Massachusetts H 1547: An Act relative to parenting time

Bill Text

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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2020 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1547

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Adrian C. Madaro
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act codifying the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program.
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PETITION OF:

NAME: DISTRICT/ADDRESS: DATE ADDED:
Adrian C. Madaro 1st Suffolk 1/15/2025
Lindsay N. Sabadosa 1st Hampshire 2/3/2025
Christopher Richard Flanagan 1st Barnstable 2/5/2025
Steven Owens 29th Middlesex 2/5/2025
Erika Uyterhoeven 27th Middlesex 2/6/2025
James K. Hawkins 2nd Bristol 2/24/2025
James B. Eldridge Middlesex and Worcester 2/24/2025
Daniel Cahill 10th Essex 2/24/2025
Samantha Montaño 15th Suffolk 2/24/2025
James C. Arena-DeRosa 8th Middlesex 2/24/2025
Jason M. Lewis Fifth Middlesex 2/24/2025
Bruce E. Tarr First Essex and Middlesex 3/1/2025
Christopher J. Worrell 5th Suffolk 3/13/2025
Vanna Howard 17th Middlesex 3/13/2025
Mike Connolly 26th Middlesex 3/12/2025
Tommy Vitolo 15th Norfolk 3/13/2025
Danillo A. Sena 37th Middlesex 3/13/2025
Natalie M. Higgins 4th Worcester 3/17/2025

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Priscila S. Sousa 6th Middlesex 3/19/2025
Michael P. Kushmerek 3rd Worcester 3/28/2025
Rob Consalvo 14th Suffolk 3/28/2025
Russell E. Holmes 6th Suffolk 4/3/2025
Amy Mah Sangiolo 11th Middlesex 4/5/2025
Estela A. Reyes 4th Essex 4/17/2025
Mary S. Keefe 15th Worcester 4/29/2025
Joan B. Lovely Second Essex 7/16/2025
David Allen Robertson 19th Middlesex 7/30/2025

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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2020 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1547
By Representative Madaro of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1547) of
Adrian C. Madaro and others relative to the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program. Housing.

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 1351 OF 2023-2024.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act codifying the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:

1 Chapter 121B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby
2 amended by adding the following section:-
3 Section 61. (a) The department shall, subject to appropriation, establish and administer
4 through administering agencies, the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program also known as
5 MRVP, a program of rental assistance for eligible low-income, very low-income, and extremely
6 low-income households through mobile and project-based vouchers for the purpose of obtaining
7 decent, stable, and affordable housing and promoting economically mixed housing. The
8 department shall issue the number of vouchers anticipated to completely utilize, but not exceed
9 the appropriation for this program; provided further, that the department shall establish the

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10 amounts of the mobile and project-based vouchers so that the appropriation in this item shall not
11 be exceeded by payments for rental assistance and administration.
12 (b) To be eligible to receive assistance under this section, a household shall have a net
13 income that does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income, as determined by the U.S.
14 Department of Housing and Urban Development. The department may award mobile vouchers to
15 eligible households occupying MRVP project-based units that shall expire due to the non-
16 renewal of project-based rental assistance contracts. Households shall meet eligibility
17 requirements as required in this section and applicable regulations and guidance issued by the
18 department. Not less than 75 percent of the vouchers shall be targeted to households whose
19 income at initial occupancy does not exceed 30 percent of the area median income.
20 (c) A payment standard is the amount used by an administering agency to calculate the
21 maximum amount of the MRVP subsidy. Except as provided under paragraph (d), the payment
22 standard for each size of a dwelling unit in a market area shall not exceed 110 percent of the fair
23 market rent, or Small Area Fair Market Rent as established annually by the U.S. Department of
24 Housing and Urban Development, for the same size of dwelling unit in the same market area and
25 shall be not less than 100 percent of that fair market rent, except that no administering agency
26 shall be required as a result of a reduction in the fair market rent to reduce the payment standard
27 applied to a household continuing to reside in a unit for which the household was receiving
28 assistance under this section at the time the fair market rent was reduced. The department shall
29 allow administering agencies to request exception payment standa