(M. Spencer Green / Associated Press file photo)

By Shira Schoenberg, The Republican

Ballot questions that would raise the minimum wage, lower the sales tax, require employers to offer paid family leave and regulate nurse staffing are all expected to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot in 2018.

The deadline is Wednesday for proponents of 2018 ballot questions to submit 64,750 signatures to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.

Here is a look at the ballot questions that have submitted signatures to get on the ballot. The signatures have not yet been certified, so not all of these will necessarily make the ballot. The Legislature can still act on any of these issues, and organizers would then remove the question from the ballot.

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Eight-year-old Malaki Sims takes part in a rally supporting a higher minimum wage in Springfield in 2014. (Don Treeger / The Republican file)

Minimum wage

A coalition of labor leaders, clergy and liberal organizing groups is pushing a question that would raise the minimum wage from $11 to $15 over four years. It would also raise wages for tipped workers from $3.75 an hour plus tips to $9 an hour plus tips over four years.

The minimum wage would be indexed to inflation after that.

Many business groups oppose the effort, arguing that it will raise prices and make businesses less competitive.

But some businesses support the effort. Michael Kanter, owner of Cambridge Naturals, a natural food store, said his business already raised the starting wage to $15 an hour. “I think it’s good for business,” Kanter said. “It helps support our employees who are also our customers. There is better customer service, we have less turnover.”

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Paid family and medical leave

Raise Up Massachusetts, the same coalition pushing for raising the minimum wage, is also pushing a ballot question establishing paid family and medical leave.

Employers would be obligated to provide paid time off, at 90 percent of the worker’s average weekly wages, to employees for a serious illness or injury or to care for a new child. Employees would get up to 26 weeks a year for themselves and up to 16 weeks to take care of a family member. The cost would be shared by employers and employees.

Similar to arguments on the minimum wage, business groups have said this would increase costs and make them less competitive.

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Allpower Sales in Granby gears up for a tax holiday in 2012. (Don Treeger / The Republican file)

Sales tax reduction

A coalition of retailers is advocating for a ballot question that would reduce the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent and create an annual two-day sales tax holiday.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said, “Voters support reducing the sales tax because it hits seniors and low income families disproportionately and is making it more difficult for our small business to compete with the tax free New Hampshire and online sellers.”

But Chris Dempsey, director of Transportation for Massachusetts, countered that losing state revenue would hurt the state’s ability to maintain transportation, education and public safety services. “Reducing the sales tax by 1.25 percent isn't going to make much difference for consumers, but it will certainly hurt Main Street by reducing funding available for local police, firefighters, teachers and public works, fixing potholes, and maintaining public parks and fields,” Dempsey said.

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Harley Keisch, a critical care nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, delivered signatures for a ballot question on nurse staffing ratios.

Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com

Nursing staffing

A nurse’s union is advocating for a ballot question that would set a maximum number of patients that a single nurse could care for. The staffing ratio would vary depending on the unit.

Angela Ortiz, a Woburn mother of a 4-year-old with complex medical needs, said she cannot leave her daughter alone in the hospital. “The nurses are stretched so thin, and they are constantly pulled in more directions than is possibly manageable,” Ortiz said. “We have to stay there and be hyper-vigilant in overseeing her care so things don’t slip through the cracks.”

Harley Keisch, a critical care nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, said staffing in the ICU is set by law, but he previously worked on a surgical floor. Ten years ago, nurses took care of six patients who were pre- and post-operation. Now, he said, nurses have seven patients each. “What we thought would be completely unsafe is now the norm,” Keisch said.

Keisch said the ballot question would limit the time patients wait for pain medication, decrease unnecessary falls and ensure nurses take time to discharge patients properly.

A new coalition of nurses and hospital leaders has formed to oppose the ballot question. They argue that nurses and hospitals should have flexibility to set staffing rather than being constrained by rigid guidelines. They say small community hospitals should not be held to the same standards as large teaching hospitals. The mandate would also raise the cost of care.

“This ballot question strips away nurses’ ability to be flexible and adjust to life and death situations,” said Pat Noga, vice president of clinical affairs for the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association.

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Money in politics

A coalition trying to limit the influence of money in politics submitted signatures for a ballot question to create a nonpartisan Citizens Commission to advance a constitutional amendment overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Citizens United allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a political candidate as long as they do not coordinate directly with a campaign.

The proposed commission would draft a 28th Amendment, advocate for it and research it.

“Since the Citizens United decision, more than $46 billion from corporations, unions, the wealthy, super PACs, and it now appears, foreign intelligence operations, has been spent to influence the outcome of American elections,” said Jeff Clements, president of American Promise, the advocacy group behind the question. “The 28th Amendment is the only way to combat a corrupt political system dominated by money.”

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Anti-abortion protesters gather in Utah in 2015. (Associated Press file photo)

Abortion

A ballot question backed by socially conservative groups would allow the state to exclude abortion services from state-funded health care.

Update, Dec. 7 11:20 a.m.: Supporters of this ballot question say they were unable to gather enough signatures to get this question on the ballot.

The Massachusetts Coalition for Choice, a group of reproductive rights organizations, said in a statement, "The Massachusetts Constitution protects equal access to reproductive healthcare; we are gratified that our founding document will not be undermined by a small group of people trying to force their dangerous agenda on the women of the Commonwealth, and we are proud that the people of Massachusetts support equal and affordable healthcare for everyone."



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(Associated Press file photo)

Income tax rates

A constitutional amendment, which already qualified for the ballot, would raise the income tax rate by 4 percentage points on income over $1 million.