9 initiative petitions step closer toward appearing on ballot

By Brendan McCarthy, Globe Correspondent, 9/4/2003

Proposals to eliminate the auto excise tax, some turnpike polls, and the MCAS test as a graduation requirement are among nine initiative petitions that are one step closer to being placed on next year's ballot after Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly certified them yesterday.

Now initiative organizers must gather nearly 66,000 signatures per petition from registered voters by Dec. 3 in order for their measure to be presented to the Legislature, which can enact the proposal. If the Legislature fails to act, the proponents must gather an additional 10,971 signatures by early July in order to place the issue on the 2004 ballot.

One act, proposed by Wayne P. Masse of Granby, would allow local school officials to set graduation requirements, thus negating the controversial MCAS as a statewide requirement.

Jack E. Robinson III, a Republican activist who ran unsuccessfully for US Senate against Edward M. Kennedy in 2000 and for Massachusetts secretary of state last year, proposed an initiative that would eliminate the state's 75-year-old motor vehicle excise tax. The tax levies an annual fee of 2.5 percent (or $25 per $1,000) of the vehicle's estimated value.

Another initiative, filed by Newton resident Alisia Jezierny, seeks to abandon tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike west of Route 128 and on the Tobin Bridge.

Other proposals would allow candidates for public office to be nominated by more than one political party; ban certain nets used by commercial fishermen; and establish binding arbitration in contract negotiations of firefighters and police officers.

Reilly reviewed the legal criteria surrounding each proposal to ensure that the measures did not violate the state constitution.

A proposal that would allow for casino gambling was filed before the deadline, but was voided because it did not have the 10 required signatures.

In addition, two proposed constitutional amendments that have been certified are vying for a place on the 2006 ballot. John D. Goodson of Newton, a Massachusetts General Hospital internist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, is the lead sponsor on an initiative that would establish universal health care for Massachusetts residents. The proposal requires the state Legislature to enact and implement laws to ensure no resident lacks comprehensive health insurance.

The other amendment, filed by Paul Anderson of Peabody, calls for the Legislature to vote to join a global federal union of democratic nations.

Amendment sponsors must obtain nearly 66,000 signatures by December and the proposals must be approved by at least 25 percent of the Legislature in 2004 and again in 2005 and 2006, in order to reach the 2006 ballot.

Not all of the petitions were certified. Reilly determined a version of the tolls elimination initiative and a version of the global democratic union amendment were unconstitutional. But because proponents filed multiple versions of their initiatives, both Jezierny and Anderson have other proposals that were certified.

"Certification is not an indication of my support or opposition to the policies or proposals included in these questions," Reilly said in a statement yesterday. "It simply means that these proposed initiatives have satisfied the constitutional requirements to be circulated for further signatures."