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Massachusetts Repeal Authority for Public Tolling Initiative (2018)
| Massachusetts Repeal Authority for Public Tolling Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Transportation | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts Repeal Authority for Public Tolling Initiative was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The measure would have repealed the section of Massachusetts law authorizing tolls, thereby ending the practice of tolling for public roads, bridges, and tunnels in Massachusetts.[1]
It also would have required the state Department of Transportation to maintain the confidentiality of all information, including photographs, recorded images, credit data, and account data, collected under the former electronic toll collection system. The measure would have provided that this information was not a public record and could only be used to enforce toll collection regulations. The measure would have authorized account holders to access to all of their information and ask the department to destroy all of their information.[1]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
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. If enough signatures had been submitted by the deadline on December 6, 2017, the initiative would have been sent to the General Court. Then, if legislators rejected or did not act on the initiative, an additional 10,792 signatures would have been required by July 4, 2018.
On September 6, 2017, Attorney General Maura Healey (D) rejected the proposal as resulting "in an uncompensated taking of property."[2] Therefore, proponents of the measure could not collect signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
See also
Footnotes
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