as shall be determined by said advisory board. Upon his appointment, the administrator shall give the state treasurer a bond for the faithful performance of his official duties in such penal sum and with such sureties as may be approved by the advisory board.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 7 - Separate Units of Mass Transportation Facilities and Equipment; Authorization; Unit Lease Arrangements; Financing; Bonds

Section 7. In addition to the powers granted to the authority under section six and all other powers granted by law, the authority shall have the power to establish on a self-liquidating basis one or more separate units of mass transportation facilities and equipment. In establishing such separate units, the authority may enter into one or more unit lease arrangements with such persons, firms and corporations as the authority shall select and franchise. Each such unit lease arrangement shall provide for the following:  (i) acquisition by the authority of real property, including easements and rights of way, necessary or desirable for the operation of such units of mass transportation facilities and equipment, parking and other related auxiliary services and facilities;  (ii) design, construction and acquisition of mass transportation facilities and equipment;  (iii) operation of the mass transportation facilities and equipment so designed, constructed and acquired by a lessee of said facilities and equipment (1) for a period not in excess of forty years, (2) at a rental or lease charge at least sufficient to discharge the authority's financial obligations incurred in connection with said unit of facilities and equipment under the authority's powers, and (3) upon such provisions and conditions as to fares and other matters relating to the conduct and operation of said mass transportation facilities and equipment as the authority and lessee shall agree; and  (iv) power in the authority to cancel or terminate said unit lease arrangement at stated times which shall not be less frequent than once in each fiscal year.  To meet the expenditures necessary in carrying out the provisions of this section, the authority may issue bonds in accordance with the provisions of clause (2) of the first paragraph of section nineteen and such bonds shall provide, in addition to other provisions allowed under this chapter, that all payments of principal and interest shall be made solely from (i) the rental or lease charges received by the authority under its lease with the lessee of mass transportation facilities and equipment as aforesaid, which said lease may be assigned by the authority to secure the obligations of said bonds; or (ii) in the event the authority terminates said lease from the income derived from operation of said mass transportation facilities and equipment.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 9 - Payment of Net Cost of Service by State; Assessment Upon Cities and Towns in Territory of Transit Authority

Section 9. If in any year the commonwealth shall be called upon to pay any amount on account of the net cost of service of any regional transit authority except the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, unless said authority elects not to assess costs as provided in section nine A, the total amount of such net cost of service shall be assessed upon the cities and towns which are members of such authority in the proportion which the loss attributable to each route in each such city or town bears to the loss attributable to all such routes in all such cities and towns. The loss attributable to each such route in each such city or town shall be determined on the basis of the difference between the revenues collected from such route in such city or town and the cost of providing such route therein.  Such determination shall be made by such authority in accordance with sound accounting practice and guidelines developed in consultation with the department. Amounts assessed under this section shall be the most recently audited regional transit authority assessment available on January 1 of each year and shall be used to calculate the upcoming fiscal year's estimated cherry sheet assessments.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 9a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 9a - Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority; Assessment Upon Member Cities and Towns

Section 9A. If in any year the commonwealth shall be called upon to pay any amount on account of the net cost of service of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, the total amount of such net cost of service may be assessed in whole or in part upon the cities and towns which are members of such Authority on the basis of the total passenger miles and the number of trips attributable to the residents of cities and towns within said Authority. Any such assessment formula shall be subject to the approval of the secretary and the advisory board of the Authority.  Such determination shall be made by said Authority in accordance with sound accounting practice and guidelines developed in consultation with the department. Amounts assessed under this section shall be the most recently audited regional transit authority assessment available on January 1 of each year and shall be used to calculate the upcoming fiscal year's estimated cherry sheet assessments.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 12 - Audit; Report; Provision of Copies to Committee Chairs

Section 12. The state auditor shall make an audit of the accounts of each authority, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, once every 3 years and as often as the state auditor determines is necessary and make a report thereon to the secretary, the governor and the general court. In making such audits, said auditor may call upon any of the departments, commissions, officers and agencies of the commonwealth for such information as may be needed in the course of making such audits. The state auditor may employ such auditors, accountants and other assistants as he deems necessary for carrying out his duties under this section, and chapter thirty-one and the rules made thereunder shall not apply to such employees. The commonwealth shall be reimbursed by the authority for the cost of the audit.  A copy of each biennial audit shall be provided to the chairs of the senate and house committees on ways and means and the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 13 - Exemptions From Taxation and License Fees

Section 13. An authority and all its real and personal property shall be exempt from taxation and from betterments and special assessments; and an authority shall not be required to pay any tax, excise or assessment to or for the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions; nor shall an authority be required to pay any fee or charge for any permit or license issued to it by the commonwealth, by any department, board or officer thereof, or by any political subdivision of the commonwealth, or by any department, board or officer of such political subdivision. Bonds and notes issued by an authority, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit made on the sale thereof, shall at all times be free from taxation within the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 14 - Establishment of Authorities by Vote of Advisory Board; Nonparticipation by City or Town; Later Joining

Section 14. An authority described in section two of this chapter shall be deemed to be established (a) after twenty per cent of the votes on the advisory board have recorded themselves in favor of calling a meeting to vote on the establishment of the authority, (b) notice of the meeting has been sent by a member municipality of the authority to every other member municipality at least two weeks prior to said meeting and (c) the advisory board has sent the governor written notification that the advisory board has voted to establish the authority; provided that such notification shall not be given except after a majority of municipalities have voted to establish the authority.  The membership of the authority upon its establishment as provided in this section shall consist of those cities and towns which affirmatively vote for the formation of the authority as provided in the first paragraph. Nothing contained in this section shall prevent any city or town, including a city or town which did not vote for the formation of the authority under the first paragraph from joining an authority subsequent to the formation thereof.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 15 - City or Town Assessed for Net Cost of Service; Ballot Question Upon Continuation of Membership; Votes

Section 15. Any city or town which is a member of an authority may place upon the official ballot at any biennial or regular or special city election or annual or special town election the following question:  ''Shall this (city, town) continue to be a member of the (name) (name) Regional Transit Authority?''  Such question shall not be placed upon the official ballot unless the city council or town meeting shall have voted that such question be so placed, or a petition signed by not less than five per cent of the registered voters of the city or town, certified as such by the registrars of voters thereof, shall have been filed with the city or town clerk, at least sixty days before the date for any such election. Forms for such petitions shall be made available without cost by the city or town clerk and each form shall bear the following heading: ''The undersigned registered voters of the (city or town) hereby petition for the placement upon the official ballot of the question whether this (city, town) shall continue to be a member of the (name) Regional Transit Authority''.  The votes upon such a question shall be counted and returned to the city or town clerk in the same manner as votes for candidates in municipal elections. Said clerk shall forthwith notify the authority of the result of the vote. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question shall be in the negative, the authority shall forthwith take all steps necessary and appropriate for the termination of membership of such city or town in such authority.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 16 - Conflict of Regulatory Powers; Resolution by Department of Telecommunications and Energy

Section 16. In the event of any conflict between the regulatory powers and duties of the department of telecommunications and energy in respect to mass transportation service within an area, the department of telecommunications and energy shall resolve such dispute and exercise such powers as it deems required in the particular instance.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 18 - Trust Agreement to Secure Bonds

Section 18. In the discretion of the authority such bonds shall be secured by a trust agreement by and between the authority and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within the commonwealth. Either the resolution providing for the issue of bonds or such trust agreement may contain such provisions for protecting and enforcing the rights and remedies of the bondholders as may be reasonable and proper and not in violation of law, including covenants setting forth the duties of the authority in relation to the acquisition, improvement, maintenance, operation, repair and insurance of property, and the custody, safeguarding and application of all moneys and may pledge or assign the revenues to be received, but shall not convey or mortgage any property.
MA Gen L ch 161b § 19 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161b - Transportation Facilities, Highway Systems and Urban Development Plans|Section 19 - Bonds Issued Under This Chapter; Authorized Investments; Use for Legal Deposits

Section 19. Bonds issued under this chapter are hereby made securities in which all public officers and public bodies of the commonwealth and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, and savings banks, co-operative banks and trust companies in their banking departments, banking associations, investment companies, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries, and all other persons whatsoever who are now or may hereafter be authorized to invest in bonds or other obligations of a similar nature may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them, and such bonds are hereby made obligations which may properly and legally be made eligible for the investment of savings deposits and the income thereof in the manner provided by section fifteen B of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven. Such bonds are hereby made securities which may properly and legally be deposited with and received by any state or municipal officer or any agency or political subdivision of the commonwealth for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds or other obligations of the commonwealth now or may hereafter be authorized by law.