To: Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws
April 5, 2005
S.B. 13 – CLT OPPOSES this effort by Senator Rosenberg to
kill the
initiative petition process in Massachusetts. We have worked with
volunteers collecting signatures on eleven initiative petitions and
therefore know what we are talking about when we say that this amendment
would end Massachusetts direct democracy, which was created by Democrats
early last century and is now used and appreciated by voters from all
sides of the political spectrum. We appreciate the previous rejection of
this amendment by the Election Laws Committee, and the opposition of
Secretary of State William Galvin. His Elections Division does an
excellent job of working with the Initiative process in its current
form.
S.B. 11 – CLT OPPOSES increasing the term of the General Court from two
to four years. This is a very very bad idea, giving incumbents four
years to raise money that could not be matched by a challenger, and
voters four years to forget any bad behavior. CLT hopes that you will
vote to keep the election process open fairly to all citizens.
S.B. 7 – CLT SUPPORTS the Paley Amendment to require respect for
initiative petition laws. When citizens spend thousands of hours on
street corners, at town dumps, at the mall collecting signatures, then
vote on the ballot to create a law, this hard work and decision-making
should be respected by elected representatives who did not adequately
address the issue themselves. Though initiative laws can technically be
repealed or amended like any other law, they should be given a higher
consideration and a fair opportunity to work. This amendment allows
changes to an initiative petition with the written support of a majority
of the original signers certified by the Attorney General when the
petition was filed, or the majority of voters on another statewide
ballot.
As an example: when Proposition 2˝ passed 25 years ago this year, there
were many bills filed to repeal or amend it. Citizens for Limited
Taxation, as sponsors of that initiative petition, readily agreed with
some recommended legislative changes: by working with the sponsors, the
Legislature was able to improve the people’s law without violating their
will. The legislative staffer, by the way, who so ably drafted the
improvements, was Michael Capuano, now representing the 8th
Congressional District!
S.B. 12 – CLT SUPPORTS Redistricting Reform. In the 21st Century, how
else should redistricting be done, than with an independent commission,
using computers? We commend Senator Moore for his leadership on this
issue and are grateful for the hard work done by Common Cause to promote
it.
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