Tax relief, rent control, Beacon Hill transparency: 2026 ballot Qs clear a key hurdle
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell gave a key green light to a battery of proposed ballot questions that could reshape the state's political topography if voters approve even a handful of them in the 2026 midterm elections.
Proposals that would slash the state's income tax, clear the way for rent control, allow for same-day voter registration, and clean up the way Beacon Hill does its business were among those that cleared a critical procedural hurdle.
"I applaud the civic engagement of our residents, who filed a record-breaking 47 ballot initiative petitions this year," Campbell said in a statement.
"My office reviews each petition according to the strict criteria outlined in Article 48 of our state constitution," she continued. "Our personal opinions and any constitutional considerations outside of Article 48 cannot weigh into our decision-making about certification of a petition."
All told, Democrat Campbell allowed 40 proposed laws and four proposed constitutional amendments to proceed to the signature-gathering stage.
And that's where things will get sticky for backers of the proposed laws, some of whom submitted multiple petitions on the same subject.
Now backers have to gather 74,574 signatures by Dec. 3.
If that happens, the questions go before the state Legislature, which has until the first Wednesday in May of 2026 to pass them, propose a substitute, or take no action.
If the latter happens, backers have to collect a second round of 12,429 signatures by July of the same year to get on the November general election ballot.
The process for proposed constitutional amendments is different.
That's because the constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petition require approval by at least 25% of two consecutive joint sessions of the Legislature, according to Campbell's office.
That means that the amendment proposals that Campbell certified on Wednesday will not appear on the ballot before November 2028.
You can read a list of the petitions and Campbell's certification decisions on her office's official website . Letters explaining the AG's decisions not to certify are also available on the website.
In certain circumstances, voters who believe a certification decision is incorrect can ask the Supreme Judicial Court for review.
One spiked measure would have eliminated the option for universal mail-in voting, effectively requiring voters to cast ballots in person unless they would be absent on the day of the election or are limited by a physical disability or religious belief. Campbell's office said that would be "inconsistent with the freedom of elections."
Officials also declined to certify one version of a ballot question that would replace party-based primary elections with Massachusetts with a single, all-party primary in which the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election, even if they are from the same party.
Campbell's office certified two other drafts of that idea, backed by former gubernatorial candidate Danielle Allen, so it remains in the mix.
A handful of states, including California and Washington, have a primary system where the top performers face off in the general election regardless of party, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures .
The third measure that failed to secure certification is a proposed Constitutional amendment significantly overhauling the Legislature's operations, including equal base pay for all lawmakers, equitable distribution of staff between legislators, salary requirements and job protections for aides, and changes to the process for committee assignments.
Campbell's office said the measure was not in proper form to go before voters and combines too many different topics.
Other proposed ballot questions targeting Beacon Hill's operations did survive the AG's review.
The office certified a measure that would subject the Legislature and the governor's office to the public records law, and two versions of a petition changing stipends that legislative leaders award to deputies and committee chairs -- a system that opponents say gives top Democrats excessive power over rank-and-file members.
Virtually all of the most high-profile measures cleared the initial certification hurdle, including a pair of ideas backed by influential business groups that would reduce the state's income tax from 5% to 4% and further limit the state tax revenue cap to make it more likely that surplus revenue would be refunded to taxpayers.
Another political slugfest could be on deck over rent control, which voters banned statewide via a 1994 ballot question. Previous attempts to get lawmakers to reverse that prohibition have failed to gain traction.
A question backed by the Homes for All coalition and opposed by well-funded real estate interests would limit annual rent increases for most units across Massachusetts to either the annual Consumer Price Index change or 5%, whichever is lower.
"I can't wait to start collecting signatures from my neighbors to put rent stabilization on the ballot," Mattapan tenant Betty Lewis said in a statement circulated by proponents.
"All across Massachusetts, high rents are displacing people from our communities, or making them work multiple jobs just to pay the rent. When rent can go up by hundreds of dollars overnight, seniors are forced to put off their retirement, and young people and families can't save money for the dream of owning a home," Lewis said.
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO James B. Rooney has called the resurgence of rent control on Beacon Hill this summer a "terrible idea."
"I mean, owners don't invest in the properties. The non-rent control prices go up. People stay in those units − they don't turn over. They just get occupied, and people stay," Rooney said during a sitdown last month on WCVB-TV's "On the Record" program .
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks during a news conference in her office at the State House in Boston, Mass., on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 (John L. Micek/MassLive).(John L. Micek/MassLive)
But even as advocates head into another signature gathering season, one major ballot initiative approved overwhelmingly during the 2024 cycle remains undone: A question giving state Auditor Diana DiZoglio the right to audit her onetime colleagues in the Legislature.
Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have spent months resisting the Methuen Democrat's efforts to get them to comply with the ballot question, which is now state law.
Lawmakers have argued that the audit violates a constitutional separation of powers, and the two sides have spent months duking it out in meetings and in the press.
More on Politics
Read the original article on MassLive .
