Letter from the Attorney General September 8

Dear colleagues, 

This week the office wrapped up the 2023 initiative petition certification process. This process is unique in the country with the role our office plays – and those who took the lead in carrying out this process demonstrated an admirable level of professionalism and legal skill. I want to give a huge thanks to those who took the lead in this process: Anne Sterman, Phoebe Fischer-Groban and Sherrie Costa. Your service to this office deserves a round of applause! 

This year we issued determinations on 42 initiative petitions, (a record for our office!) and we certified 34 of them to move to the next stage in the process. The work required for each of the petitions was substantial. While a daunting process, our volunteers embraced the challenge!

The initiatives we reviewed included a range of topics from MCAS exams to minimum wage and rent control. The part of our constitution here in Massachusetts that allows residents to propose laws and constitutional amendments for voters is extremely valuable, and it’s a great responsibility in our office to ensure it is done diligently.

In addition, many thanks to this year’s volunteers, without whom we could not have completed this duty; Jared Cohen, Mike MacKenzie, Vanessa Arslanian, Erin Fowler, Kim Parr, Konstantin Tretyakov, Dan Less, Mindy Klenoff, Jamie Hoag, Pat Moore, Matt Douglass, Alex Sugerman-Brozan, Robin Toone, Sean Hildenbrandt, Bernardo Cuadra, Patrick Cento, Katherine Dirks, Kate Isley, and Hannah Vail. As well as Nicole Caravella, Molly McGlynn, Sabrina Zafar and Nicole Deluque for supporting us by getting information out quickly to the press and on the website.

Stay cool and enjoy your weekend! 

With tremendous gratitude, 

Andrea