2017 Massachusetts General Laws
PART I ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE I JURISDICTION AND EMBLEMS OF THE COMMONWEALTH, THE GENERAL COURT, STATUTES AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
Chapter 3 THE GENERAL COURT
Section 9B Member's allowances for expenses, travel, meals and lodging
[ Text of section effective until January 4, 2017. For text effective January 4, 2017, see below.]
Section 9B. Each member of the general court shall receive $7,200 annually for expenses to be paid as follows: each member shall be entitled to receive $600 on the first day of each session and the first day of each month thereafter until said sum of $7,200 shall have been paid, and on the last day of the session there shall be paid to each member of the general court the balance, if any, of said sum of $7,200.
A member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Nahant, Newton, Quincy, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Winchester, Winthrop or Woburn shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $10 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Abington, Andover, Avon, Bedford, Beverly, Billerica, Boxford, Braintree, Brockton, Burlington, Canton, Carlisle, Cohasset, Concord, Danvers, Dover, Easton, Framingham, Hamilton, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynnfield, Manchester by-the Sea, Marblehead, Medfield, Middleton, Millis, Natick, Needham, North Andover, North Reading, Norwell, Norwood, Peabody, Randolph, Reading, Rockland, Salem, Scituate, Sharon, Sherborn, Stoughton, Sudbury, Swampscott, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Walpole, Wayland, Wellesley, Wenham, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Whitman or Wilmington shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $18 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Acton, Ashland, Ayer, Bellingham, Blackstone, Bolton, Boxborough, Bridgewater, Carver, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Essex, Foxborough, Franklin, Georgetown, Gloucester, Groton, Groveland, Halifax, Hanson, Harvard, Haverhill, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Lawrence, Littleton, Lowell, Mansfield, Marlborough, Marshfield, Maynard, Medway, Mendon, Methuen, Middleborough, Milford, Millville, Newbury, Newburyport, Norfolk, Northborough, Norton, Pembroke, Plainville, Plympton, Raynham, Rockport, Rowley, Shirley, Southborough, Stow, Tyngsborough, Upton, Westborough, West Bridgewater, Westford, West Newbury or Wrentham shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $26 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Acushnet, Amesbury, Ashby, Attleboro, Auburn, Berkley, Berlin, Boylston, Clinton, Dighton, Douglas, Fall River, Fitchburg, Freetown, Grafton, Holden, Lancaster, Leicester, Leominster, Lunenburg, Marion, Mattapoisett, Merrimac, Millbury, Northbridge, North Attleborough, Oxford, Paxton, Pepperell, Plymouth, Princeton, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rutland, Salisbury, Seekonk, Shrewsbury, Somerset, Sterling, Sutton, Swansea, Taunton, Townsend, Uxbridge, Wareham, Webster, West Boylston, Westminster or Worcester shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $36 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Ashburnham, Barre, Bourne, Brookfield, Charlton, Dartmouth, Dudley, East Brookfield, Fairhaven, Gardner, Hubbardston, New Bedford, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, Sandwich, Southbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Templeton, Warren, West Brookfield, Westport or Winchendon shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $45 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Athol, Barnstable, Belchertown, Brimfield, Dennis, Falmouth, Hardwick, Holland, Mashpee, Monson, New Salem, Orange, Palmer, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Wales, Ware or Yarmouth shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $50 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Amherst, Brewster, Chatham, Chicopee, Eastham, East Longmeadow, Erving, Gill, Granby, Hadley, Hampden, Harwich, Leverett, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Montague, Northfield, Orleans, Pelham, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Springfield, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell or Wilbraham shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $60 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Agawam, Bernardston, Conway, Deerfield, Easthampton, Greenfield, Hatfield, Holyoke, Leyden, Montgomery, Northampton, Shelburne, Southampton, Southwick, Truro, Wellfleet, Westfield, Westhampton, West Springfield, Whately or Williamsburg shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $66 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Ashfield, Blandford, Buckland, Charlemont, Chester, Chesterfield, Colrain, Cummington, Goshen, Granville, Hawley, Heath, Huntington, Plainfield, Provincetown, Russell, Tolland or Worthington shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $74 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Becket, Dalton, Florida, Hinsdale, Lee, Middlefield, Monroe, Monterey, Otis, Peru, Rowe, Sandisfield, Savoy, Tyringham, Washington or Windsor shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $82 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the city or town of Adams, Alford, Aquinnah, Cheshire, Chilmark, Clarksburg, Edgartown, Egremont, Gosnold, Great Barrington, Hancock, Lanesborough, Lenox, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Oak Bluffs, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tisbury, West Stockbridge, West Tisbury or Williamstown shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $90 per day; a member of the general court who lives in the town of Nantucket shall receive a per diem allowance for mileage, meals and lodging of $100 per day.
Whenever the general court is not in session, but not having prorogued, each member shall also receive such per diem allowance for each day for travel from his place of residence to the state house and return therefrom, while in the performance of his official duties, upon certification to the state treasurer that he was present at the state house.
Each member of the general court shall also be paid such per diem allowance after prorogation of the general court for each day for travel from his place of residence to the state house and return therefrom while in the performance of his official duties upon certification to the state treasurer that he was present at the state house.
Chapter 3: Section 9B. Additional regular compensation for certain members
[ Text of section as amended by 2017, 1, Sec. 2 effective January 4, 2017. See 2017, 1, Sec. 38. For text effective until January 4, 2017, see above.]
Section 9B. (a) The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $80,000.
(b) The chair of the senate committee on ways and means and the chair of the house committee on ways and means shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $65,000. The floor leaders of each of the major political parties in the senate and house of representatives shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $60,000. The president pro tempore of the senate and the speaker pro tempore of the house of representatives shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $50,000.
(c) The assistant floor leaders of each of the major political parties in the senate, the assistant floor leaders of each of the major political parties in the house of representatives, the second assistant floor leaders of each of the major political parties in the senate and house of representatives and the third assistant floor leaders of each of the major political parties in the senate and house of representatives shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $35,000.
(d) The chairs of each of the 4 divisions of the house of representatives, the chair of the senate committee on rules, the chair of the house committee on rules, the senate and house chairs of the committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets, the vice chair of the senate committee on ways and means, the vice chair of the house committee on ways and means, the ranking minority members of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chair of the senate committee on post audit and oversight, the chair of the house committee on post audit and oversight, the chair of the senate committee on bills in the third reading, the chair of the house committee on bills in the third reading, the chair of the senate committee on steering and policy, the chair of the house committee on steering, policy and scheduling, the senate and house chairs of the committee on state administration and regulatory oversight, the senate and house chairs of the committee on health care financing, the senate and house chairs of the committee on financial services, the senate and house chairs of the committee on revenue, the senate and house chairs of the committee on economic development and emerging technologies, the senate and house chairs of the committee on the judiciary, the senate and house chairs of the committee on education, the senate and house chairs of the committee on telecommunications, utilities and energy and the senate and house chairs of the committee on transportation shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $30,000.
(e) The chairs of all other committees of the senate and house of representatives established by the joint rules of the senate and house of representatives or by the rules of the senate or the rules of the house of representatives, the vice chair of the house committee on rules, the ranking minority member of the house committee on rules, the vice chair of the house committee on post audit and oversight, the assistant vice chair of the senate committee on ways and means, the assistant vice chair of the house committee on ways and means, the assistant ranking minority member of the house committee on ways and means, the house vice chair of the committee on financial services, the ranking minority member of the house committee on financial services, the house vice chair of the committee on health care financing, the house vice chair of the committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets, the house ranking minority member of the committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets, the house vice chair of the committee on state administration and regulatory oversight, the house vice chair of the committee on economic development and emerging technologies, the ranking minority member of the house committee on economic development and emerging technologies, the vice chair of the house committee on revenue, the senate and house ranking minority members of the committee on health care financing, the house vice chair of the committee on the judiciary, the ranking minority member of the house committee on the judiciary, the house vice chair of the committee on transportation, the vice chair of the house committee on bills in the third reading, the vice chair of the house committee on steering, policy and scheduling, the house vice chair of the committee on education and the house vice chair of the committee on telecommunications, utilities and energy shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $15,000.
(f) The vice chairs of all other committees of the senate and house of representatives established by the joint rules of the senate and house of representatives or by the rules of the senate or the rules of the house of representatives shall each receive for each regular annual session, in addition to the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, additional regular compensation in the amount of $5,200. Except as otherwise provided in the rules of the senate or house of representatives, no member of the general court shall be compensated for service as chair of more than 1 committee, and no member of the general court shall be compensated for service in more than 2 positions, whether as a member of leadership or as chair, vice chair or ranking member of a committee. Each member of the general court shall be entitled to be paid that member's compensation for each session on a bi-weekly basis. Compensation shall include any amounts a member is entitled to under this section, section 9C or as otherwise established by law.
(g) The amount of additional regular compensation established pursuant to subsections (a) to (f), inclusive, for each regular annual session, exclusive of the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, shall be adjusted biennially to reflect the aggregate quarterly change in salaries and wages in the commonwealth for the most recent 8 quarters as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of Commerce; provided, however, that the amount of additional regular compensation for any regular annual session, exclusive of the base compensation calculated pursuant to Article CXVIII, shall not be less than that provided in said subsections (a) to (f), inclusive.
