Massachusetts Greyhound Protection Act

Last updated
Question 3
Massachusetts Greyhound Protection Act
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svgYes1,662,35256.05%
Light brown x.svgNo1,303,70843.95%
Valid votes2,966,060100.00%
Invalid or blank votes00.00%
Total votes2,966,060100.00%

MA Question 3 2008 Counties.svg
MA Question 3 2008 Municipalities.svg
MA Question 3 2008.svg

The Greyhound Protection Act is a Massachusetts statute that gradually eliminated commercial dog racing by 2010. It was enacted as Question 3 on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Massachusetts.

Contents

It shut down the state's two tracks, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park and Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, by January 1, 2010. Violators face minimum fines of $20,000 by the State Racing Commission.

Specific provisions in the initiative

Details of the statute are:

Legislative history

Past initiative

A similar initiative made the ballot in 2000, the racing industry opposed it with television ads arguing that the 2000 initiative would lead to the loss of 1,500 jobs along with $10 million in pari-mutuel betting and other taxes.

Petition drive

Supporters submitted 45,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2008 ballot on June 17. The state legislature had until the first Wednesday in May to make the proposals law. Without the legislature's support, proponents had until June 18 to gather another 11,099 signatures. [1] The proponents claimed to have gathered 100,000 signatures, guaranteeing that the initiative would meet the requirements. [2]

Lawsuit to strike from ballot

Opponents filed a lawsuit in March saying the measure is unfit for the ballot because it singles out the two tracks, when it should apply to the whole state. The Supreme Judicial Court took the matter under advisement after a hearing May 7. [3]

On July 15, the court rejected the challenge by the initiative's opponents, which means that unless other lawsuits are filed and are successful, the initiative will appear on the November ballot.

The high court rejected the claim that the initiative shouldn't be on a statewide ballot because it was about two local racetracks by saying that racing amounts to a statewide concern. [4]

Results

Greyhound Protection Act [5] [6]
ChoiceVotes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes1,662,35256.05
No1,303,70843.95
Valid votes2,966,06095.59
Invalid or blank votes136,9354.41
Total votes3,102,995100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,220,48873.52

Supporters

The Committee to Protect Dogs was the official ballot committee of the initiative.

In addition to Committee to Protect Dogs, the Greyhound Protection Act was endorsed by:

Arguments for initiative

Arguments in favor of the initiative that were made by its supporters include: [10]

Funding

According to campaign finance reports, as of November 1, 2008 the Committee to Protect Dogs has raised approximately $903,000 and has $9,169.09 remaining. [11] Grey2k shows no filings for 2008. Between 2005 - 2007 they filed as having received no donations or expenditures and $18,490.21 in liabilities although they appear to have donated approx $55,000 and well over $100,000 in staff and services to the committee since 2005. [12]

Opponents

The official ballot committee opposed to the initiative was The Massachusetts Animal Interest Coalition which was mainly made up of the owners of the two tracks that would be shut down, including George Carney, who owned the Raynham-Taunton track for the previous 40 years, and Charles Sarkis, owner of the Wonderland track.

Arguments against initiative

Arguments that were made against the initiative include:

Newspaper editorial boards against

Funding

According to campaign finance reports, as of November 1, 2008 The Massachusetts Animal Interest Coalition had raised approximately $436,000 and has $7,720.38 remaining. It also received approx $215,000 in in-kind donations such as staff, postage, etc.. mainly from the 2 race tracks. They also had an additional $3,000 in liabilities. [14]

See also

Sources

The original version of this article was taken from Ballotpedia's article about the Massachusetts Greyhound Protection Act

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References

  1. Boston.com: "Four ballot petitions clear 1st obstacle," Nov 24, 2007
  2. HSUS: "Animal Protection Group Turns in 100,000 Signatures on Greyhound Protection Act Petition" Archived 2007-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Boston.com: "Supporters amass signatures for dog racing ban," June 18, 2008
  4. Associated Press: "Court rejects challenge to dog-racing initiative", July 15, 2008
  5. "2008 Return of Votes Complete" (PDF). Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  6. "Enrollment Breakdown as of 15 October 2008" (PDF). Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  7. Springfield Republican
  8. Blue Mass Group
  9. The Committee to Protect Dogs: "Endorsements"
  10. Committee to Protect Dogs "Report on Commercial Dog Racing in Massachusetts"
  11. Committee to protect dogs "campaign finance reports" Archived 2008-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Grey2k "campaign finance reports" Archived 2008-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  13. {{cite ... <Boston Globe "Editorial"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024084123/https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/10/21/no_on_question_3/}}
  14. The Massachusetts Animal Interest Coalition "campaign finance reports" Archived 2009-12-16 at the Wayback Machine