§ 7 — Financial interest in contracts of state agency; application of section

Section 7. A state employee who has a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract made by a state agency, in which the commonwealth or a state agency is an interested party, of which interest he has knowledge or has reason to know, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years, or in a jail or house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years, or both.This section shall not apply if such financial interest consists of the ownership of less than one per cent of the stock of a corporation.This section shall not apply (a) to a state employee who in good faith and within thirty days after he learns of an actual or prospective violation of this section makes full disclosure of his financial interest to the contracting agency and terminates or disposes of the interest, or (b) to a state employee other than a member of the general court who is not employed by the contracting agency or an agency which regulates the activities of the contracting agency and who does not participate in or have official responsibility for any of the activities of the contracting agency, if the contract is made after public notice or where applicable, through competitive bidding, and if the state employee files with the state ethics commission a statement making full disclosure of his interest and the interests of his immediate family in the contract, and if in the case of a contract for personal services (1) the services will be provided outside the normal working hours of the state employee, (2) the services are not required as part of the state employee's regular duties, the employee is compensated for not more than five hundred hours during a calendar year, and (3) the head of the contracting agency makes and files with the state ethics commission a written certification that no employee of that agency is available to perform those services as a part of their regular duties, or (c) to the interest of a member of the general court in a contract made by an agency other than the general court or either branch thereof, if his direct and indirect interests and those of his immediate family in the corporation or other commercial entity with which the contract is made do not in the aggregate amount to ten per cent of the total proprietary interests therein, and the contract is made through competitive bidding and he files with the state ethics commission a statement making full disclosure of his interest and the interests of his immediate family or (d) to a special state employee who does not participate in or have official responsibility for any of the activities of the contracting agency and who files with the state ethics commission a statement making full disclosure of his interest and the interests of his immediate family in the contract, or (e) to a special state employee who files with the state ethics commission a statement making full disclosure of his interest and the interests of his immediate family in the contract, if the governor with the advice and consent of the executive council exempts him.[ Fourth paragraph effective until December 4, 2024. For text effective December 4, 2024, see below.]This section shall not apply to a state employee who provides services or furnishes supplies, goods and materials to a recipient of public assistance, provided that such services or such supplies, goods and materials are provided in accordance with a schedule of charges promulgated by the department of transitional assistance or the division of health care policy and finance and provided, further, that such recipient has the right under law to choose and in fact does choose the person or firm that will provide such services or furnish such supplies, goods and materials.[ Fourth paragraph as amended by 2024, 248, Sec. 23 effective December 4, 2024. For text effective until December 4, 2024, see above.]This section shall not apply to a state employee who provides services or furnishes supplies, goods and materials to a recipient of public assistance, provided that such services or such supplies, goods and materials are provided in accordance with a schedule of charges promulgated by the department of transitional assistance or the executive office of health and human services and provided, further, that such recipient has the right under law to choose and in fact does choose the person or firm that will provide such services or furnish such supplies, goods and materials.This section shall not prohibit a state employee from teaching or performing other related duties in an educational institution of the commonwealth; provided, that such employee does not participate in, or have official responsibility for, the financial management of such educational institution; and provided, further, that such employee is so employed on a part-time basis. Such employee may be compensated for such services, notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-one of chapter thirty.[ Sixth paragraph effective until December 4, 2024. For text effective December 4, 2024, see below.]This section shall not prohibit a state employee from being employed on a part-time basis by a facility operated or designed for the care of mentally ill or mentally retarded persons, public health, correctional facility or any other facility principally funded by the state which provides similar services and which operates on an uninterrupted and continuous basis; provided that such employee does not participate in, or have official responsibility for, the financial management of such facility, that he is compensated for such part-time employment for not more than four hours in any day in which he is otherwise compensated by the commonwealth, and at a rate which does not exceed that of a state employee classified in step one of job group XX of the general salary schedule contained in section forty-six of chapter thirty, and that the head of the facility makes and files with the state ethics commission a written certification that there is a critical need for the services of the employee. Such employee may be compensated for such services, notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-one of chapter thirty.[ Sixth paragraph effective December 4, 2024. For text effective until December 4, 2024, see above.]This section shall not prohibit a state employee from being employed on a part-time basis by a facility operated or designed for the care of persons with mental health conditions or intellectual or developmental disabilities, public health, correctional facility or any other facility principally funded by the state which provides similar services and which operates on an uninterrupted and continuous basis; provided that such employee does not participate in, or have official responsibility for, the financial management of such facility, that he is compensated for such part-time employment for not more than four hours in any day in which he is otherwise compensated by the commonwealth, and at a rate which does not exceed that of a state employee classified in step one of job group XX of the general salary schedule contained in section forty-six of chapter thirty, and that the head of the facility makes and files with the state ethics commission a written certification that there is a critical need for the services of the employee. Such employee may be compensated for such services, notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-one of chapter thirty.This section shall not preclude an officer or employee of the Massachusetts Port Authority from eligibility for any residential sound insulation program or the bayswater environmental program provided that the officer or employee has no responsibility for the administration for that program from which he is to receive the benefit.