Massachusetts Anti-Casino Ballot Question Gets Nixed by State AG
A citizens’ anti-gambling initiative has been shot down by the State’s Attorney General
While the state of Massachusetts is gearing up for rapid expansion of gambling in the state, not everybody has been excited about the move. This is exactly why some anti-gambling activists there have actually created a petition so that you can force a vote that is statewide set up casino jobs is able to go ahead.
Those who are against the new casinos were able to gather enough signatures to send the ballot question forward to the lawyer general’s office. But unfortuitously for them, the state solicitor but a stop to the move, saying that the ballot concern wouldn’t be legal under the state’s ballot initiative process.
Constitutional Provisions Preclude Ballot Question
Under the present state Constitution, the ballot initiative process is included in Article 48. That article not only describes the process for getting a relevant question on the ballot, but also establishes so what can and may not be included in such concerns. One of the rules for proposals claims that they cannot affect an entity’s ‘right to get settlement for private property appropriated to public use’.
In accordance with state solicitor Peter Sacks, if the concern were to be approved by the public, thus closing the casino deals immediately, it could take the casino developers’ contract rights away without the compensation. It would also ‘impair the contracts that are implied between the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and those developers, who have already paid millions in application fees to your state. Lire la suite



