Press Release  AG’s Office Certifies 21 Initiative Petitions

Boston — After a thorough review of 28 initiative petitions submitted by the August 2 deadline, the Attorney General’s Office has determined that 21 proposals have met the requirements outlined in the constitution and may proceed to the next step in the process, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

The AG’s Office certified the 21 petitions, including 20 proposed laws and one proposed constitutional amendment. The certified petitions cover 18 topics, as some petitioners submitted multiple petitions on the same subject. The AG’s Office did not certify seven of the initiative petitions because they did not meet the requirements outlined in Article 48 of the Massachusetts Constitution.

A list of the petitions and the AG’s certification decisions are available on the AG’s website. Letters explaining the AG’s decisions not to certify are also available on the website.

Today’s decisions are based strictly on the AG’s Office’s constitutional review under Article 48 and do not represent the office’s support or opposition to the merits of the petitions.

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.

Proponents of the proposed laws must now 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.

Voters or petitioners who take issue with the AG’s certification decisions can ask the Supreme Judicial Court for a review.

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