Citizens in Charge

The following alert has been circulating amongst good-government groups in Massachusetts. If you live in Massachusetts, please contact your legislators and tell them to vote no on SB 23 / HB 3537:

The Massachusetts legislature is scheduled to convene a Joint Session of both the House and Senate in a Constitutional Convention THIS THURSDAY, July 29 at 1PM. While most of the proposed constitutional amendments have received negative reports that are highly unlikely to be overturned, there remains on the calendar a very dangerous amendment that received a favorable report from the Joint Judiciary Committee. This amendment would, for all intents and purposes, shut down the citizen initiative petition process. Currently, Article 48 of the Massachusetts Constitution does not allow an initiative petition concerning certain specific subjects: religion, the judiciary, petitions affecting only particular districts, or appropriating money from the Treasury.

However, Senate Bill 23, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), and its equivalent, House Bill 3537, sponsored by Reps. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) and Byron Rushing (D-Boston), would add the following prohibited subjects: “The rights to freedom and equality; the right of each individual to be protected by society in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property, according to standing laws.”

If approved, this broad, undefined language would guarantee that virtually no initiative petition could pass muster, since all laws or public policy proposals have some impact on life, liberty or property.

The sponsors of SB 23 have sneakily bypassed the more sensible Election Laws committee and used the Joint Judiciary Committee, which quietly gave the proposed amendment a favorable report last year.  And while normally the Legislature would not hold a Constitutional Convention during this busy week, they could meet just long enough to pass this particular amendment.

They would first have to move it to the head of the ConCon calendar, and there are legislators prepared to fight this effort. Just the threat of resistance may make the legislative leadership decide not to do this now.

As with any constitutional amendment: even if it passed the ConCon this week, it would need another vote in the next two years, then would be on the ballot for the voters to decide in 2012. It is much better to stop it now instead of fighting it when it makes the ballot.

Please call your legislators, both House and Senate, with a simple message: “I’m not going to argue with you, leave the initiative petition process alone.” You’ll find their contact information here.

If there is a vote, it will be a roll call, so if they think we are paying attention they may not risk it in this volatile election year. If they do we will post that roll call on our website.

Even if they don’t, you should know the sponsors of SB 23. Here are the leading legislators who want to kill the initiative petition process: Cynthia Stone Creem, Patricia Jehlen, Martha Walz, Elizabeth Malia, Barbara L’Italienne, and Kay Khan.

More sponsors of the House version, H. 3537, can be found here.