Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts Senate Bill S1939 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1688 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
3	3	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1939
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Joanne M. Comerford
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act to reform payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and Worcester 1 of 4
16	16	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1688 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
17	17	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1939
18	18	By Ms. Comerford, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1939) of Joanne M. Comerford
19	19	for legislation to reform payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land. Revenue.
20	20	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
21	21	SEE SENATE, NO. 1769 OF 2023-2024.]
22	22	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
23	23	_______________
24	24	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
25	25	(2025-2026)
26	26	_______________
27	27	An Act to reform payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land.
28	28	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
29	29	of the same, as follows:
30	30	1 SECTION 1. Section 13 of chapter 58 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022
31	31	2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the definition of “Reimbursement
32	32	3percentage”.
33	33	4 SECTION 2. Section 15 of said chapter 58, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
34	34	5striking out, in lines 6 and 7, the words “reimbursement percentages”.
35	35	6 SECTION 3. Section 16 of said chapter 58, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
36	36	7striking out, in lines 2 and 3, the words “reimbursement percentage”.
37	37	8 SECTION 4. Said chapter 58 is hereby further amended by striking out section 17, as so
38	38	9appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:- 2 of 4
39	39	10 Section 17. Annually, not later than November 20, the state treasurer shall reimburse each
40	40	11city and town in which state-owned land is located, an amount in lieu of taxes upon the value of
41	41	12such land as reported by the commissioner under section 16, determined by multiplying each
42	42	13$1,000 of valuation, or fractional part thereof, by the rate and in an amount provided for at a rate
43	43	14equal to the average of the annual rates for the 3 years preceding that in which such value is laid,
44	44	15said annual rates to be determined by an apportionment of the whole amount of money to be
45	45	16raised by taxation upon property in the commonwealth during each of the 3 preceding years, as
46	46	17returned by the assessors of each city and town under this section and approved by the
47	47	18commissioner, upon the aggregate valuation of all cities and towns for each of the 3 preceding
48	48	19years, as returned under section 10C; provided, however, that the amount reimbursed shall not be
49	49	20less than that paid in the prior year, except for the value of land removed from the annual
50	50	21statement of fair cash valuation.
51	51	22 SECTION 5. (a) Within one year of the effective date of this act, the department of
52	52	23revenue and the executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall jointly make
53	53	24recommendations in the form of legislation for amendments to sections 13 through 17, inclusive,
54	54	25of chapter 58 of the general laws, as amended by this act, to: (i) ensure the formula values the
55	55	26carbon storage and sequestration as well as other ecosystem services provided by natural and
56	56	27working lands, as defined in section 1 of chapter 21N of the general laws; and (ii) ensure
57	57	28reimbursements are sufficient to promote the natural and working lands and carbon sequestration
58	58	29goals in the roadmap plans required under section 5 of said chapter 21N. The recommendations
59	59	30shall consider: 3 of 4
60	60	31 (1) Providing additional reimbursements to municipalities based upon the amount of
61	61	32permanently protected open space, as defined by section 91 of chapter 209 of the acts of 2018, in
62	62	33that municipality; and
63	63	34 (2) Providing additional reimbursements to municipalities based upon the amount of
64	64	35forest cover within that municipality; and
65	65	36 (3) Providing additional reimbursements to municipalities for state-owned land that
66	66	37provides services for drinking water supplies, cold-water fisheries, endangered or threatened
67	67	38species, outdoor recreation, ecological integrity and landscape connectivity; and
68	68	39 (4) Providing additional reimbursements to municipalities with historically lower
69	69	40reimbursement percentages, to ensure the formula equitably values state-owned land in different
70	70	41geographic regions of the commonwealth; and
71	71	42 (5) Providing additional reimbursement tiers for municipalities with already high rates of
72	72	43state-owned land, so that the acquisition of additional state-owned land in those municipalities
73	73	44leads to a higher rate of reimbursement.
74	74	45 (b) Within 6 months of the effective date of this act, the department of revenue and the
75	75	46executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall hold a public hearing during which
76	76	47they shall present draft recommendations and, for not less than 30 days following the hearing,
77	77	48they shall accept public comment.
78	78	49 (c) The recommendations shall be submitted to the clerks of the house and senate, the
79	79	50joint committee on revenue, the joint committee on environmental and natural resources, the 4 of 4
80	80	51house and senate committees on ways and means and posted publicly on the website of the
81	81	52executive office of energy and environmental affairs.