The state of Massachusetts, on the other hand, did provide legal support for the protestors. The Racial Imbalance Bill was filed by State Representative Royal Bolling and passed in 1965 as Massachusetts General Law Chapter 76, Section 12A. This law authorized the withholding of funds from any public school deemed to be perpetuating “racial imbalance,” defined as having more than 50% non-white students. The law also enabled city and town school committees and districts to "help alleviate racial isolation" (defined as any public school where over 70% of the student population is white) through voluntary cross-district enrollment.