10/11/15
Dear StateCom Members:
Earlier today, Wes called me and had some concerns, questions and recommendations about my ballot question proposal.
I have made some changes. See the revised proposal below.
Thanks,
Mike Heichman [email protected] 617-265-8143
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Title: THE GRP SHOULD TAKE POSITIONS AND BECOME ACTIVE IN INITIATIVE PETITIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS THAT WILL APPEAR ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER, 2016
Sponsors: Mike Heichman, Suffolk County (shepherd) & Brian Cady
Contact Info of Manager: [email protected] 617-265-8143
Committee(s) Vetting: Sent to Platform Committee email list for reactions (Committee is currently dormant.)
Proposal:
1. Before the meeting, members are encouraged to send out info the StateCom list expressing their point of view about any or all of these ballot questions.
2. Since signature gathering would have already begun at the time of our meeting, members are encouraged to bring petitions with them to the 10/13 State Comm. for questions they want our party to make an early decision to endorse and gather signatures.
3. If this proposal is passed, we will spend an additional 20 minutes (more if we vote to do so), and discuss and decide our initial involvement in this campaign.
a. We will decide whether to immediately endorse any of the questions and to gather signatures. The requirements to endorse are that each question would have to have one person who would agree to be the shepherd of this question, and would coordinate GRP support for this campaign.
b. We may refer some or all of these questions for further study or action. One possibility would be to establish a committee.
Budget Impact: Very little
Implementation: To be decided at the October StateCom Meeting
Shepherd: Each ballot question that we will endorse will have a GRP member who will serve as a coordinator between the endorsed campaign and the GRP.
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Background:
Over the years our party has from time to time taken positions on the ballot questions that appear on the November ballot every even two years. Most of the time, I have been dissatisfied with the results of our attempts to become involved in this campaign. My hope is that we will use this opportunity much better this time.
The deadline for filing initiative petitions and constitutional amendments has passed this year In early September, the Attorney General decided which ones to certify. The current list is available athttp://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/initiatives-and-other-ballot-questions/current-petitions-filed.html
As of now (9/04/15), these questions are headed for the November ballot (except for “A”, which is being litigated)
A. Constitutional Amendment Corporations Are Not People and May Be Regulated. Money is Not Free Speech and May Be Regulated (Note: Putting this question on the November ballot is going to court.)
B. Constitutional Amendment Regarding the Public Funding of Abortion-question has been certified
C. An Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals-certified
D. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to the Reduction of Euthanasia in Animal Shelters-certified
E. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Public Records-certified
F. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Ending Common Core Education Standards-certified
G. An Initiative Petition for an Amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth to Provide Resources for Education and Transportation through an additional tax on incomes in excess of One Million Dollars-certified
H. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Renewable Energy-certified
I. Massachusetts Fair Health Care Pricing Act-certified
J. Massachusetts Equitable Health Care Pricing Act-certified
K. Law Ending Marihuana Prohibition for Persons 21 Years of Age-certified
L. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Solar and Renewable Energy
M. The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act-certified
N. An Act to Allow Fair Access to Public Charter Schools-certified
O. An Act to Make the Legislature Accountable to the People-certified
P. An Initiative Petition for a Law Relating to Fairer Scheduling for Workers-certified
Q. An Act Relative to Expanded Gaming-certified
R. The Whale Safe Fishing Act-certified
Why do I think that our party should become involved?
1. Ballot questions are electoral. The public is asked to make decisions about public policy.
2. These questions are opportunities for our party to take positions (Yes or No) and create literature, which provide a more detailed explanation of our thinking to our members and to the public.
3. These are opportunities to improve our relationship with allies. Some of these initiatives would be harmful if they were to be passed and we should do what we can to oppose them. While others may not go as far as we would like, if we believe they are steps that would take the Commonwealth in a more progressive direction, I believe that we should support them. We have the option to create literature, which would explain our thinking in greater detail.
Below is the calendar for questions that could appear on the November, 2016 ballot. We could become involved at different stages of the campaign. At our October 13th StateCom meeting, we could take positions on campaigns that we want to become most active. While signature gathering would begin before the meeting, we could join the effort.
Initiative Petition Process, 2015-2016
http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/initiatives-and-other-ballot-questions/initiative-petition-process.html
The basic steps for a proposed law are:
1 the initiative measure is signed by ten voters and submitted to the Attorney General by the first Wednesday in August (August 5, 2015);
2 the Attorney General determines (usually by the first Wednesday in September, i.e., September 2, 2015) whether the measure meets the requirements of Amendment Article 48;
3 if certified by the Attorney General, the measure is filed with the Secretary of State;
4 thousands of additional voter signatures are gathered (this year, the requirement is 64,750) and filed with local election officials by late November and then with the Secretary of State by the first Wednesday in December;
5 if enough are gathered, the measure is sent to the Legislature in January of 2016;
6 the Legislature either approves or disapproves the measure, proposes a substitute, or takes no action;
7 unless the Legislature has enacted the measure before the first Wednesday in May of 2016, the proponents gather still more signatures (this year, 10,792 signatures are required) by early July;
8 if they gather enough, the measure and any legislative substitute are submitted to the people at the next biennial state election (in this case, November of 2016).
The process is similar for constitutional amendments, but they must go through two successive sessions of the Legislature and must (unlike initiative petitions for laws) get the approval of 25% of the legislators in each session. Thus any proposed constitutional amendments submitted by August of 2015 could not appear on the ballot until November of 2018.

I am an educational activist.In this capacity, I will be opposing one question (more charter schools) and supporting another one (attack on standardized tests). I will also be getting signatures for the millionaire tax. Unfortunately, none of this work is part of my efforts to build the party or my chapter, it would help our party if I would let it be known that we are supporting the positions of our allies. What is true for me I believe is also true for other GRP members.

Mike Heichman

Mike and anyone else planning to gather signatures,
It might help to know what questions are important enough to you to spend your valuable time on the effort.

9/14/15:
Dear Adcom and StateCom Members:
I have listened to your feedback and have made a few changes.
I just talked with Brian Cady and thank him for agreeing to continue to co-sponsor this proposal for the 10/13 StateCom meeting.

Based on your feedback, I have decided to make changes to my proposal.

I wish to respond to some of the ideas previously expressed.

1. We are a political party and seek the support of organizations and individuals that will support our campaigns (electoral and issue) and will be more likely in the future to join our party and to vote for our candidates. We should be very careful about setting rigid requirements when we consider supporting the work of our allies. Additionally, while our allies may be working on proposals that don’t go far enough, we should consider supporting their efforts if their approach would take us in an improved direction. We always have the right to approve someone’s campaign while expressing our view that we need to go further.

2. Many GRP members, including those of us who are very active members of our party, are also active working on other issues and with other organizations. For example, through my work as an educational activist in Boston, including working with some labor organizations, I believe that I will be gathering signatures for 2 of the ballot questions while opposing a 3rd. While, unfortunately, this is not part of my work as a GRP activist, it would be beneficial for me to be able to say to my other comrades that the GRP is supporting and opposing these efforts. I’m sure that this is true of others on StateCom and definitely true for other members of our party, who will become involved in these ballot question campaigns. Becoming involved in ballot questions is one way we gain respect from our allies.

3. Responding to feedback, one modification of my proposal would call for us to spend some time at the upcoming StateCom meeting to implement the proposal, if it were to be passed.

Thanks,

Mike Heichman [email protected] 617-265-8143
-————————————————————- ———————————————
Title: THE GRP SHOULD TAKE POSITIONS AND BECOME ACTIVE IN INITIATIVE PETITIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS THAT WILL APPEAR ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER, 2016

Sponsors: Mike Heichman, Suffolk County (manager) & Brian Cady
Contact Info of Manager: [email protected] 617-265-8143

Committee(s) Vetting: Sent to Platform Committee email list for reactions (Committee is currently dormant.)

Background:
Over the years our party has from time to time taken positions on the ballot questions that appear on the November ballot every even two years. Most of the time, I have been dissatisfied with the results of our attempts to become involved in this campaign. My hope is that we will use this opportunity much better this time.
The deadline for filing initiative petitions and constitutional amendments has passed this year In early September, the Attorney General decided which ones to certify. The current list is available athttp://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/initiatives-and-other-ballot-questions/current-petitions-filed.html

As of now (9/04/15), these questions are headed for the November ballot (except for “A”, which is being litigated)
A. Constitutional Amendment Corporations Are Not People and May Be Regulated. Money is Not Free Speech and May Be Regulated (Note: Putting this question on the November ballot is going to court.)
B. Constitutional Amendment Regarding the Public Funding of Abortion-question has been certified
C. An Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals-certified
D. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to the Reduction of Euthanasia in Animal Shelters-certified
E. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Public Records-certified
F. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Ending Common Core Education Standards-certified
G. An Initiative Petition for an Amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth to Provide Resources for Education and Transportation through an additional tax on incomes in excess of One Million Dollars-certified
H. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Renewable Energy-certified
I. Massachusetts Fair Health Care Pricing Act-certified
J. Massachusetts Equitable Health Care Pricing Act-certified
K. Law Ending Marihuana Prohibition for Persons 21 Years of Age-certified
L. Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Solar and Renewable Energy
M. The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act-certified
N. An Act to Allow Fair Access to Public Charter Schools-certified
O. An Act to Make the Legislature Accountable to the People-certified
P. An Initiative Petition for a Law Relating to Fairer Scheduling for Workers-certified
Q. An Act Relative to Expanded Gaming-certified
R. The Whale Safe Fishing Act-certified

Why do I think that our party should become involved?
1. Ballot questions are electoral. The public is asked to make decisions about public policy.
2. These questions are opportunities for our party to take positions (Yes or No) and create literature, which provide a more detailed explanation of our thinking to our members and to the public.
3. These are opportunities to improve our relationship with allies. Some of these initiatives would be harmful if they were to be passed and we should do what we can to oppose them. While others may not go as far as we would like, if we believe they are steps that would take the Commonwealth in a more progressive direction, I believe that we should support them. We have the option to create literature, which would explain our thinking in greater detail.
Below is the calendar for questions that could appear on the November, 2016 ballot. We could become involved at different stages of the campaign. At our October 13th StateCom meeting, we could take positions on campaigns that we want to become most active. While signature gathering would begin before the meeting, we could join the effort.

Initiative Petition Process, 2015-2016
http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/initiatives-and-other-ballot-questions/initiative-petition-process.html
The basic steps for a proposed law are:
1 the initiative measure is signed by ten voters and submitted to the Attorney General by the first Wednesday in August (August 5, 2015);
2 the Attorney General determines (usually by the first Wednesday in September, i.e., September 2, 2015) whether the measure meets the requirements of Amendment Article 48;
3 if certified by the Attorney General, the measure is filed with the Secretary of State;
4 thousands of additional voter signatures are gathered (this year, the requirement is 64,750) and filed with local election officials by late November and then with the Secretary of State by the first Wednesday in December;
5 if enough are gathered, the measure is sent to the Legislature in January of 2016;
6 the Legislature either approves or disapproves the measure, proposes a substitute, or takes no action;
7 unless the Legislature has enacted the measure before the first Wednesday in May of 2016, the proponents gather still more signatures (this year, 10,792 signatures are required) by early July;
8 if they gather enough, the measure and any legislative substitute are submitted to the people at the next biennial state election (in this case, November of 2016).
The process is similar for constitutional amendments, but they must go through two successive sessions of the Legislature and must (unlike initiative petitions for laws) get the approval of 25% of the legislators in each session. Thus any proposed constitutional amendments submitted by August of 2015 could not appear on the ballot until November of 2018.

Proposal:
1. Before the meeting, members are encouraged to send out info the StateCom list expressing their point of view about any or all of these ballot questions.
2. Since signature gathering would have already begun at the time of our meeting, members are encouraged to bring petitions with them to the 10/13 State Comm.
3. If this proposal is passed, we will spend an additional 30 minutes (more if we vote to do so), and discuss and decide our initial involvement in this campaign.
a. We may decide to immediately endorse our involvement (support or oppose) on one or more of these questions. One of the requirements to endorse is for a known GRP member to volunteer either before or at the meeting to be the coordinator of this question for the party.
b. We may decide to vote not to get involved in some or all of these campaigns.
c. We may refer some or all of these questions for further study or action.

Budget Impact: Very little

Implementation: To be decided at the October StateCom Meeting

Shepherd: Each ballot question that we will endorse will have a GRP member who will serve as a coordinator between the endorsed campaign and the GRP.

Rather than a taking a position support or oppose position at this time, we should consider reaching out to some of these groups to see which groups might be beneficial allies that would welcome and event our speakers at events.As an organization (members make their own choice), we should not spend resources on allies that only welcome our speakers as filler as pseudo-progressives bow out. If they accept video tape messages from Senators or Representatives, they should be open to video tape messages from current or former Green Presidential Candidates.

We may find that the Initiatives are not completely in line with previous state positions, but they do move it in an evolutionary direction. For example, “An Initiative Petition for an Amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth to Provide Resources for Education and Transportation through an additional tax on incomes in excess of One Million Dollars” is only a small step to making income tax more progressive.

Comments sent to Mike by Elie:

Reporting on my experience.

I doubt that I would have undertaken this task had it not been for the fact that I was an active member of the very active, but now dormant, Platform Committee of the GRP, and there had been a decision that the Platform Committee was to do this. But any doubt that I might have had was resolved by ignorance. I simply did not know very much about the process or about what happens in action. I acted out of the belief that GRP members have to know what is politically possible in the areas where they live. Members of the State Committee are members of, and delegates to, that committee because they live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Not like non-members of the SC whose obligations are to the towns and regions in which they dwell. These distinctions are supported by the Key Value “Grassroots Democracy” which among other things has implications about making decisions about what other people should be doing with out consulting them. Fortunately this does not happen in the GRP; its structure and practices prevent it.

I learned much by doing all the research, which included making contact with sponsors, learning about the individuals and groups involved in only 4 Ballot initiatives which had been approved by the AG and forwarded to permanent S of C Galvin, who decides. So I do know more about what happens, as well as subsequently when the petitions reach the legislature. But was it a valid use of my time and energies from a party viewpoint. No! Repeating it feels like going in circles of decreasing diameter.

On the other hand, there are all those registered “J” people out there who might volunteer to take on the task, each team of two or three handling one or two of the many petitions, and we would have more active party members than we have now, This could begin to move us away from the hierarchical model that we fall into if we fail to act in accordance with our key values.

On the other hand, perhaps Mike wishes to do this, but I warn him that it will leave him time for little else.

Elie Yarden
delegate
Middlesex

Merelice sent me this reaction to my proposal (Mike)

Mike,

This is not a proposal. This is a suggested agenda item. We cannot vote on a proposal that is then supposed to happen on the same day!

If you want this to happen, I urge you to set up a working group NOW (maybe reactivate the platform committee?) that can come to the statecom meeting with recommendations about the ballot questions that statecom can consider. And also be specific about the nature of the party support: collect sigs? Use social media? Find a way to recruit help from GRP chapters?

Even as an agenda item, it would need some advance preparation to be most productive. Can you imagine the chaos of trying to strategize about all the ballot questions without knowing what many of them are about?

Merelice

Brian Cady sent me an email saying that he would co-sponsor.

Thanks Brian,

Mike Heichman