SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2003        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 23

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Cynthia Stone Creem

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
                Court assembled:

                The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:

PROPOSAL FOR A LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH RELATIVE TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF INITIATIVE PETITIONS.

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PETITION OF:

Name:	District/Address:
Cynthia Stone Creem	First Middlesex and Norfolk
Patricia D. Jehlen	Second Middlesex
Martha M. Walz	8th Suffolk
Elizabeth A. Malia	11th Suffolk
Barbara A. L'Italien	18th Essex
Kay Khan	11th Middlesex

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand and Nine

PROPOSAL for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to the subject matter of initiative petitions.

            A majority of all the members elected to the Senate and House of Representatives, in joint session, hereby declares it to be expedient to alter the Constitution by the adoption of the following Article of Amendment, to the end that it may become a part of the Constitution [if similarly agreed to in a joint session of the next General Court and approved by the people at the state election next following]:

ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT.

Section 2 of Part II, “Initiative Petitions,” of Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby amended by inserting in the first sentence of the third paragraph after the words “shall be the subject of an initiative or referendum petition” the following words: “The rights to freedom, equality, and civil liberties; the right of each individual to be protected by society in the enjoyment of life, Liberty and property, according to standing laws”.