Chapter 161A

Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Advisory board'', the advisory board to the authority established by section 7A. ''Area constituting the authority'', the service area of the auth…

Section 10. The authority is authorized and directed from time to time to take all necessary action to secure any federal assistance which is or may become available to the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions, for any of the purposes of this chapter. If any federal …

Section 11. The board shall establish and implement policies that provide for the maximization of nontransportation revenues from all sources. The board shall report to the general court 30 days prior to the board's approval of the preliminary annual budget on efforts of the auth…

Section 12. (a) The authority may issue temporary notes under this section (i) to fund temporary cash deficiencies, or (ii) in anticipation of future revenues. The authority shall consult with the state finance and governance board established under section 97 of chapter 6 prior …

Section 13. (a) The authority is hereby authorized to provide by resolution at one time or from time to time for the issue of bonds of the authority for any one or more of the following purposes: (1) To acquire, plan, design, construct, reconstruct, alter, recondition and improve…

Section 14. In the discretion of the authority such bonds or refunding 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 or without the commonwealth.…

Section 15. Bonds and notes issued under this chapter, whether original or refunding, are hereby made securities in which all public officers and public bodies of the commonwealth and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, trust companies, banking associations, savi…

Section 16. Any holder of bonds or refunding bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter or of any of the coupons appertaining thereto, and the trustee under the trust agreement, if any, except to the extent the rights herein given may be restricted by such resolution or tr…

Section 17. The authority is authorized to provide by resolution at one time or from time to time for the issue of interest bearing or discounted notes for the purposes and in the amounts that bonds may be issued. The notes shall be payable within three years from their dates, bu…

Section 18. To the extent that funds paid to the authority pursuant to section 35T of chapter 10 are insufficient in any year to meet the debt service or other payment obligations of the authority in connection with debt or other financing obligations of the authority, including,…

Section 19. The authority shall establish a Stabilization Fund into which it shall deposit revenues in excess of expenses pursuant to section 21 until the fund balance is equal to or greater than 5 per cent of total revenues of the fiscal year most recently ended. The authority m…

Section 2. The area constituting the authority and the inhabitants thereof are hereby made a body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision of the commonwealth, under the name of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The authority shall have power to hold property,…

Section 20. The board shall approve a preliminary itemized budget for the subsequent fiscal year not later than May 15 prior to the beginning of that fiscal year. The authority shall submit to the advisory board a final itemized budget not later than June 15 prior to the beginnin…

Section 21. Annual revenues in excess of expenses shall be allocated in the following order: (a) to fully fund all debt service reserves required under the trust agreements of any bonds of the authority then outstanding, and to fund in advance the debt service reserve requirement…

Section 22. (a) If the authority shall operate or contract for the operation of a mass transportation service or route which is not substantially similar to a service or route previously operated by the authority or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and which is in c…

Section 23. The department of the state auditor shall biennially make an audit of the accounts of the authority and make a report thereon to the directors, the governor and the general court. In making said audits, said department of the state auditor may call upon any of the dep…

Section 24. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the authority and all its real and personal property shall be exempt from taxation and from betterments and special assessments; and the authority shall not be required to pay any tax, excise or assessment to…

Section 25. The directors shall have authority to bargain collectively with labor organizations representing employees of the authority and to enter into agreements, with such organizations relative to wages, salaries, hours, working conditions, the assignment of work schedules a…

Section 26. Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, the provisions of section 5 of chapter 150A shall so far as apt apply to the authority and its employees, excepting directors, executives and those confidential employees representing the authority and dealing wit…

Section 27. Whenever any employee or former employee of the authority dies, and the authority owes his estate any sum or sums by reason of services rendered by him for wages vacation allowances, and neither a duly appointed executor or administrator nor a administrator has made w…

Section 28. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 25 and 26, the authority or any organizations representing employees of the authority shall not be permitted to submit any dispute over the terms of a collective bargaining agreement to arbitration except in accordance with s…

Section 29. In the event the directors and any organizations representing employees of the authority have not reached an agreement within 90 days from the date of the expiration of the agreement, either party may notify the other that it desires mediation. The parties may agree u…

Section 3. The authority shall be governed and its corporate powers exercised by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board of directors established in section 7. In addition to the powers granted to the authority by law, the authority shall have the following powers: (…

Section 30. The single arbitrator, whether agreed upon by the parties or selected by the board of conciliation and arbitration, shall be a legal resident of the commonwealth and shall be experienced in state and local finance.

Section 31. The arbitrator shall rely primarily on the following factors in determining the basis for an award: (a) The financial ability of the authority to meet additional costs, which shall include but not be limited to: (i) the statutory requirement that the authority produce…

Section 32. The arbitrator shall be limited in making his award to choosing between the last best offers of the parties on each issue as certified in the mediator's report or any award in the range between the last best offers of the parties. The arbitrator shall make no award on…

Section 33. The treasurer of the authority, on behalf of the authority, may contract with an employee to defer a portion of that employee's compensation and may, for the purposes of funding a deferred compensation program for said employee, established in accordance with the U.S.…

Section 34. (a) The treasurer of the authority, on behalf of the authority, may contract with an employee to make contributions for and in the name of such employee, from amounts otherwise payable to the employee as current compensation, to an individual retirement account, herei…

Section 35. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the authority's percentage share of premiums for group, general or blanket hospital, medical, dental or other health insurance, either by purchase of a policy or policies from one or more insurance companies,…

Section 36. All sums of money payable under the provisions of sections 31, 34, 34A, 35 and 35A of chapter 152 directly to a retired member of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority retirement system or to the legal representative or dependents of a deceased member on acco…

Section 37. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, whenever there exists a continued interruption, stoppage or slowdown of transportation of passengers on any vehicle or line of the authority or a strike causing the same, and which is in violation of an injunction, a temp…

Section 38. The authority shall be liable for the acts and negligence of the directors on the board and of the servants and employees of the authority in the management and operation of the authority and of the properties owned, leased and operated by it, but the directors shall …

Section 39. In the event of any conflict between the regulatory powers and duties of the department of telecommunications and energy and the regulatory powers and duties of the authority within its area, the department of telecommunications and energy shall resolve such dispute a…

Section 4. (a) In addition to the powers granted to the authority under section 3 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 to furnish…

Section 40. The authority shall have the power to procure electric utility services, including the purchase, generation, transmission, transformation and distribution of the supplies of electricity necessary to operate its mass transportation facilities and equipment, at the lowe…

Section 41. The authority shall have the power to engage in electric utility business which shall include the generation, transformation, transmission and distribution of electricity for public consumption of electricity used in connection with the mass movement of persons. The a…

Section 42. An officer of the authority may forthwith give to a person who violates the provisions of section 43A of chapter 272 a written notice to appear before the clerk of the district court having jurisdiction at any time during office hours, not later than 21 days after the…

Section 43. Agreements between the authority or the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or both, and a railroad for the provision of passenger rail services, or the operation or accommodation of passenger rail services provided by or on behalf of the authority or the Mass…

Section 44. Whenever the authority deems it necessary to make surveys, soundings, test pits, borings, drillings or examinations to obtain information for or to expedite the construction of public transportation facilities or other projects under its jurisdiction, said authority, …

Section 45. Any bank, as defined in section 1 of chapter 167, or any credit union, as defined in section 1 of chapter 171, is hereby authorized, subject to agreement entered into with the authority, or any regional transit authority established pursuant to chapter 161B, to sell p…

Section 46. The directors may promulgate rules and regulations pertaining to the parking of motor vehicles in any terminals, stations, garages, yards, shops, parking lots, or parking garages owned or operated by the authority, but specifically excluding any streets, ways, highway…

Section 47. Any of the 51 cities and towns and other served communities may for the purpose of providing local bus service enter into agreements with any person lawfully authorized to operate any motor bus on any public way therein for the carrying of passengers for hire. Said ci…

Section 48. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to transfer or grant control of transportation services, operations, finances, facilities or related appurtenances of any regional transit authority established pursuant to chapter 161B to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation…

Section 49. Any provision of any agreement in effect as of June 24, 2009 between the authority and a freight railroad including, but not limited to, provisions relating to the liability of, or contribution or indemnity by, the authority, shall be interpreted pursuant to chapter 2…

Section 5. The authority shall be subject to the following limitations, conditions, obligations and duties: (a) The authority shall have the duty to develop, finance and operate the mass transportation facilities and equipment in the public interest, consistent with the purposes …

Section 50. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or its successor, shall make available retirement information, for all current, former and future Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority employees and retirees, which includes total annual and monthly pension benefit…

Section 51. Whenever the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operates bus transportation, the authority shall acknowledge the contributions of Rosa Parks to the civil rights movement using a light-emitting diode display or decal in the front left window of the bus, or in a…

Section 52. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, no person shall acquire any rights by prescription or adverse possession in any lands or rights in lands held in the name of the authority, and no person shall accrue any rights by prescription or adverse pos…

Section 5B. If money, goods or other property which has been stolen, lost or abandoned comes into the possession of a police officer or other employee of the authority by virtue of his office or employment, the officer or employee shall deliver the same to the person designated b…

Section 6. Any city or town seeking to receive transportation service from the 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: Yes: _______________ No: _______________. Su…