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Massachusetts Out-of-State Contribution Limits Initiative (2018)
| Massachusetts Out-of-State Contribution Limits Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Campaign finance | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts Out-of-State Contribution Limits Initiative was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The organization PassMassAmendment proposed two versions of the initiative. Both versions were designed to prohibit candidates for state, county, or municipal offices, along with their committees, from accepting contributions greater than $500 from a political action committee (PAC) organized outside of Massachusetts. Individuals who resided outside of the state would have also been prohibited from giving more than $500 to any one candidate in any one calendar year or more than $1,000 to any one candidate and the candidate's PAC in any one year. While Version 17-14 was designed to not effect ballot question committees, Version 17-13 would have prohibited ballot question committees from accepting more than $15,000 from a PAC to $500 from an individual who resides outside the state.[1][2]
Text of measure
Petition summary
The attorney general approved two versions of this initiative for circulation:[3]
| Initiative 17-13 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This proposed law would impose limits on how much state, county, or local political candidates or ballot question committees could accept in monetary contributions from political action committees organized outside Massachusetts or from individuals residing outside Massachusetts.
Under the proposed law, candidates could accept single contributions of up to $500 from political action committees organized outside Massachusetts or up to $500 per year in contributions from individuals residing outside Massachusetts. The proposed law would impose an aggregate annual contribution limit under which individuals residing outside Massachusetts would be permitted to contribute a maximum of $1000 per calendar year to all Massachusetts candidates. Ballot question committees could accept single contributions of up to $15,000 from political action committees organized outside Massachusetts or single contributions of up to $500 from individuals residing outside Massachusetts.[4] | |||||
| Initiative 17-14 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This proposed law would impose limits on how much state, county, or local political candidates could accept in monetary contributions from political action committees organized outside Massachusetts or from individuals residing outside Massachusetts.
Under the proposed law, candidates could accept single contributions of up to $500 from political action committees organized outside Massachusetts or up to $500 per year in contributions from individuals residing outside Massachusetts. The proposed law would impose an aggregate annual contribution limit under which individuals residing outside Massachusetts would be permitted to contribute a maximum of $1000 per calendar year to all Massachusetts candidates.[4] | |||||
Full text
The full text of the measure is available for Initiative 17-13 and Initiative 17-14.
Path to the ballot
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required to place an indirect initiated state statute on the ballot is equal to 3.5 percent of votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. The first 3 percent is collected in order to refer the indirect initiative to the Massachusetts General Court. If members of the General Court pass and the governor signs the initiative, then the initiative becomes law. If the legislature declines to act on an initiative or the governor vetoes it, sponsors of the initiative need to collect additional signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the votes cast for governor.
To make the 2018 ballot, sponsors of this initiative needed to collect the first round of 64,750 signatures between September 20, 2017, and November 22, 2017. Proponents did not submit signatures to the office of the secretary of the commonwealth by the deadline on December 6, 2017. If the first round of signatures had been submitted, and the General Court had rejected or not acted on the initiative by May 2, 2018, then an additional 10,792 signatures would have been required by July 4, 2018.
Petitioners filed two versions of the initiative. On September 6, 2017, Attorney General Maura Healey (D) approved the both versions of the initiative for signature gathering. Proponents did not submit signatures for either.[3]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of State, "Initiative 17-13," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of State, "Initiative 17-14," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Massachusetts Attorney General, "Petitions Filed," accessed September 7, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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