Colin A. Young
State House News Service
For the second election cycle in a row, a special panel of lawmakers tasked with analyzing potential ballot questions concluded that none deserve legislative attention.
With only one member registering any dissent at all, the Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions recommended this week that the Legislature take no action on any of the 11 policy issues careening towards November's crowded ballot. It's a field of proposed laws that many lawmakers have taken exception to -- bristling both at proposals that could affect the Legislature directly and at the notion that petitioners are increasingly circumventing the Legislature in attempts to address issues they believe warrant solutions.
By issuing an across-the-board conclusion that none of the measures warrant legislative approval, lawmakers are likely clearing the way for voters to make decisions on major policies affecting state taxation, rent control, state elections and more. Some of the proposals still need to survive court challenges to advance.
The special committee considered proposals that would reform and regulate legislative stipends, make most records held by the Legislature and the governor's office available to the public, implement all-party state primaries, establish statewide rent control, allow people to register and vote on Election Day, reduce the personal income tax rate from 5% to 4%, roll back recreational cannabis use, "legalize starter homes," direct funding from the sporting goods sales tax to conservation, enable Committee for Public Counsel Services employees to unionize, and limit how much revenue the state can collect in a given year.
Sen. Ryan Fattman, one of two Republicans on the panel, was the only member to vote against the chairwomen's recommendation for no action, according to vote tallies posted to the committee's webpage. He did so only on the questions concerning public records, the income tax rate cut and the state tax revenue cap. Democratic Sens. Barry Finegold and Paul Feeney opted against taking a yes-or-no stance on the chairwomen's recommendations for the public records question (Finegold), the all-party primaries proposal (Finegold) and the initiative to give CPCS workers the right to unionize (Feeney).
Like the special committee that reviewed all 2024 ballot questions and recommended the Legislature take no action, this year's review was led by Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley and Sen. Cindy Friedman of Arlington.
Peisch was out of the country Tuesday, according to her office, and was not available to the News Service. Friedman's office did not respond to a request to speak with the senator.
With the Legislature taking no action by its deadline Tuesday, petitioners will now have to collect 12,429 more signatures to stay on track for the Nov. 3 ballot.
The initiative petitions are not subject to amendment before the Legislature. Committee members during public hearings on the proposals objected to both the merits of the measures and the fact that the proposals do not in some cases properly addressed nuanced issues that might be handled in the legislative process.
The record 12 petitions in the queue for November (in addition to the 11 new laws proposed, there is a question seeking to repeal 2024's gun law) are the latest sign of a growing discontent with a Legislature that has a reputation for a sluggish pace, advocates say.
Legislative leaders have not hidden their distaste for the ballot initiative process and both chambers of the Legislature have already taken steps to alter the system. Even greater reforms could be under consideration after this spring's round of hearings.
"This whole system is fraught with peril. We're going to look like California with 24, 25 questions on every ballot," House Speaker Ronald Mariano said in February.
At the same event, Senate President Karen Spilka said, "Part of the problem with doing law by ballot initiatives is they're all sponsored by special interest groups. So the ballot initiative is written and it's tailored to help that special interest group, sometimes not looking at other aspects of what's going on."
Many of the ballot question petitioners also believe special interests play too great of a role, in the Legislature.