While rent control proponents acknowledged the need for more housing production, they argued that the state cannot build its way out of the crisis and that supply-oriented solutions like the starter home proposal are not sufficient on their own. Rezoning proponents, meanwhile, warned that if lawmakers did not enact the lot size change, voters may opt for price controls on rents they say would stifle the housing production market.
ballot questions
Posted inCourts
Supreme Judicial Court says it’s up to Legislature, not judiciary, to set pay for court-appointed lawyers
Justices were wary of overstepping the “separation of powers” in a bid for courts to increase pay for attorneys who represent indigent defendants.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. Senate asks top state court to examine constitutionality of legislative reform ballot questions
For the first time in a decade, lawmakers exercised their authority to seek an advisory opinion from the state’s highest court, asking justices whether a pair of ballot questions on course to reach voters in November raise constitutional concerns.
Posted inPolitics
Often at odds, Mariano and Spilka united by ballot question frustration
As the Legislature prepares to review 11 ballot questions with major policymaking implications, the top two Democrats came together to complain that the process is “fraught with peril.”
Posted inGovernment
Boston tax relief response, ballot question reform emerge for Senate action
As political fallout from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s ill-fated property tax plan continues, the Senate prepares to vote on a relief plan of its own, plus a measure to impose new scrutiny on ballot question electioneering.
Posted inState Government
Our top five Beacon Hill stories of 2025
The Democrats who control the levers of power in Massachusetts spent most of the year fretting about upheaval from the federal government and preparing for more expansive action down the line.
Posted inThe Codcast
The Legislature breaks for the holidays and ballot season heats up
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Chris Lisinski check in as Beacon Hill heads into its winter break. Chris looks back at the end of year lawmaking hustle, and what was left for 2026, then turns to a possibly record-smashing number of ballot questions that could land before voters next November.
Posted inBallot Questions
Ballot measures must clear courts, lawmakers, and voters
As the secretary of state’s office certifies hundreds of thousands of signatures submitted on behalf of the proposed 2026 ballot questions, campaigns and ballot initiative veterans estimate about half of the questions could be vulnerable to legal challenges, though not all may materialize.
Posted inThe Codcast
A super PAC longshot
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Harvard professor Larry Lessig about the ill-fated attempt to restrict Super PAC contributions in Massachusetts and the successful effort in Maine that was struck down by the lower court. The Maine coalition thinks it has a shot at convincing higher courts, not to overturn Citizens United but to embrace an originalist argument to limit money in politics.
Posted inBallot Questions
The voters have spoken on Questions 1, 2 – or have they?
With most votes counted, the legislative audit question was approved by a margin of 71.5 percent to 28.5 percent. The MCAS question’s margin was 59-41.
Posted inBallot Questions
Five ballot questions all have a workplace connection
The CommonWealth Beacon newsroom discussed the ballot sla.te this week on a special pre-Election Day episode of The Codcast. Some highlights of the conversation follow
Posted inBallot Questions
Mariano, Spilka don’t rule out revisiting ballot questions after election
Two ballot questions in particular have drawn Beacon Hill’s scorn: Question 1 would explicitly authorize the state auditor to audit the state Legislature, while Question 2 would remove passing the MCAS test as a high school graduation requirement.
Posted inBallot Questions
Three ballot questions in ‘precarious’ situation, poll indicates
“The poll shows these three ballot questions in a precarious position,” said Parr. “At this stage of the campaign, the ‘yes’ side would hope to have a solid majority of support, because late deciders often break towards the ‘no.’”
Posted inBallot Questions
Are ballot questions a good way to make law?
The strongest polling so far of the five measures is a direct jab at a Legislature perceived as opaque and glacial in its lawmaking processes – coming from a former lawmaker who is now the state auditor. Diana DiZoglio wants to pry open lawmakers’ processes for public scrutiny through a ballot question that would give her office authority to audit the Legislature.
Posted inOpinion
Question 4 is one solution to mental health crisis
Natural psychedelics provide a promising, necessary, and research-backed opportunity for healing where traditional therapies have fallen short.
Posted inBallot Questions
Nearly $10m from unions, businesses floods into ballot questions
The Quincy-based Massachusetts Teachers Association provided $2 million in “in-kind” contributions, with the union helping pay for everything from consulting to polling, advertising, signature collection, staff travel, and mailings.
Posted inBallot Questions
Ballot question fundraising and spending largely hidden from public view
In contrast to state election laws governing candidates for office, which require regular reporting throughout the year on campaign donations and expenditures, ballot question committees operate under relatively lax reporting requirements.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio likely to prevail, but the constitution will limit range of her legislative audit
The constitutional concept of separation of powers ensures that no branch of government becomes too powerful at the expense of the others. However, the Legislature’s separation of powers concern here is at tension with the auditor’s mandate to provide checks and balances against the legislative branch.
Posted inBallot Questions, Government, Politics
Some ballot questions could draw blank stares
ALONG WITH ELECTING candidates to statewide and local offices, voters will be asked to decide four ballot questions in November. Two of them – whether to raise income tax rates […]