Mass.Election Official Gives OK To Four Ballot Initiatives

By Paul Tuthill

Boston, MA – The Massachusetts Secretary of State, William Galvin, today plans to file four citizen initiative petitions with the clerk of the Massachusetts House. Each of the petitions could eventually end up on the statewide election ballot in November. WAMC"s Paul Tuthill reports.

The Secretary of State's Office determined that each of the sponsors of the proposed laws collected more petition signatures than the nearly 69 thousand required to keep the initiatives alive. Today's filing opens a window for the state legislature to enact the proposals as bills. That window closes on May 2nd, after which an additional 11 thousand 500 signatures of registered voters would put the questions on the November 6 ballot.
One proposal, to legalize medical marijuana is similar to a bill that was previously filed in the legislature by State Senator Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst, who says he'll work to get his bill passed. Dick Evans, an attorney from Northampton, who is a long time advocate for marijuana law reform says with two cracks at it, he likes the chances for Massachusetts becoming the latest state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use.
Massachusetts voters four years ago decriminalized personal possession of small amounts of marijuana over the objection of a coalition of law enforcement officials, who will likely oppose this latest marijuana law reform
A proposed law to require automobile manufacturers to share computer diagnostic information with independent repair shops has been debated on Beacon Hill for several years. In 2010, the Massachusetts Senate passed it, but the house failed to take it. Art Kinsman, of the Right to Repair Coalition says his group will work the legislative process for the next five months.
The legislature is unlikely to take action on two citizen initiatives being filed today.. One, is a proposal which sponsors call a death with dignity proposal, and opponents call, the first step to doctor assisted suicide. It would allow adults, who have been told they have no more than six months to live to request drugs they could self administer to end their lives immediately, according to Stephen Crawford, a spokesman for the sponsors
An education reform group called Stand For Children, is pushing a law on teacher evaluations. The organizations political director, Christian Price says the proposal would make teacher performance, and not seniority, the priority when it comes to lay offs.
The proposal has drawn the ire of the politically powerful Massachusetts Teachers Association. The union has said it may go to court to try and keep the question off the ballot. The Massachusetts Attorney General , who reviews all initiative petitions before sponsors can begin to collect signatures, determined the four proposed ballot questions do not run afoul of the state constitution.