House Passes Legislation to Strengthen Transparency and Accountability for Ballot Question Campaigns

The Massachusetts House of Representatives today passed comprehensive legislation to strengthen campaign finance disclosure requirements for statewide ballot question campaigns – providing voters with more timely, transparent, and accessible information before they cast their ballots. The bill passed today also establishes a special legislative commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the statewide initiative petition process under Article XLVIII of the Massachusetts Constitution and provide recommendations by 2027.

“Over the past several years, we have seen a growing number of well-funded special interest groups turn to the ballot to advance their agendas through one up-or-down vote, bypassing the negotiation and compromise inherent to the legislative process. Oftentimes, the opposition is equally well-resourced, which has led to high-stakes litigation and, in some cases, judicial removal of questions from the ballot,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy). “The bill that the House passed today responds to widespread concerns about the ballot question process by strengthening transparency in ballot question campaigns, and by laying the groundwork for future necessary reforms to ensure that the initiative petition process will remain worthy of the public's trust. I want to thank Leader Peisch, Chair Hunt, Chair Ryan, and all my colleagues in the House for recognizing the need for these critical reforms.”

“This legislation is about preserving the integrity of our democratic process,” said Representative Alice H. Peisch (D-Wellesley), Assistant Majority Leader and House Chair of the Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions. “I would like to thank the Speaker for bringing this bill to the House floor, as well as the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Election Laws and the Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. The bill intends to ensure voters have the information they need to make informed decisions, while establishing a commission to examine whether our century-old initiative petition process continues to meet the constitutional and practical challenges of today. Our goal is to protect the people’s voice and strengthen it by ensuring that ballot questions are clear, constitutionally sound, and deserving of the public's confidence and trust.”

"Massachusetts voters deserve to know who is behind the campaigns asking for their vote,” said Representative Daniel J. Hunt (D-Boston), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Election Laws. "This legislation ensures voters have access to timely, meaningful information before they head to the polls, helping cut through the confusion that can surround statewide ballot question campaigns. By modernizing reporting requirements, increasing transparency, strengthening accountability, and making campaign finance information easier to access, we are giving voters the tools they need to make informed decisions and greater confidence in the integrity of our elections."

“This Act will bring ballot question committees and their campaign reporting requirements in line with the reporting schedule that we, as duly elected Representatives of the people, adhere to. It is just a simple question of consistency and openness,” said Representative Daniel J. Ryan (D-Boston), primary sponsor of the bill. “These requirements allow voters to see who is influencing the messages they are hearing leading up to Election Day. I thank Speaker Mariano, Chairman Hunt of Election Laws and the entire leadership team for their work on this important step toward sending the right message about big money in politics.’’

The legislation modernizes Massachusetts' campaign finance laws by bringing statewide ballot question committees under many of the same reporting standards that apply to candidates for public office. Under the bill, ballot question committees would report campaign finance activity through the Office of Campaign and Political Finance's (OCPF) electronic depository system, allowing contributions and expenditures to be disclosed more frequently rather than only during limited reporting periods before an election.

The bill also expands disclosure obligations for contributions, expenditures, liabilities, and in-kind donations, and requires expedited reporting of large late contributions received shortly before an election.

In addition to strengthening campaign finance transparency, the legislation requires petitions circulated by paid signature gatherers to clearly indicate that the circulator is being compensated and direct voters to OCPF's website, where campaign finance reports for committees supporting or opposing the ballot question are publicly available.

The bill also protects the integrity of the signature gathering process by prohibiting per-signature compensation and other incentive payments tied to the number of signatures collected. Violations would be subject to financial penalties, and following each statewide election, the Secretary of the Commonwealth would certify compliance with the law's signature gathering requirements.

The legislation also strengthens oversight by requiring OCPF to issue public post-election compliance reports evaluating whether ballot question committees complied with campaign finance reporting and disclosure laws.

Finally, the bill establishes a thirteen-member special legislative commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the statewide initiative petition process under Article XLVIII of the Massachusetts Constitution and to submit recommendations, including proposed constitutional amendments where appropriate, by December 31, 2027.

The commission will examine: the scope of the Attorney General’s certification authority and whether to include an evaluation to determine if a proposed measure, if enacted, would violate provisions of the Massachusetts Constitution or the U.S. Constitution; the process for ensuring voters receive a fair and concise summary of an initiative petition, and whether corrections could be made after publication or after signatures have been collected; signature gathering requirements, and applicable timeframes and procedural deadlines.

The bill passed the House of Representatives 149-0 and now returns to the Senate for further consideration.