AG certifies 23 petitions for 2012 ballot

On Sept. 7, Attorney General Martha Coakley certified 23 petitions as having met state requirements for citizen-initiated ballot questions devised to amend state law or the Massachusetts Constitution. Eight petitions were not approved.

Certification marks the first big step in a 13-month process for ballot question proponents to reach voters at the 2012 state election.

The secretary of state’s office has prepared and distributed forms for petitioners to gather voter signatures this fall and again next spring if their proposals are not approved first by the Legislature and the governor.

Two of the petitions would have a direct impact on local government.

One petition would impose a 2.5 percent cap on any annual increases in water and sewer rates charged by cities, towns and water and sewer districts and commissions. The municipality or district would be allowed to exceed the cap only by a two-thirds majority vote at a regularly scheduled municipal or state election.

According to a summary prepared by the attorney general’s office, the proposed law would require municipalities and districts to file schedules annually with the Department of Public Utilities showing current water and/or sewer rates, any proposed new rates, and any percentage increase or decrease. The proposed law would require that the rate schedules be filed with the DPU approximately six months before the beginning of the fiscal year in which the rates would take effect and that new rates be published in a local newspaper at least six months before an override election.

The proposed law would not prohibit an increase greater than 2.5 percent in cases where the increase is required by a bond issue for water or sewer system improvements that was already in effect on the effective date of the proposed law. The proposed law would apply to rates for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2013.

A second petition would make major changes in how an evaluation system for professional school staff, including teachers, principals and administrators, is developed locally and used in decisions to hire, dismiss, promote and take other personnel actions. It would allow school districts to use model standards prepared by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education or develop similar systems to evaluate teachers, principals, and administrators.

According to a summary prepared by the attorney general’s office, a school district and the local teachers union would decide whether to implement an evaluation system based on a BESE model or another system consistent with the model’s standards. If there is no agreement through collective bargaining, the district would implement the model system.

The proposed law would replace the current system under which evaluation standards may be set through collective bargaining or by binding arbitration if an agreement cannot be reached.

For more information on the ballot initiatives, visit www.mass.gov/ago, and click on Initiatives & Ballot Questions under the Government heading.