State Feed: Massachusetts

Massachusetts: Initiative language voted down by Legislature

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:38:49 -0400

Proponents behind the initiative that would limit clean energy development in Massachusetts have no option now but to push for its inclusion on the November ballot, after the State Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy decided May 7 not to make the initiative’s language law.

Massachusetts: Mayors propose initiative giving towns and cities more health care powers

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:48:41 -0400

A group of Massachusetts mayors, fed up with what they say is legislative inaction on skyrocketing municipal health care costs, has launched a ballot initiative for 2012 aimed at giving cities and towns more flexibility in reducing expensive benefits for employees, retirees, and elected officials. Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston hosted a strategy session of about 20 mayors in City Hall Friday. The group emerged with a proposal to allow communities to reduce benefits without union negotiations.

Charter school measure may make it to the ballot

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:06:12 -0500

Former state education board chairman James Peyser, leading an effort to lift the statewide cap on charter school enrollment and spending, said Tuesday he believes his supporters have gathered enough signatures to put such a measure on the 2010 ballot. Peyser said the group submitted about 100,000 raw signatures to city and town clerks, and he expects more than 70,000 will ultimately be certified, well above the 66,593 minimum required.

Road toll measure won't be on ballot

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:27:45 -0500

Massachusetts voters won’t be able to decide a proposed ballot question to eliminate highway, bridge and tunnel tolls but could still weigh in on other questions, from rolling back the state income tax to tightening regulations on wood-burning power plants.

Read the story from The Boston Globe

Deadline for signatures in Massachusetts approaching

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:14:58 -0500

Activists pushing a slew of potential ballot questions are racing to file voter signatures with local city and town clerks. Wednesday is the deadline for activists to submit tens of thousands of signatures in support of their initiatives. Once those signatures are certified at the local level, activists have until Dec. 2 to deliver them to Sec. of State William Galvin’s office.

Read the story from the Boston Herald

Voters reject school contraception initiative

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:57:15 -0500

Voters in Revere, Mass., on Tuesday rejected a ballot initiative that would have overturned a policy allowing the high school’s health clinic to make contraception available, including condoms and emergency contraception, the Boston Globe reports. The initiative — defeated in a 3,404-2,695 vote — was put on the ballot in September by a group of Revere residents who objected to the contraception policy.

Read the story from Medical News Today

Green standards prompt ballot measure

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:07:43 -0400

Opponents of the biomass plants proposed for Greenfield and Russell are gathering signatures for an initiative petition that could place a question on next November’s election ballot - effectively gutting the projects.

Initiatives can not be on ballot in January special election

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:25:19 -0400

Efforts to put an advisory charter question before local voters is going to have to wait. State election officials have advised cities and towns that municipal advisory questions cannot be placed on the state ballot for the special U.S. Senate election in January, to fill the seat vacated with the death of Edward M. Kennedy.

Read the story from the News Telegram

Sewer Plan fails

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:21:58 -0400

Given the final word yesterday on a controversial town sewering project, a strong majority of Barnstable voters stayed silent. A citizen ballot initiative seeking to overturn the Barnstable Town Council’s decision to extend sewering around parts of Stewarts Creek failed to produce the 20 percent of voters necessary to validate the election.

Read the story from the Cape Cod Times

Massachusetts ballot measures accepted by AG, now supporters must collect signatures

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:34:09 -0400

Attorney General Martha Coakley gave the initial go ahead to 23 ballot initiatives today, including a push to eliminate tolls in the Bay State. Coakely reviewed 30 petitions to see if they passed constitutional muster, and now those hoping to get the questions on a ballot must collect nearly 66,600 signatures of registered voters. “After a complete and thorough review by our office, we have concluded that most of these initiative petitions have met the requirements posed in the state’s Constitution,” Coakley said in a statement.

State AG expected to accept ballot measure for Massachusetts

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:57:42 -0400

A ballot question that would reduce the sales tax to 3 percent is expected to be approved by the state attorney general today. “Taxes in Massachusetts are a back-breaking burden on workers, businesses that provide jobs and our families,” said Carla Howell charwoman of the Alliance to Roll Back Taxes, the group sponsoring the initiative. “Our tax roll back is designed to relieve the tax burden shouldered by 3.4 million workers.”

State Attorney General will decide validity of November ballot measures in Massachusetts

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:24:37 -0400

Advocates hoping to place questions on next year’s ballot are coming up to their first major hurdle. Wednesday is the deadline for Attorney General Martha Coakley to decide whether each question is eligible for the ballot. Under the Massachusetts Constitution certain subjects are barred from initiative petitions, including those relating to religion, the courts, and certain provisions of the state Declaration of Rights.

Read the story from WBZ 38

Can We Bring the Ballot Question Process Online in Massachusetts?

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:46:14 -0400

Do you think it’s possible, in an age where so many of us get our information online, to harness the internet’s powers of communication as a tool for state-level direct democracy?

Pro poker petition will begin collecting signatures for 2010 ballot

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:22:31 -0400

Pro-online poker Massachusetts activists have wasted no time in launching an initiative in order to gather the public support necessary for a legalisation proposal to be included on next year’s ballot. Associated Press reports that the Internet, paid help and networks of volunteers are all being mobilised to collect the tens of thousands of voter signatures needed to make the cut. By law, activists must gather signatures equal to 3 percent of the total of all votes cast for governor during the last state election.

Possible ballot measure to keep measure off ballot for two years if voters override them

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:11:23 -0400

The ballot question to finance a new library sparked outrage among some in town when it was put up for consecutive votes. Now, outspoken library opponents are seeking to change the law to prevent that from happening again. Precinct 6 Town Meeting member James P. Taylor is circulating a petition to put an article on the Town Meeting warrant that would prohibit any failed Proposition 2 1/2 override vote from appearing on another ballot for two years.

Unlimited number of charter schools possible in Mass. if ballot initiative is passed

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:07:49 -0400

Charter school supporters file a ballot question Wednesday that would allow for an unlimited number of charter schools in Massachusetts. Special-interest groups face a 5 p.m. deadline to file initiatives with the attorney general for the November 2010 ballot. Gov. Deval Patrick proposes to double the number of charter schools in districts with the lowest MCAS scores. But supporters worry that plan will not get through the Legislature. They say if the governor’s proposal does pass, they may drop the initiative.

Filed ballot question would end affordable housing law in Massachusetts

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:08:40 -0400

Supporters of a plan to end the Massachusetts’ main affordable housing law are trying again. Critics of the law filed a proposed ballot question with Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office on Tuesday.

Read the story from South Coast Today

If passed, ballot measure would get rid of tolls

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:26:20 -0400

Toll opponents are hoping to give Massachusetts voters a chance to have their say during next year’s election. The group Citizens Against Road Tolls filed two ballot questions with Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office Tuesday, both of which would require the state to eliminate tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike, Tobin Bridge and Boston Harbor tunnels by Jan. 1, 2012.

Read the story from FOX 25

Ballot measure to put alcohol back on tax exempt list is considered

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:48:03 -0400

The states 6.25% sales tax could pack a whollop for package store profits. The alcohol tax that went into effect yesterday lifted a long-standing tax exemption on bay state booze. Governor Patrick said it had to be done to help the state balance the budget and it could bring in up to $80-million in revenue.

Read the story from WWLP 22

Second chance possible for ballot measure that died in city council vote

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:28:41 -0400

A citizens’ initiative to put the landfill expansion before the voters died on the City Council table Thursday, but it could come back to life as soon as Monday. The petition asks: “Shall the city of Northampton expand the Northampton landfill over the Barnes Aquifer?” The council tabled the matter at its last meeting after a group of citizens presented it during the public comment session. Councilors Michael A. Bardsley and Marianne L. LaBarge offered their own identically worded ballot question at that same meeting.