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Massachusetts Question 1, Legalization of Chiropractors Initiative (1932)
| Massachusetts Question 1 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Complementary and alternative healthcare |
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| Status |
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| Type Indirect initiated state statute |
Origin |
Massachusetts Question 1 was on the ballot as an indirect initiated state statute in Massachusetts on November 8, 1932. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported legalizing chiropractors and providing procedures for legally becoming one. |
A “no” vote opposed legalizing chiropractors and providing procedures for legally becoming one. |
Election results
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Massachusetts Question 1 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 351,094 | 36.82% | ||
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602,520 | 63.18% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Question 1 was as follows:
| “ | Shall the proposed law which defines and legalizes the practice of chiropractics; establishes a board of registration of chiropractors and defines the number, mode of appointment, tenure, qualification and compensation of its members and its powers and duties: provides for the preliminary qualifications, examination, certification, original registration and annual license of chiropractors and regulation of their practice, and defines the mode, subjects of and fees for examination, the mode of practice and penalties: and other matters related thereto, which are chiefly as follows: That chiropractic be "the science or practice of locating and adjusting by hand the malpositions of the articulations of the Human spine." That any person, with one preceding year's residence in this Commonwealth and with degree from a qualified chiropractic school received at least one year prior to the date when this law takes such date, be certified by the board at its discretion without examination. That otherwise no person, except a member of the board of registration, shall practice chiropractic unless, being over twenty-one years of age, of good moral character and graduated from a reputable chiropractic school after personally attending courses of at least twenty-two hundred sixty-minute daylight hours given to persons qualified to graduate from a public high school, he shall qualify by examination, pay a fee of twenty-five dollars and be registered and certified: except that any person licensed in another State maintaining standards equal to those of this Commonwealth may be registered without examination. That the examination be scientific and practical in character, in subjects including anatomy, physiology, symptomatology, hygiene, sanitation, chemistry, histology, pathology, chiropractic analysis, and the principles and practice of chiropractic. That the board may, after hearing revoke a certificate for cause. That the board shall make an annual report and shall keep public records of its proceedings and of the names of persons examined or registered by it and of the names and addresses of all registered chiropractors, who shall pay an annual license fee, promptly notify the hoard of any change in address and furnish such other information as the board may require. That the board consist of three members, residents of the Commonwealth for three years, graduates of a chartered chiropractic school having power to confer degrees in chiropractic, to be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, for a term of three years. That the board have authority to administer oaths, summon witnesses and take testimony and adopt reasonable rules and regulations pertaining to their duties, and that they pay into the state treasury fees received by them, and that they receive compensation and reimbursement for expenses in such amounts as may be annually appropriated therefor not exceeding the amount of such fees. Penalties are provided for practicing chiropractic without holding a certificate or for using the words "Chiropractic Practitioner", the letters "D. C.", or any title or letters indicating engagement in such practice, or for buying selling or fraudulently obtaining any diploma or record of registration. It is further provided that the present law relating to the registration of physicians and surgeons and providing penalties for the unauthorized practice of medicine shall not be held to discriminate against registered chiropractors: but no chiropractor, unless registered as a physician or surgeon, may practice obstetrics, or administer drugs, or perform surgical operations by the use of instruments, or hold himself out as and for other than a chiropractor, which was disapproved in the House of Representatives by a vote of 50 in the affirmative and 151 in the negative and in the Senate by a vote of 13 in the affirmative and 21 in the negative, be approved? | ” |
Path to the ballot
Before 1952, citizen-initiated ballot measures in Massachusetts required a fixed number of signatures. In 1950, voters approved a constitutional amendment changing this to a percentage-based system, tying the number of required signatures to ballots cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Before 1952, the signature requirement for indirect initiated state statutes was 20,000, with an additional 5,000 if the Legislature rejected the proposal and proponents wanted it placed on the ballot.
See also
External links
- William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Massachusetts Statewide Ballot Measures: 1919-Present"
- Springfield Union, "Legal Notice," October 29, 1932
Footnotes
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State of Massachusetts Boston (capital) |
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