Chapter 161B

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 estab…

Section 10. If as of the last day of June in any year there was any net cost of service, an authority shall notify the state treasurer of the amount of such net cost of service and all other facts required by the treasurer in order to proceed in accordance with the provisions of …

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 g…

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;…

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…

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: Such question shall not be placed upon the official ballot unless the c…

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 s…

Section 17. An 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 by purchase or otherwise, plan, design, construct, reconstruct, alter, rec…

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 providi…

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 department…

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. Southeaster…

Section 20. Any holder of 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 trust agreement, may, …

Section 21. An 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, but…

Section 22. Each 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 subdivisions for any of the purposes of this chapter. If any federal law, admin…

Section 23. The commonwealth, acting by and through the executive office for administration and finance, may enter into contract or contracts with the authorities created pursuant to this chapter providing that fifty per cent of the net cost of service of each authority shall be …

Section 24. Section ten of chapter forty A, sections twenty-eight, fifty-nine to sixty-four, inclusive, eighty-three to eighty-five, inclusive, and ninety-two to one hundred and four, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, and sections eighty-nine, one hundred and thre…

Section 25. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to authorize or permit any authority established by this chapter to directly operate any mass transportation service.

Section 26. The regional transit authorities shall establish a stabilization fund into which the authorities shall deposit revenues in excess of expenditures. Said stabilization fund shall have a fund balance no greater than 15% of total revenues for all regional transit authorit…

Section 27. There shall be a regional transit authority council for the purposes of coordination and sharing information and best practices in matters of security and public safety planning and preparedness, service delivery, cost savings, and administrative efficiencies. Members…

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 cit…

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 afte…

Section 5. There shall be an advisory board to each authority consisting of the city manager, in the case of a Plan D or Plan E city, or the mayor of each other city, and the chairman of the board of selectmen of each town having such board, or the town manager or town administra…

Section 6. In addition to all power otherwise granted to an authority by law, the authority shall have the following powers, in each case to be exercised by the administrator of the authority unless otherwise specifically provided:— (a) to adopt and use a corporate seal and desig…

Section 6A. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, an authority established pursuant to this chapter shall not, subject to appropriation, charge passenger fare for a trip on regularly scheduled fixed route service, or for a trip on complementary paratrans…

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 establis…

Section 8. An authority shall be subject to the following limitations, conditions, obligations and duties:— (a) The authority shall have the duty to develop, finance and contract for the operation of mass transportation facilities and equipment in the public interest consistent w…

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…

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 ar…