Bill > S2673

This bill provides several key provisions to address municipal governance during the COVID-19 emergency: 1. It allows towns without a representative town meeting form of government to reduce the quorum requirement for town meetings during the state of emergency, as long as the quorum is not less than 10% of the normal requirement. 2. It enables towns with a representative town meeting to hold town meetings remotely using video or telephone conferencing, provided certain requirements are met, such as allowing public access and recording the proceedings. 3. It permits select boards, in consultation with the town moderator, to hold town meetings outside the geographic limits of the town if necessary to ensure health and safety. 4. It extends the deadlines for mayors to submit annual budgets to city councils for fiscal year 2021, and allows for the use of continuing appropriation budgets if the annual budget is not approved by June 30, 2020. 5. It allows cities and towns to make payments on existing service contracts for school or education-related services that were impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, provided certain conditions are met. 6. The provisions of this bill are set to expire 35 days after the termination of the governor's state of emergency declaration.