Massachusetts Vacant Land Parcels for Sale Initiative (2018)
| Massachusetts Vacant Land Parcels for Sale Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Property | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts Vacant Land Parcels for Sale Initiative was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The measure was designed to allow U.S. citizens to purchase and own city-owned vacant land parcels for an affordable market value. The measure was also designed to prohibit rural and urban jurisdictions from over assessing property values.[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 not being in proper form.[2] Therefore, proponents of the measure could not collect signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
See also
Footnotes
 |
State of Massachusetts Boston (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
