Chapter 12

Section 1. (a) There shall be a department of the attorney general, under the supervision and control of the attorney general, which shall be organized as provided in this chapter. The attorney general shall receive a salary of $175,000 and an additional amount to be adjusted bie…

Section 10. He shall take cognizance of all violations of law or of orders of courts, tribunals or commissions affecting the general welfare of the people, including combinations, agreements and unlawful practices in restraint of trade or for the suppression of competition, or fo…

Section 11. He shall make an annual report showing the number of cases tried, argued or conducted by him during the preceding fiscal year, with suggestions and recommendations as to the amendment and the proper and economical administration of the laws. He shall include in his an…

Section 11A. There shall be in the department of the attorney general a division of civil rights and liberties. The attorney general shall designate an assistant attorney general as director of said division. Said director may appoint and remove, subject to the approval of the at…

Section 11B. The board of commissioners on uniform state laws and the obscene literature commission are hereby declared to be within the department of the attorney general; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed as diminishing the powers and duties conferred and imposed…

Section 11C. The attorney general shall establish a program designed to train law enforcement officials, including municipal, metropolitan and state police, in practices and procedures relating to the narcotic and harmful drug laws of the commonwealth. The program shall include, …

Section 11D. There shall be in the department of the attorney general a division of environmental protection. The attorney general shall designate an assistant attorney general as director of said division. Said director may appoint and remove, subject to the approval of the atto…

Section 11E. (a) There shall be within the office of the attorney general, an office of ratepayer advocacy. The attorney general, through the office of ratepayer advocacy, may intervene, appear and participate in administrative, regulatory, or judicial proceedings on behalf of an…

Section 11F. The attorney general is hereby authorized to intervene in administrative or judicial proceedings held in the commonwealth on behalf of any group of consumers in connection with any matter involving the rates, charges, premiums and prices charged by any insurance comp…

Section 11G. There shall be established within the department of the attorney general a local consumer aid fund, which may receive and expend monies as may be appropriated to said fund by the general court, as well as additional monies which may be made available from sources oth…

Section 11H. (a)(1) Whenever any person or persons, whether or not acting under color of law, interfere by threats, intimidation or coercion, or attempt to interfere by threats, intimidation or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person or persons of rights secu…

Section 11I. Any person whose exercise or enjoyment of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, or of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth, has been interfered with, or attempted to be interfered with, as described in section 11H,…

Section 11J. In actions brought pursuant to subsection (a) of section 11H or section 11I, whenever the court issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction, ordering a defendant to refrain from certain conduct or activities, the order issued shall c…

Section 11K. Subject to appropriation, there shall be established within the department of the attorney general a division of victim compensation and assistance to administer the provisions of chapter two hundred and fifty-eight C. The attorney general shall designate a program d…

Section 11L. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Former patient'', any person who obtained a professional consultation, diagnostic or therapeutic service from an unlicensed health p…

Section 11M. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings: "Commission'', the Massachusetts gaming commission established in chapter 23K. "Division'', the division of gaming enforcement establish…

Section 11N. (a) The attorney general shall monitor trends in the health care market including, but not limited to, trends in provider organization size and composition, consolidation in the provider market, payer contracting trends and patient access and quality issues in the he…

Section 12. There shall be a district attorney for each district set forth in the following section, who shall be a resident therein and a member of the bar of the commonwealth and shall be elected as provided by section one hundred and fifty-four of chapter fifty-four. He shall …

Section 13. For the administration of the criminal law, or for the defense of civil actions brought pursuant to chapter two hundred and fifty-eight, Suffolk county shall constitute the Suffolk district; Middlesex county, the northern district; Essex county, the eastern district; …

Section 15. District attorneys shall devote their full time during ordinary business hours to their duties, shall neither directly nor indirectly engage in the practice of law, and shall receive from the commonwealth a salary of $223,442 annually.

Section 16. Each district attorney shall, subject to appropriation and subject to the conditions of this section, appoint and may, at his pleasure, remove such assistant district attorneys as are necessary to the functioning of the office of the district attorney. Assistant distr…

Section 18. If there is no assistant district attorney, the district attorney may employ a clerk to aid him; and in the northern, eastern, middle, Norfolk, Plymouth, Berkshire, Hampden and northwestern districts, the district attorney may appoint, for the sitting at which the app…

Section 19. The district attorney for the Suffolk district may appoint a messenger and such stenographers, telephone operators and other office assistants as in his opinion the interests of the commonwealth require. The compensation of any person appointed hereunder shall be paid…

Section 2. The attorney general shall appoint a first assistant attorney general and may appoint such other assistants and employees as the duties of the department require. The attorney general shall establish the salaries, duties and personnel regulations of all officers and em…

Section 20. The district attorneys may each employ additional legal assistants. The length of time of such employment shall in no instance exceed six months. The amount of compensation shall be determined by the district attorney providing that for legal assistants who devote the…

Section 20A. The district attorney for the Suffolk district and the district attorney for the northern district may each appoint an attorney at law as a special assistant district attorney, whose duties shall be the listing and assignment of cases, under the supervision of the di…

Section 20C. The district attorneys may each appoint and may remove at pleasure such additional attorneys-at-law as special assistant district attorneys as may be necessary to participate in federally funded demonstration programs under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets …

Section 20D. The district attorneys may appoint a suitable person to serve as executive director to the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association for the purpose of promoting prosecutorial resources and improving prosecutorial functions through the coordination and standardiza…

Section 21. The superintendent of police of Boston shall, upon the written request of the district attorney for the Suffolk district, detail for police and detective service under his direction inspectors or police officers, not exceeding two in number. Such inspectors or officer…

Section 22. The district attorney for the Northern, Norfolk and Plymouth districts may employ persons for clerical or stenographic work and may remove them at his pleasure. Their compensation shall be paid by the commonwealth.

Section 23. Except as otherwise provided in section twenty-four of this chapter and in section fifteen of chapter two hundred and seventy-six, district attorneys and assistant district attorneys shall receive for traveling expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their…

Section 24. A district attorney, in the name of the commonwealth, may contract such bills for stationery, experts, travel outside of the commonwealth by witnesses required by the commonwealth in the prosecution of cases, for necessary expenses incurred by himself or by officers a…

Section 25. Money to be used for the necessary expenses to be incurred by officers, under the direction of a district attorney, in going outside of the commonwealth for the purpose of searching for, or bringing back for trial, persons under indictment in any county in the distric…

Section 25A. Money to be used for necessary expenses to be incurred in the performance of the duties of a district attorney in relation to any investigation or proceeding in any county in his district, to an amount not exceeding twenty-four thousand dollars in any one year, shall…

Section 26. The supreme judicial or superior court may at any sitting, in the absence of the attorney general and district attorney, appoint some suitable person to perform their duties.

Section 27. District attorneys within their respective districts shall appear for the commonwealth in the superior court in all cases, criminal or civil, in which the commonwealth is a party or interested, and in the hearing, in the supreme judicial court, of all questions of law…

Section 28. District attorneys shall commence suits upon recognizances in criminal cases within their respective districts within sixty days after default has been entered of record, or after they have satisfactory evidence of an act which would cause a forfeiture thereof, and sh…

Section 29. The attorney general and the district attorneys shall account to the state treasurer for all fees, bills of costs and money received by them by virtue of their offices.

Section 2A. If the attorney general is disabled from performing his official duties, the first assistant attorney general shall perform the same during such disability. If the attorney general is disabled from performing his official duties and the first assistant attorney genera…

Section 2B. The attorney general shall file an annual report not later than the first Wednesday in February with the senate and house committees on ways and means containing the job classification, duties and salary of each officer and employee within the department and all perso…

Section 3. The attorney general shall appear for the commonwealth and for state departments, officers and commissions in all suits and other civil proceedings in which the commonwealth is a party or interested, or in which the official acts and doings of said departments, officer…

Section 30. No prosecuting officer shall receive any fee or reward from or in behalf of a prosecutor for services in any prosecution or business to which it is his official duty to attend, nor shall he be concerned as counsel or attorney for either party in a civil action dependi…

Section 32. (a) The district attorneys in the Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire/Franklin, Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol, Cape and Islands and Berkshire counties shall operate community based juvenile justice programs in order to coordinate efforts of the crimi…

Section 33. The Massachusetts District Attorneys' Association shall provide training on the issue of domestic violence and sexual violence in the commonwealth, at least once biannually, to all district attorneys and assistant district attorneys. Such training shall include, but n…

Section 34. The district attorneys shall, within their respective districts, establish a pre-arraignment diversion program which may be used to divert a veteran or person who is in active service in the armed forces, a person with a substance use disorder or a person with mental …

Section 35. (a) There shall be a student loan ombudsman within the office of the attorney general. The student loan ombudsman shall receive, review and assist in resolving complaints from student loan borrowers including, but not limited to, those concerning attempts to resolve c…

Section 36. (a) The attorney general, in consultation with the office of the child advocate, the department of elementary and secondary education, the department of youth services, the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, the committee for public counsel services, the co…