Public Finance

Attorney General Maura Healey ruled last year that the proposed amendment to the state’s constitution was legal, and qualified for the ballot, but opponents including executives from Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Massachusetts High Technology Council and others disagreed.

he Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, one of five plaintiffs challenging the ballot question, hailed the ruling. “Today is a great day for all Massachusetts taxpayers because the court has upheld the time-honored constitutional principle that limits the initiative process,” Eileen McAnneny, the group’s president, said in a statement.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation meanwhile celebrated the ruling for backing “the time-honored constitutional principle that limits the initiative process.” “By rejecting the notion that a small special interest group can usurp legislative power by including unrelated tax and spending provisions in the same ballot initiative, the court has preserved the state’s ability to make delibe