How Did some of Massachusetts's Buzziest Ballot Campaigns Get Tripped up in Court?

How did some of Massachusetts's buzziest ballot campaigns get tripped up in court?

LAST DECEMBER, Secretary of State Bill Galvin said his office had never seen so many ballot questions submitted at once. A total of 11 initiative petitions ultimately cleared the signature-gathering threshold, joining a gun law referendum already on track for the 2026 contest. Groups that had spent years frustrated by Beacon Hill ignoring calls to pass legislation opted to take their case directly to voters. Six of them landed before the Supreme…

Housing Activists Vow to Continue Campaign after Ban of Rent Control Ballot Initiative

Source: The Keep Massachusetts Home Campaign The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today issued a decision barring the proposed rent control ballot initiative from appearing on the November ballot. Proponents from the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign responded: “This decision is a massive disappointment after all the work that thousands of volunteers and advocates in every corner

Massachusetts Rent-Control Ballot Measure Struck Down by Court Ruling

A proposed ballot measure to reintroduce rent control to Massachusetts will not go before voters this fall following a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that the law would be unconstitutional, reported the Boston Business Journal. The potential ballot question failed to advance to voters because of an exemption for religious institutions. A ballot question would have “impermissibly” made religion a factor in whether a property was subject to rent co…

Tossed off course, angry rent control supporters return to Beacon Hill

Angered by the Supreme Judicial Court's decision to strike down a rent control ballot proposal, supporters gathered on Beacon Hill Wednesday to demand that lawmakers pass similar proposals by the end of July.