TAKING IT TO THE VOTERS

Some major issues are debated on Beacon Hill for years but never
resolved. Other issues can't get a serious hearing in a state
Legislature that seems incapable of dealing with more than a handful
of major topics each session.

For those who care about these unaddressed issues, there's an
alternative, albeit a difficult one: going directly to the voters
through a ballot question. A number of interest groups have taken the
first step toward getting their issues on the statewide ballot in
2012. Among the issues:

- - Casinos. Sure, there's talk of putting another bill before the
Legislature this year, but after all the previous failures, a
developer intent on putting a casino in Milford is hedging his bets by
putting together a ballot initiative.

- - Marijuana. The Legislature is too timid to take up any drug law
reforms, but marijuana reform measures have won every time they are
put before the voters. Advocates are planning a ballot question to
legalize medical marijuana.

- - Teacher evaluations. Unsatisfied with new state guidelines, an
organization that advocates making student performance and other
measures a meaningful role in teacher evaluations has done statewide
polling in advance of its own ballot measure.

- - Bottle bill. Often debated on Beacon Hill, but never passed,
proponents of expanding the deposit system to bottled water and other
products currently exempted are weighing a ballot question.

- - Health insurance mandate. Mass. Citizens for Life, expanding its
interest beyond abortion, hopes to overturn the central provision of
the state's 2006 health care reform law.

- - Physician-assisted suicide. Little discussed on Beacon Hill,
legalizing suicide for terminally ill patients may get a hearing from
the voters.

- - "Right to repair." Outside of mechanics and well-paid lobbyists, few
care about access to technical information held by auto companies, but
advocates of the measure are prepared to take it to the people.

- - Beer and wine at grocery stores. Package store interests beat retail
food stores in 2006, defeating a measure that would have legalized
wine sales in all grocery stores, but the food retailers are planning
to try again to loosen the rules.

Making it onto the ballot is a difficult, often expensive proposition.
Backers must collect nearly 70,000 certified signatures by Dec. 7, and
another 11,500 by next July to put their questions before voters. Some
will fall short, and some may be mostly interested in the leverage the
threat of a ballot effort gives them in pushing the Legislature to
act.

Even if they don't all make it to the ballot, it appears Bay State
voters will have more to weigh in November 2012 than just the
candidates for office.