CLT Action Alert - Massachusetts FReepers

Citizens for Limited Taxation email

[LostInBayport]

My first vanity post…but this topic has been gnawing away at me all day. If it is inappropriate in any way, I apologize.

Massachusetts Freepers: Consider calling your state legislators. Our slime-encrusted legislature is convening a Constitutional Convention on Thursday. CLT (Citizens for Limited Taxation) has learned that some socialist legislators from Newton and Cambridge have slipped in bills that would ensure that the initiative petition process would for all intents and purposes be destroyed. It would prohibit any new petitions affecting “The rights to freedom and equality; the right of each individual to be protected by society in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property, according to standing laws,” which could be read to cover EVERYTHING. It is Senate Bill 23 and House Bill 3537.

There are other items being discussed at the Convention, but most are predicted to fail.

ALSO, this Saturday they are having a rare weekend session where a slew of bills are on the table...if they don't pass then they are done for this session. Most notable among them is the pandemic bill, which would suspend many of our constitutional rights to freedom, privacy and property in the case of the next H1N1 scare. There were some very unsettling articles on here about this a short while back.

Also up are a bill requiring every kayaker to wear a life jacket and a repair bill forcing auto dealers to provide independent repair shops with the diagnostic codes for various models of vehicles. I don't know much about those two. And there are more.

The initiative process, while its results are often overridden, altered or even ignored, is still an important voice for us. I called Speaker Petrolati’s office, and the person I spoke with knew nothing about the pandemic bill or the initiative petition bill, much less how Petrolati stood on each matter. She took my number but the phone’s not ringing (so I know it’s her).

They need to know, as Barbara Anderson suggested, that we are aware of what’s going on this week!