This amendment amends Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution by striking out section three under the heading "The Initiative.II.Initiative petitions" and inserting in place thereof a new section which provides,-

That an initiative petition for a constitutional amendment or a law shall first be signed by ten qualified voters of the Commonwealth and shall be submitted to the Attorney General not later than the first Wednesday of the August before the assembling of the General Court into which it is to be introduced, It may be filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth if the Attorney General shall certify that the measure and its title are in proper form and that it is not, affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at either of the two preceding biennial state elections, and that it contains only subjects not excluded from the popular initiative and which are related or which are mutually dependent.

The Secretary shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent signers. He shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed measure, as determined by the Attorney General as it will appear upon the ballot, together with the names and residences of the first ten signers. All such petitions, with the first ten signatures attached, shall be filled with the Secretary not earlier than the first Wednesday of the September before the assembling of the Legislature into which they are to be introduced and the remainder of the required signatures shall be filled not later than the first Wednesday of the following December.

Section 3 of that of said Article XLVIII under the heading "The Referendum.111.Referendum Petitions." is also amended by striking out the second sentence of such section and inserting in place thereof provisions that the Secretary shall provide blanks for the use of signers of a referendum petition on a law requesting that the operation of such law be suspended subsequent to the first ten signers and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed law as determined by the Attorney General as it will appear upon the ballot, together with the names and residences of the first ten signers.

Section 4 of that part of said Article XLVIII under the heading"The Referendum.111.Referendum Petitions." is also amended by striking out the third sentence of such section and inserting in place thereof provisions that the Secretary shall provide blanks for the use of signers subsequent to the first ten signers of a referendum petition asking for the repeal of an emergency law or of a law which takes effect because the referendum petition does not contain a request for suspension, and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed law as such summary will appear on the ballot together with the names and residences of the first ten signers.

Article XLVIII is further amended by striking out subheading"III. Form of Ballot" and subheading "IV.Information for Voters" under the heading "General Provisions" and inserting in place thereof new subheadings III and IV, which provide, respectively:

III. Form of Ballot.

A fair, concise summary of each proposed amendment to the Constitution and each law submitted to the people, as determined by the Attorney General shall be printed on the ballot. The Secretary shall give each question a number and cause such question, except as otherwise authorized in said article of amendment, to be printed on the ballot in the following form:

In the case of an amendment to the constitution: Do you approve of the adoption of an amendment to the constitution summarized below, (here state, in distinctive type, whether approved or disapproved by the general court, and by what vote thereon)? Yes- No.

[Set forth summary here]

In the case of a law: Do you approve of a law summarized below, (here state, in distinctive type, whether approved or disapproved by the general court, and by what vote thereon)? Yes- No.

[Set forth summary here]

IV. Information for Voters.

The Secretary print and send to each registered voter the full text of every measure to be submitted to the people, together with a copy of the legislative committee's majority and minority reports, with the names of the majority and minority members and a fair, concise summary of the measure as such summary will appear on the ballot and, in such manner as may be provided by law, other arguments for and against the measure.