reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 43b § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 7 - Charter Commission; Organization; Compensation and Expenses of Members

Section 7. The city or town clerk within ten days of the election shall notify the nine candidates elected to the charter commission of the initial charter commission meeting. At such initial meeting a charter commission shall promptly organize by the election from any of its members a chairman, a vice chairman and a clerk and shall file a notice of such organization with the city or town clerk. A charter commission shall continue to exist until thirty days after the election at which its charter adoption or revisions proposal, if any, is required to be submitted to the voters under this chapter or until thirty days after submission to the city council or town meeting of a final report recommending no new charter or revision. If any member dies, resigns or ceases to be a registered voter of the city or town, or if a failure to elect or any other vacancy occurs, it shall be filled by the election of any registered voter of the city or town by vote of a majority of the remaining members. The commission may continue to act notwithstanding the existence of any vacancy. Members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed from the commission's account for expenses lawfully incurred by them in the performance of their duties.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 9 - Hearings Before Charter Commission; Reports of Commission

Section 9. (a) Within forty-five days after its election, the charter commission shall hold a public hearing.  (b) Within sixteen months after its election, the charter commission shall prepare a preliminary report including the text of the charter or charter revision which the commission intends shall be submitted to the voters and any explanatory information the commission deems desirable, shall cause such report to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the city or town, shall provide sufficient copies of the preliminary report to the city or town clerk to permit its distribution to each registered voter requesting the same, and shall furnish two copies to the attorney general and two copies to the department of housing and community development. Within four weeks after such publication, the commission shall hold one or more public hearings upon the report. Within four weeks after his receipt of the report, the attorney general shall furnish the commission with a written opinion setting forth any conflict between the proposed charter or charter revision and the constitution and laws of the commonwealth. A copy of the opinion shall at the same time be furnished to the department of housing and community development.  (c) Within eighteen months after its election, the charter commission shall submit to the city council or board of selectmen its final report, which shall include the full text and an explanation of the proposed new charter or charter revision, such comments as the commission deems desirable, an indication of the major differences between the current and proposed charters, and a statement of not more than one thousand words by the commission minority, if any, provided such statement is filed with the chairman of the commission within forty-eight hours after the commission's vote approving such report. A copy of said final report shall also be submitted to the department of housing and community development and to the attorney general.  (d) All public hearings before a charter commission shall be held within the city or town at such time and place as may be specified in a notice published at least ten days prior to the hearing in a newspaper having general circulation in the city or town, but hearings may be adjourned from time to time without further published notice.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 12 - Charter and Charter Amendments and Revisions; Deposit of Certificates; Judicial Notice; Reprints for Distribution

Section 12. Certificates in quadruplicate shall be prepared setting forth any charter that has been adopted or revised and any charter amendments approved and shall be signed by the city or town clerk. One such certificate shall be deposited in the office of the state secretary and shall be kept under the custody of the archivist of the commonwealth, one shall be deposited in the office of the director of housing and community development, one shall be deposited in the office of the attorney general and the other shall be recorded in the records of the city or town and deposited in its archives. All courts may take judicial notice of charters and charter amendments of cities and towns.  The city council of each city, and the board of selectmen of each town, shall, at intervals of not greater than ten years, cause the charter of said city or town as revised or amended to be reprinted for distribution to such registered voters of said city or town as may apply therefor at the office of the city or town clerk. Acts of the general court which are included in such charter may be referred to by appropriate subject headings and statutory citations instead of being set forth at length. Copies of said document may be sold at a price not to exceed the cost of paper, printing and binding thereof, plus mailing charges if any, as determined by said clerk.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 12a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 12a - Resubmission of Charter Which Failed of Approval

Section 12A. A charter submitted to the voters in accordance with the provisions of this chapter which has failed of approval at a city or town election, but which has received the affirmative votes of not less than thirty-five per cent of those voting on the question, shall be considered an optional charter for such city or town. Upon the petition of ten per cent of the registered voters of such city or town, said optional charter shall be once resubmitted to the voters at a regular city or town election held no later than the second year following the original submission of such charter to the voters. The city council in a city, the town council in a town having a town council, and in every other town the board of selectmen, shall cause any changes to be made in dates in the charter as originally submitted to the voters which are necessary to ensure the orderly implementation of the optional charter.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 13 - Exercise of Powers and Functions by Municipalities

Section 13. Any city or town may, by the adoption, amendment or repeal of local ordinances or by-laws, exercise any power or function which the general court has power to confer upon it, which is not inconsistent with the constitution or laws enacted by the general court in conformity with powers reserved to the general court by section 8 of Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution and which is not denied, either expressly or by clear implication, to the city or town by its charter. Whenever appropriations, appointments, orders, regulations or other legislative or executive actions within the scope of any such ordinance or by-law are necessary in the exercise of any power or function authorized by such ordinance or by-law, any such actions which are to be taken by a city council or town meeting may be taken by ordinance, by-law, resolution, order or vote, and any such actions which are to be taken by executive officers may be taken in any appropriate manner, subject, however, as to both such categories, to all provisions of the ordinance or by-law in question, the city or town charter, and other applicable law. Any requirement that an ordinance or by-law be entitled as such, or that it contain the word ''ordained,'' ''enacted'' or words of similar import shall not affect the validity of any action which is required to be taken by ordinance or by-law. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit any city or town, by ordinance or by-law, to exercise any power or function which is inconsistent with any general law enacted by the general court before November eighth, nineteen hundred and sixty-six which applies alike to all cities, or to all towns, or to all cities and towns, or to a class of not fewer than two. No exercise of a power or function denied to the city or town, expressly or by clear implication, by special laws having the force of a charter under section nine of said Article, and no change in the composition, mode of election or appointment, or terms of office of the legislative body, the mayor or city manager or the board of selectmen or town manager, may be accomplished by by-law or ordinance. Such special laws may be made inapplicable, and such changes may be accomplished, only under procedures for the adoption, revision or amendment of a charter under this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 14 - Enforcement of This Chapter; Declaratory Relief; Judicial Review

Section 14. (1) The superior court shall, upon petition of ten or more registered voters or of the attorney general, have jurisdiction in equity to enforce the provisions of this chapter.  (2) The provisions of chapter two hundred and thirty-one A applicable to municipal by-laws or ordinances shall apply to charters, charter revisions, charter amendments, by-laws and ordinances of a city or town adopted under this chapter. In addition, a petition for declaratory relief under chapter two hundred and thirty-one A may be brought on behalf of the public by the attorney general or, by leave of the court, by ten or more registered voters of the city or town. In the case of a petition brought by ten registered voters, the attorney general shall be served with notice of the preliminary petition for leave, and may intervene as a party at any stage of the proceedings; and the petitioners shall be liable for, but may in the court's discretion also be awarded, costs, which may include reasonable counsel fees.  (3) Judicial review to determine the validity of the procedures whereby any charter is adopted, revised or amended may be had by petition of ten or more registered voters of the city or town brought within thirty days after the election at which such charter, revision, or amendment is approved. If no such petition is filed within such period, compliance with all the procedures required by this act and the validity of the manner in which such charter, revision or amendment was approved shall be conclusively presumed. No charter adoption, revision or amendment shall be deemed invalid on account of any procedural error or omission unless it is shown that the error or omission materially and substantially affected such adoption, revision or amendment.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 15 - Petitions for Adoption or Revision of Charter or Suggestion of Charter Amendment; Form

Section 15. (a) A petition for the adoption or revision of a charter shall conform with the requirements of subsection (c) and shall have a sentence in substantially the following form at the top of each page:  Each of the undersigned requests that the (city) (town) of . . . . . . revise its present charter or adopt a new charter, and each of the undersigned certifies that he is a registered voter of said (city) (town) whose residence addresses at the times set forth below were as shown below, and that he has not signed this petition more than once.  (b) A petition suggesting a charter amendment under section ten shall conform with the requirements of subsection (c) and shall have a sentence in substantially the following form at the top of each page:  Each of the undersigned requests that the (city council) (town meeting) propose the charter amendment(s) attached hereto to the voters of the (city) (town) of . . . . . ., and each of the undersigned certifies that he is a registered voter of said (city) (town) whose residence addresses at the times set forth below were as shown below, and that he has not signed this petition more than once.  (c) The state secretary shall prescribe the form of all petitions under this chapter. Section seven of chapter fifty-three shall apply to all such petitions. No petition shall contain or be accompanied by any indication of party or political designation.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 16 - Paper or Document Required to Be Filed or Submitted; Presumptions

Section 16. Any paper or document which is required by this chapter to be filed with or submitted to the city or town clerk or a city council or a board of selectmen shall be deemed to be so filed or submitted when it is delivered to the city or town clerk or to his office. Any paper or document which is required by this chapter to be filed with or submitted to a board of registrars of voters shall be deemed to be so filed or submitted when it is delivered to the office of the board or, if the board maintains no office, to the office of the city or town clerk. Any paper or document which is required by this chapter to be filed with or submitted to the attorney general shall be deemed to be so filed or submitted when it is delivered to the attorney general or to his office. Any paper or document which is required by this chapter to be filed with or submitted to the department of housing and community development shall be deemed to be so filed or submitted when it is delivered to said department. Any paper or document which is required by this chapter to be filed with or submitted to the state secretary shall be deemed to be so filed or submitted when it is delivered to the state secretary or to his office.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 17 - Election Laws; Applicable and Conflicting Provisions

Section 17. The provisions of chapters fifty to fifty-seven, inclusive, applicable to city or town elections shall apply to the proceedings governed by this chapter so far as apt, but the provisions of sections fifty-five to fifty-eight, inclusive, of chapter fifty-four shall not be deemed to apply, and the provisions of this chapter shall prevail where they are in conflict with any applicable provisions of said chapters fifty to fifty-seven, inclusive.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 18 - Method of Electing Officers

Section 18. Any city or town having a charter under chapter forty-three or forty-three A or a method of electing officers under chapter fifty-four A may change the same in accordance with the procedures for the adoption or amendment of a charter prescribed by this chapter. Except as may be permitted by any general or special law enacted after November eighth, nineteen hundred and sixty-six, no city or town shall adopt or change charters or change its method of electing officers under said chapters forty-three, forty-three A or fifty-four A or under any special laws in effect on such date, including without limitation chapters four hundred and fifty-two of the acts of nineteen hundred and forty-eight, six hundred and sixty-one of the acts of nineteen hundred and forty-nine and one hundred and fifty-two of the acts of nineteen hundred and fifty-four, as amended, and the procedures set forth in this chapter shall be exclusive.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 19 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 19 - Special Laws Enacted After Nov. 8, 1966

Section 19. Clause fifth of section seven of chapter four shall not apply to this chapter. A special law relating to an individual city or town enacted subsequent to November eighth, nineteen hundred and sixty-six in compliance with clause (1) or clause (2) of section eight of Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution shall be subject to amendment or repeal through the adoption, revision or amendment of a charter by such city or town in accordance with the provisions of sections three and four of said Article LXXXIX unless such special law specifically provides otherwise, and shall be subject to amendment or repeal by laws enacted by the general court in conformity with powers reserved for the general court by section eight of said Article LXXXIX of said Amendments.
MA Gen L ch 43b § 20 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43b - Home Rule Procedures|Section 20 - Provisions of Charter or Amendment Deemed Consistent With Certain Other Laws

Section 20. The provisions of any charter or charter amendment adopted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed consistent with the provisions of any law relating to the structure of city and town government, the creation of local offices, the term of office or mode of selection of local offices, and the distribution of powers, duties and responsibilities among local offices. Such provisions may provide:  (a) that any particular local office shall be either elected or appointed; provided, however, that in any town having a board of selectmen the members of such board shall always be elected; provided, further, that in any city or town having a school committee the members of such committee shall always be elected; and provided, further, that in any town having a form of town meeting open to all of its registered voters the town moderator shall always be elected and in every other case all of the members of the legislative body shall always be elected;  (b) that any particular local officer or employee shall be appointed by any particular local officer;  (c) for the number of persons to serve as members of any multiple member body; provided, however, that all such multiple member bodies shall always consist of an odd number of members;  (d) for the term of office to be served by any local elected officer; provided, however, that no term of office of a local elected officer shall be for more than five years, and the members of multiple member bodies shall serve for terms which, as nearly as possible, expire in different years;  (e) for the merger or consolidation of two or more local offices into a single office;  (f) that the powers, duties and responsibilities of one local office be divided and exercised by two or more local offices;  (g) for the confirmation of any appointment by another municipal agency.
MA Gen L ch 43c § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43c - Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act|Section 1 - Short Title

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act.
MA Gen L ch 43c § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43c - Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act|Section 2 - Definitions

Section 2. As used in this chapter, the words ''board of registrars of voters'', ''city council'' and ''board of selectmen'' shall include any local authority of different designation performing like duties. The word ''agency'' shall include any multiple member body, department, division or office of a city or town.
MA Gen L ch 43c § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43c - Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act|Section 3 - Adoption Authorized; Conditions; Revocation or Rescission

Section 3. Every city having a population of less than one hundred and fifty thousand and every town may, in the manner provided in this chapter, adopt any of the optional forms of municipal administration which are provided in this chapter and may, in the manner provided in section nine provide for the revocation or rescission of any such acceptance. The adoption of any plan under the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to be an amendment to any contrary provisions of a local charter or laws having the force of a charter.
MA Gen L ch 43c § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43c - Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act|Section 4 - Adoption; Initiation by Petition

Section 4. The adoption of an optional plan of municipal administration under this chapter shall be initiated by filing with the board of registrars of voters of the city or town, a petition signed by at least ten per cent of the number of registered voters residing in such city or town at the preceding state election. Such petition may consist of a number of separate sheets, but each sheet shall be in substantially the form prescribed therefor in section five and shall be signed and completed in accordance with the instructions contained therein. The city or town clerk shall furnish forms for such petition to any registered voter of the city or town requesting the same. Within thirty days from such filing, the board shall check each name to be certified by it on the petition, shall certify thereon the number of signatures so checked which are names of registered voters in the city or town, and shall report the results to the city council in the city or town, or board of selectmen, as the case may be, by filing its report with the city or town clerk. Only names so checked shall be deemed to be the names of registered voters for purposes of such petition. The board need not certify more than one hundred and forty per cent of the number of names required to file a petition, and names not certified in the first instance shall not thereafter be certified on the same petition.  Objections to the sufficiency and validity of the signatures on any such petition as certified by the board of registrars of voters shall be made in the same manner as provided by law for objections to nominations for city or town offices, as the case may be.
MA Gen L ch 43c § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 43c - Optional Forms of Municipal Administration Act|Section 5 - Petition; Form

Section 5. The petition shall be in substantially the following form: To the (city council) (board of selectmen) of (name of city/town) We the undersigned, registered voters of the (city/town of ) respectfully petition your honorable body to cause to be submitted to vote of the voters the following question:— ''Shall the (city/town of ) adopt the optional form of municipal administration summarized as follows, according to the provisions of chapter forty-three C of the General Laws providing for optional plans of municipal administration?'' The text of the summary from the applicable section shall follow.