Number 5. August 30, 1968

Number 5. August 30, 1968 HONORABLE JOHN F.X. DAVOREN Secretary of the Commonwealth State House Boston, Massachusetts 02133 Dear Mr. Secretary: Pursuant to G.L. c. 53, § 19,* you have asked me to determine whether the following question contained in a petition filed with your office by certain voters of the Fifteenth Suffolk Representative District is "one of public policy" within the meaning of the foregoing statute. You also ask, if my determination is in the affirmative, to supply you, under the same statute, with a form of question "suited for presentation upon the ballot" in that district. The question contained in the petition reads as follows: *"On an application signed by twelve hundred voters in any senatorial district, or by two hundred voters in any representative district, asking for the submission to the voters of that senatorial or representative district of any question of instructions to the senator or representatives from that district, and stating the substance thereof, the attorney general shall upon request of the state secretary determine whether or not such question is one of public policy, and if such question is determined to be one of public policy, the state secretary and the attorney general shall draft it in such simple unequivocal and adequate form as shall be deemed best suited for presentation upon the ballot. Upon the fulfillment of the requirements of this and the two following sections the state secretary shall place such question on the official ballot to be used in that senatorial or representative district at the next state election." 38 P.D. 12 "Shall the Representative from this district be instructed to vote to approve the passage of a bill permitting the construction of a track arena on the Metropolitan District Commission Reservation bordering the Charles River and Soldiers Field Road in Brighton?" You have advised me that the petition contains 500 certified signatures of voters and was seasonably filed with your office on August 23, 1968. Nothing in the petition, beyond the statement of the question itself, indicates the nature of the problem to which the question is directed. However, the statute contains no requirement that the petition include an explanation or exposition of the problem. It would accordingly appear that the determination of whether or not the question is "one of public policy" must be gathered from the form of the statement of the question in the petition, drawing such inferences therefrom and relying on such facts of common knowledge, actual or presumed, in the voting district concerned as may be reasonable. That this is the proper method of evaluating a question presented for submission under G.L. c. 53, § 19, finds support in opinions of former Attorneys General holding that since the phrase "public policy" in the statute is not limited or qualified in any way, it is to be construed broadly. 8 Op. Atty. Gen. 490, 493; Report of the Attorney General for the Year Ending November 30, 1939, pp. 99-100; Report of the Attorney General for the Year Ending June 30, 1955, pp. 51-52. Having thus considered the petition, I hereby determine that the question contained therein is "one of public policy" within the meaning of G.L. c. 53, § 19. In accordance with the provisions thereof and with your request, I submit the following statement of the question for presentation upon the ballot: "Shall the Representative from this district be instructed to vote to approve the passage of a bill permitting the construction of a track arena on the Metropolitan District Commission Reservation bordering the Charles River and Soldiers Field Road in the Brighton district of Boston, Massachusetts?" Very truly yours, ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON A ttorney General