Press Release  AG Healey’s Office Receives 28 Initiative Petitions Proposing 26 Laws and Two Constitutional Amendments

Boston — Meeting today’s 5 p.m. deadline, 17 groups filed 28 initiative petitions for proposed laws or constitutional amendments with Attorney General Maura Healey’s Office. Of the 28 petitions, 26 are proposed laws for the 2018 ballot and two are constitutional amendments for the 2020 ballot. Some initiative petition sponsors submitted more than one version of a petition on the same topic.

The petitions will be available on the AG’s website under the tab “Petitions Filed.”          

Today’s filing deadline starts the process for proposed laws and constitutional amendments to appear on the statewide election ballot. As directed by state law, the Attorney General’s Office will review whether the initiative petitions meet certain constitutional requirements and can be certified to file with the Secretary of State. Certification decisions are expected to be released on Sept. 6, 2017. For more information on the process, please visit the AG’s website.

The personal policy views of the Attorney General or any members of her office play no role in the certification decisions. AG Healey welcomes public input on whether a petition meets the constitutional requirements for certification.

Following certification, proponents of proposed laws are required to gather and file the signatures of 64,750 registered voters by Dec. 6, 2017. Once these signatures are obtained, the proposal is sent to the state Legislature to enact before the first Wednesday in May 2018. If the Legislature fails to enact the proposal, proponents must gather another 10,792 signatures from registered voters by early July 2018 to place the initiative on the November 2018 ballot.

The process for proposed constitutional amendments is different, requiring approval by at least 25 percent of the Legislature in 2018 and then again in 2019-2020 before appearing on the November 2020 ballot.

The Massachusetts Constitution requires that proposed initiatives be in the proper form for submission to voters, not be substantially the same as any measure on the ballot in either of the two preceding statewide elections, contain only subjects that are related to each other or mutually dependent, and not involve a narrow set of subjects that are specifically excluded from the ballot initiative process by the Massachusetts Constitution.

For example, a petition cannot be approved if it relates to religion, religious practices or religious institutions; the powers, creation or abolition of the courts; the appointment, compensation or tenure of judges; a specific appropriation of funds from the state treasury; or if it infringes on other protected constitutional rights, such as trial by jury, freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

Voters who take issue with the Attorney General’s certification decisions can ask the Supreme Judicial Court for a review.

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