New from CommonWealth Beacon
RENT CONTROL: The proposed rent control revival on track to go before voters in 2026 would cap rent increases in all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns at no more than inflation, a more dramatic approach that has split progressives. Chris Lisinski and Jennifer Smith take a deep dive into the fractures.
OPINION: Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy, who served as housing and economic development secretary under Gov. Charlie Baker, criticizes House Democrats for postponing debate on an energy bill that had drawn massive pushback from environmental groups over its language weakening 2030 climate targets.
November 20, 2025
By Chris Lisinski
Massachusetts voters might soon have a record-breaking number of decisions to make about the direction the state takes.
Leaders of 11 different ballot question campaigns told CommonWealth Beacon they believe they have collected and filed enough signatures to keep their proposals in the mix, clearing the steepest hurdle en route to the 2026 election.
Several steps still need to happen before any of those questions are a lock, but if organizers maintain their current course, voters will be empowered with a suite of monumental policy decisions about slashing the state’s income tax rate by one-fifth, mandating rent control statewide, recriminalizing recreational marijuana, and more.
There’s a solid chance that 2026 becomes a historic election. The record for most statewide questions on the ballot in a single year is nine, which has happened three times – in 1994, 1976, and 1972 — according to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.
In an interview, Galvin said the field is shaping up to “represent a high tide of ballot questions” — a fact he thinks reflects widespread discontent with the slow pace of lawmaking on Beacon Hill.
“There’s a unanimity of opinion among groups who don’t agree on much else that they’re not going to get anything done in the Legislature, so they’re going to go to the people,” he said.
One question is already guaranteed to go before voters next year. Opponents of the state’s sweeping new law have already successfully petitioned to put a repeal question before voters, using a different avenue than the initiative petition process all other proposals took. However, because the law was enacted late in the term, the repeal question was ineligible for the 2024 ballot and will instead appear in 2026.
If all 11 other questions still in the mix make it before voters, the total at next year’s election could reach an even dozen.
More from CommonWealth Beacon
POWER PUNT: The House this week did not take up a contentious energy policy bill that would weaken the state’s 2030 climate mandate, punting a major debate until after the Legislature’s extended holiday break that begins Thursday. Jordan Wolman and Chris Lisinski have more.
ANTI-VIOLENCE: House lawmakers have advanced a bill that would require health care employers to adopt comprehensive violence-prevention systems and create new criminal and privacy protections for health care workers. Sam Drysdale of the State House News Service has the details.
OPINION: Elizabeth Englander, executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University, says it’s time for helicopter parents to let go and for the state to impose a “bell-to-bell” ban on cellphones in Massachusetts schools.
What We’re Reading
BATTERIES: A state effort to deploy more batteries to support the electric grid is running into local NIMBY-flavored opposition. (WBUR)
SOUTH COAST RAIL: The launch of South Coast Rail has boosted ridership along the Fall River/New Bedford commuter rail line by 33 percent, bucking a systemwide trend of slightly fewer passengers. (The New Bedford Light)
ADUs: More than a year after enactment of a state law allowing accessory dwelling units by right across the state, the actual growth in permitting for the units remains paltry compared to major cities on the west coast, according to a new Pioneer Institute report. (Boston Business Journal – paywall)
RECORDS: A Lexington Public Schools employee asked a colleague to “over estimate” the time required to compile public records, expressing hope that an inflated cost estimate would discourage a parent from pursuing the request. (The Boston Globe – paywall)
DISABILITY: The spending bill that landed on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk Wednesday would also make it easier for family members to obtain records of people with disabilities who lived in facilities, like the controversial and closed Fernald School in Waltham. (GBH News)
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