Happy Thursday!

• Now that most races and ballot questions are called, we take a look at what's next for Massachusetts.

Today's weather: Partly cloudy, likely followed by rain, with a high of 73 and a low of 62.

Today’s newsletter is 1,058 words — a 4-minute read.

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.

Question 1: The public records proposal is set to take effect Jan. 1.

• 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.

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. Those talks will start later this month, an attorney organizing with the ballot measure campaign tells Axios.

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.
• 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 certify the election results in the next two weeks.

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A proposal to kill the legal cannabis industry flamed out Tuesday, with a resounding no vote.

• Now comes the hard part: Keeping the momentum going to make the legal market more accessible to those harmed by the War on Drugs.

Why it matters: A controversial ballot measure campaign turned Massachusetts into a testing ground for those seeking to repeal state laws legalizing cannabis sales.

State of blaze: While the ballot measure posed an existential threat to the industry, it also lit a fire under a workforce that has long felt defeated over rising costs, depleting wholesale flower prices, and a slow and at times dysfunctional regulatory agency.

• The opposition campaign could be the beginning of an active coalition of business owners pushing to streamline and reform an industry that's faced red tape and hurdles as long as it's been legal.
• Ryan Dominguez, chair of the Stop the Repeal campaign, said the coalition of 700 businesses will continue its work after Tuesday to advocate for the industry on Beacon Hill and beyond.

Zoom in: Dominguez said the industry could mobilize around getting the social consumption market set up and enforcing the recent cannabis reform law, but it's still early.

Go deeper

💳 Resolve Group, which operates online fashion retailers Resolve and FWRD, disclosed a data breach from Sept. 11 involving names, addresses, payment card numbers and expiration dates. (WCVB)

• The breach affected more than 1.5 million people nationwide, including 46,813 in Massachusetts.

💸 Wayfair made a profit in Q3 for the first time since last August, marking its "strongest quarter of growth" since the pandemic. (BBJ)

⚖️ A federal judge in Boston dismissed the case against Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova, who had been accused of illegally smuggling frog embryos into the country. (NBC News)

• Federal prosecutors, who charged the Russian-born researcher last May, asked the judge this week to drop the charges, citing a separate judge's ruling in April that let Petrova obtain evidence supporting claims that she was vindictively prosecuted.

Massachusetts' long list of ballot questions became political fodder for traders on prediction markets like Kalshi.

By the numbers: Users nationwide spent more than $45,000 in trades (aka bets) speculating on the results of Massachusetts' nine ballot questions.

Friction point: Kalshi, a federally regulated company, is fighting attempts from Massachusetts gaming regulators to impose local betting restrictions in court.

Yes, but: The legal battle hasn't stopped trading on the political horse races in Massachusetts.

• A snapshot of predictions Tuesday afternoon, when $26,000 had been traded, show the majority guessing the correct outcomes for all but two questions — 5 and 7.

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Restaurant closures are piling up.

• Banyan Bar + Refuge officially called it quits after a June 2025 kitchen fire forced it to close.
• Wahlburgers closed in Fenway but plans to keep expanding nationwide.

Also closing: Cambridge Common and Lizard Lounge, Cafe Barada and Saus.

Boston could also lose the Midway Cafe if the owner doesn't find a buyer, citing rising rent.

Spread the word

Deehan is a little obsessed with Troy Jackson's deep Maine accent.

Steph wonders if anyone has a sugar daddy (or mama) feeling charitable enough to buy the Midway.

This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.