Here's what's next for Massachusetts' approved ballot measures
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Massachusetts voters approved four ballot measures that could reshape parts of state government, but the road to implementation is rarely speedy and smooth.
Why it matters: Even proposals backed by the majority of voters aren't immune to the Beacon Hill treatment, whether it's the slow-moving gears of government agencies or outright opposition by the Democratic-majority Legislature.
Catch up quick: Voters approved proposals to expand the public records law to the Legislature and governor's office, let public defenders unionize, allow Election Day registration and create an earmark for conservation efforts.
Case in point: Voters who backed the public records law expansion could see a repeat of 2024, when a successful ballot measure to audit the Legislature stalled.
- The audit fight has escalated into a bitter legal battle pitting Auditor Diana DiZoglio against House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka and Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
- DiZoglio is suing legislative leaders with an independent attorney because Campbell, whose office typically represents state agencies, sided with Mariano and Spilka.
- Lawmakers have since agreed to share some records and proposed a limited expansion of the public records law, but the legal fight drags on more than two years after the referendum.
Here's where things stand:
Question 1: The public records proposal is set to take effect Jan. 1, barring any intervention or challenge from state lawmakers.
- Fully implementing the law may still take time, between appointing staffers to oversee records requests and educating offices on the new law.
- DiZoglio said she will consider suing if lawmakers pass their version of the public records law, WBUR reported.
- Debra O'Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin's office, said the staffers "intend to comply with the updated public records law when it goes into effect."
Question 2: The proposal to let the Committee for Public Counsel Services unionize won't happen overnight, either.
- Workers can organize by getting voluntary recognition from CPCS or they can hold a union election or sign union cards and request a card check.
Yes, but: They have to determine who is eligible to join the state government employees union and meet with union leaders to determine next steps.
- The campaign behind the proposal will likely meet with union leaders later this month, an attorney organizing with the ballot measure campaign tells Axios.
Flashback: Rideshare drivers who got the right to unionize through a 2024 ballot question took 18 months to get the union certified.
- CPCS workers will seek to join an existing union, not create a new one, but the process will take time.
Question 4: Election Day registration is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2028.
- To make that deadline, the state secretary has to adopt regulations to implement this change.
- "Like all regulations, this would be done in accordance with the Massachusetts Administrative Procedures Act," O'Malley said in a statement.
- Then there's the education: That means training municipal clerks across the 351 cities and towns and their staff, who then must train volunteer poll workers and others.
Question 6: The state has to create a nature for all fund and appoint a 15-member board to oversee the new land conservation earmark by July 1, 2027, the start of fiscal 2028.
- Massachusetts would also have to start allocating half of the funding by then (expect to see that in the fiscal 2028 budget).
- The multimillion-dollar earmark would be fully funded starting July 1, 2028.
What's next: Election officials statewide will likely certify the election results in the next month.