MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS approved a ballot question that would steer sales tax revenue already being generated from sporting goods toward a new nature conservation fund.
Question 6, which passed with around 60 percent of the vote, was spearheaded by environmental advocacy groups like The Trustees, Mass Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation Law Foundation. Gov. Maura Healey and former Gov. Deval Patrick endorsed the measure.
“This is our one and only home,” Katie Theoharides, who is president and CEO of The Trustees and served as energy and environmental affairs secretary under former Gov. Charlie Baker, said in a victory speech Tuesday night. “It is the place we live. It’s what we’re going to give to our children. This matters.”
Passage of the ballot question now means a new nature conservation fund will be established to support clean drinking water, create and improve local parks, and protect wildlife habitats without raising taxes or levying a new one. Instead, future revenue from the sales tax collected from purchases of camping equipment, hunting and fishing gear, and golf clubs will boost the new fund.
Although the measure faced no formal opposition, some on Beacon Hill have warned about the ramifications of setting state spending decisions via ballot and taking money out of the General Fund during a time of fiscal constraints.
There’s also no guarantee that passage of the question will automatically lead to the outcome proponents sought. Even though supporters estimate $100 million per year will be generated for the new fund — other calculations put that number much lower — lawmakers could either choose not to allocate money to the new fund or simply deduct what they would have otherwise provided for nature conservation in the budget, leading to few, if any, new net additional dollars for the cause.
The Boston Globe’s editorial board endorsed a “no” vote for precisely those reasons.
But proponents maintained that a stable source of funding to protect nature is critical to keep the state on track to conserve 30 percent of land by 2030 and guard against budget cuts that often fall hardest on environmental, restoration, and conservation programs. Healey’s fiscal year 2027 budget cut funding for the Department of Conservation and Recreation by nearly 4 percent.
And they argued that going before voters, in a rebuke to Beacon Hill, was their best bet for action.
The Yes on 6 campaign was able to generate more than $4 million in contributions, including $800,000 from one donor alone, to send a message to the State House that more needs to be done to keep pace with one of the nation’s fastest-growing outdoor recreation economies, despite the initiative’s lack of teeth.
Supporters recognized in the immediate aftermath of their ballot victory that more needs to now be done to secure the additional funding sought for conservation.
“We have to fight to lock in the money that we secured in this fight,” said Brad Campbell, president of Conservation Law Foundation.
