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Questions Advance Towards the Ballot
12.13.2017
By Julie Cox and Max Fathy
Several ballot question proposals drew closer to being placed before voters next fall after their campaigns submitted paperwork to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin’s office on Wednesday, November 6th. This date was the deadline for campaigns to deliver to Galvin’s office certified signatures from at least 64,750 registered voters.
In September, Attorney General Maura Healey certified 21 potential ballot questions. This certification allowed proponents of those questions to move on to gathering signatures. The required number of signatures were submitted on the 6th for the following ballot measures, which will now advance in the process and be sent to the legislature:
- Minimum wage: Raises the state’s minimum wage, which was $11.00 per hour as of January 1, 2017, to $12.00 in 2019; $13.00 in 2020; $14.00 in 2021; and $15.00 in 2022. It would also raise the minimum cash wage that must be paid to tipped employees, which was $3.75 per hour as of January 1, 2017, to $5.05 in 2019; $6.35 in 2020; $7.64 in 2021; and $9.00 in 2022.
- Paid Family and Medical Leave: Creates a program to provide paid family and medical leave to Massachusetts workers. Workers would be allowed to take paid leave for a new child, a family illness, or if a family member goes on active military service. Covered workers taking family or medical leave would receive 90% of their average weekly earnings, up to $1,000 per week, and could take up to 16 weeks of family leave or 26 weeks of medical leave. The program would take effect on January 1, 2019.
- Sales Tax: Reduces the state sales and use taxes from their current rate of 6.25% (as of September 2017) to 5% and establishes an annual tax-free weekend. The Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which is leading the campaign for this measure, has said it would be willing to work with the legislature on a compromise that would prevent this question from reaching the ballot.
- Nurse Staffing: Two nurse staffing questions filed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association limit the maximum number of patients that can be assigned to one nurse at a time. Nurses would be limited to caring for two urgent non-stable patients and no more than five psychiatric patients. During childbirth, one nurse would be assigned to the mother and one nurse to the baby until the conditions of the mother and baby are deemed stable. At that point, one nurse could care for both the mother and child.
- Campaign Finance: Establishes a nonpartisan “Citizens Commission” to advance a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
A “millionaire’s tax” that would impose a 4 percent surtax, on top of the state’s regular income tax, on any portion of an individual’s annual income that exceeds $1 million and a question that would repeal a new state law preventing discrimination against transgender individuals in public accommodations have already secured spots on the 2018 ballot. Polling has shown that the millionaire’s tax, the paid family and medical leave question, and sales tax cut question all enjoy strong popular support.
The legislature will have until the first Wednesday of May to take action on these proposals. If the legislature does not act by this time, petitioners can collect 10,792 more signatures by early June to have the question placed on the November 2018 ballot.
The following ballot questions Healey certified in September did not collect the required number of signatures to proceed: a constitutional amendment excluding abortion services from state-funded health care; a requirement for medical providers to inform patients of the costs of radiology and imaging procedures priced over $100; a requirement for animal shelters to hold animals for at least seven days before euthanizing them; a prohibition on the use of aversive therapies; a requirement that Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates submit copies of their tax returns; limitations on how much Massachusetts candidates or ballot question committees could accept from PACs or individuals outside of the state; prohibitions on state authorization for the commercial use of gear known to entangle whales or sea turtles; and amendments to programs promoting the use of electricity in the state generated from renewable resources.
ML Strategies will continue to monitor and periodically report on the status of the initiative petitions.
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