The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

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INITIATIVE PETITION OF Nehobe Kristine Acevedo

AND OTHERS     

 

 

                OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.

                                                                                             BOSTON, JANUARY 8, 2008.                               

 

Steven T. James

Clerk of the House of Representatives

State House

Boston, Massachusetts 02133

 

      Sir: — I herewith transmit to you, in accordance with the requirements of Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution, an Initiative Petition for An Act to Protect Greyhounds, signed by ten qualified voters and filed with this department on or before December 5, 2007, together with additional signatures of qualified voters in the number of 79,055, being a sufficient number to comply with the Provisions of said Article.   

 

                                            Sincerely,

 

                                                WILLIAM FRANCIS GALVIN

                                                Secretary of the Commonwealth

 

 

 

AN INITIATIVE PETITION.

 

    Pursuant to Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, as amended, the undersigned qualified voters of the Commonwealth, ten in number at least, hereby petition for the enactment into law of the following measure:

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

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In the Year Two Thousand and Eight.

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 An Act TO PROTECT GREYHOUNDS.

 

  

 

 Be it enacted by the People, and by their authority, as follows:

 

 

SECTION 1. Declaration of purpose.  The citizens of Massachusetts find that commercial dog racing is cruel and inhumane, and as recommended by the Humane Society of the United States, the Animal Rescue League of Boston, GREY2K USA, and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, declare that it should be prohibited in the commonwealth.

 

SECTION 2. Chapter 128A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 14D the following section: -

 

Section 14E.  Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or any general or special law to the contrary, no dog racing or racing meeting where any form of betting or wagering on the speed or ability of dogs occurs shall be conducted or permitted in this commonwealth and the commission is hereby prohibited from accepting or approving any application or request for racing dates for dog racing.

 

Any person violating any provision of this section relative to dog racing shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than twenty thousand dollars which shall be payable to the commission and used for administrative purposes of the commission subject to appropriation.

 

All other provisions of this Chapter shall be construed as if they contain no references to dogs, dog racing or dog races.

 

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the effective date of this section shall be January 1, 2010.

 

SECTION 3. The several provisions of this Act are independent and severable and the invalidity, if any, of any part or feature thereof shall not affect or render the remainder of the Act invalid or inoperative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIRST TEN SIGNERS

Name     

Residence

city or town

Nehobe Kristine Acevedo

33 Wave Avenue #3

Revere

Anne P. Albanese

68 Azalea Drive

Taunton

Paula Blanchard

16 Round Hill Road

Lexington

Christine A. Dorchak

11A Lakeview Street

Arlington

Carter J. Luke

5 Palmer Road

Sandwich

Lorraine A. Nicotera

1800 Commercial Street

Weymouth

James O’Keefe

25 Moore Street.

Somerville

Linda Rapa

11 Ox Yoke Drive

Methuen

Carolyn Roux   

59 Holden Road

Sterling

Marisa Shea

108 Milford Street

Medway

 

                                                                                   

                                               

                                               

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                           

                                               

                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CERTIFICATE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

 

September 5, 2007.

 

Honorable William Francis Galvin

Secretary of the Commonwealth

One Ashburton Place, Room 1705

Boston, Massachusetts 02108

 

RE:      Initiative Petition No. 07-06: An Act to Protect Greyhounds (Version A)

 

Dear Secretary Galvin:

 

            In accordance with the provisions of Article 48 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, I have reviewed the above-referenced initiative petition, which was submitted to me on or before the first Wednesday of August of this year.

 

            I hereby certify that this measure is in proper form for submission to the people; that the measure is not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at either of the two preceding biennial state elections; and that it contains only subjects that are related or are mutually dependent and which are not excluded from the initiative process pursuant to Article 48, the Initiative, Part 2, Section 2.

 

            In accordance with Article 48, I enclose a fair, concise summary of the measure.

 

                                                            Cordially,

                                                                       

                                                                        MARTHA COAKLEY

                                                                           Attorney General

 

Enclosure

 

SUMMARY OF INITIATIVE PETITON.

 

 

           

This proposed law would prohibit any dog racing or racing meeting in Massachusetts where any form of betting or wagering on the speed or ability of dogs occurs.

            The State Racing Commission would be prohibited from accepting or approving any application or request for racing dates for dog racing.

            Any person violating the proposed law could be required to pay a civil penalty of not less than $20,000 to the Commission.  The penalty would be used for the Commission’s administrative purposes, subject to appropriation by the state Legislature.  All existing parts of the chapter of the state’s General Laws concerning dog and horse racing meetings would be interpreted as if they did not refer to dogs.

            These changes would take effect January 1, 2010.  The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.