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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4478 FILED ON: 7/20/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4027 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Sean Garballey and Cindy F. Friedman |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act allowing print free digital legal notices for the town of Arlington. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Sean Garballey23rd Middlesex7/20/2023Cindy F. FriedmanFourth Middlesex7/20/2023David M. Rogers24th Middlesex7/20/2023 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4478 FILED ON: 7/20/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4027 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Garballey of Arlington and Senator Friedman, a joint petition (accompanied |
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| 19 | 19 | | by bill, House, No. 4027) of Sean Garballey, Cindy F. Friedman and David M. Rogers (by vote |
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| 20 | 20 | | of the town) for legislation to allow print free digital legal notices for the town of Arlington. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Municipalities and Regional Government. [Local Approval Received.] |
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| 22 | 22 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 23 | 23 | | _______________ |
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| 24 | 24 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 25 | 25 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | An Act allowing print free digital legal notices for the town of Arlington. |
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| 28 | 28 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 29 | 29 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 30 | 30 | | 1 SECTION 1. Notwithstanding subsection (b) of section 13 of chapter 4 of the General |
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| 31 | 31 | | 2Laws, wherever the town of Arlington, Arlington public schools and their subdivisions, |
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| 32 | 32 | | 3committees, boards, commissions or officers are required by statute, ordinance, by-law or |
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| 33 | 33 | | 4judicial order to publish a legal notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, the |
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| 34 | 34 | | 5person, corporation, agency, authority, municipality or other legal entity may satisfy such |
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| 35 | 35 | | 6requirement by one or more of the following means, as authorized by local vote in section 2 of |
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| 36 | 36 | | 7this act: |
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| 37 | 37 | | 8 (a) a newspaper of local or general circulation's print publication; |
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| 38 | 38 | | 9 (b) a newspaper's website; |
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| 39 | 39 | | 10 (c) websites reporting local news and opinion that satisfy all criteria for digital |
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| 40 | 40 | | 11publication, set forth in said subsection (b) of said section 13 of said chapter 4; 2 of 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 12 (d) a statewide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices; or |
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| 42 | 42 | | 13 (e) a town wide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices. |
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| 43 | 43 | | 14 SECTION 2. (a) For all legal notices issued by the town of Arlington boards, committees, |
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| 44 | 44 | | 15commissions and officials including, but not limited to: the Arlington zoning board of appeals, |
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| 45 | 45 | | 16the Arlington redevelopment board, the conservation commission, the Arlington historic district |
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| 46 | 46 | | 17commissions, the town manager, town treasurer, town clerk, police chief, fire chief and building |
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| 47 | 47 | | 18commissioner, the town of Arlington select board shall, by majority vote, determine at least 2 of |
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| 48 | 48 | | 19the means of legal notice publication set forth in section 1 of this act to satisfy publication |
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| 49 | 49 | | 20requirements. |
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| 50 | 50 | | 21 (b) For all legal notices issued by Arlington public school boards, committees, |
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| 51 | 51 | | 22commissions and officials, the school committee shall, by majority vote, determine at least 2 of |
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| 52 | 52 | | 23the means of legal notice publication set forth in section 1 of this act. |
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| 53 | 53 | | 24 (c) The town of Arlington select board and school committee may revisit their means of |
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| 54 | 54 | | 25publication votes at their discretion and elect different means of publication from the options |
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| 55 | 55 | | 26afforded under section 1 of this act by majority vote. |
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| 56 | 56 | | 27 SECTION 3. Nothing set forth in this act shall be construed to alter or amend the time or |
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| 57 | 57 | | 28timing of publication of legal notices set forth in the General Laws. |
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| 58 | 58 | | 29 SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. |
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