H. 1822: A Legislative Amendment to the Constitution to Exclude Matters
Relating to Fisheries and Wildlife from the Subject Matter Initiative Petitions
Update 5/6/11: Received an Ought NOT to pass from Judiciary Committee.
H. 1822 is likely one of the many legislative responses to Question 1, the 1996 with the Wildlife Protection Act, Question 1. This ballot question passed with a 64% yes vote, showing strong support of the voters of Massachusetts. If passed, this bill would amend the Massachusetts Constitution to prevent the initiative petition from being used “…to permit, regulate, or prohibit the taking of, transportation of, or to prescribe seasons or methods for the taking of fish or wildlife.”
This is a very serious proposal, and suggests that voters should not be allowed to affect policy regarding the wildlife that belongs to all of us. The initiative petition is not a simple process, and rightly so, but it is an important part of the checks and balances that have been built into our state governmental process and should be respected as such. If some people do not like to have the process used for questions of wildlife policy, they can fight against any questions that may arise on those topics. To squelch the process entirely in order to maintain the status quo, however, we do not believe is acceptable.
