If bills filed by local legislators make it through the system, the state will launch an animal abuse registry, certain types of plastic bags will be banned and all voters will get an additional choice at the polls — none of the above.
It's the end of bill-filing season at the Statehouse, a time when thousands of lawmakers' best ideas embark on the long, uneasy journey toward enactment.
Typically, more than 5,000 wide-ranging bills are filed at the beginning of each session, although only a few hundred end up with the governor's signature of approval.
North Shore state representatives have filed dozens of their own, addressing topics ranging from smoking bans to plumbing for school stadiums.
"The reality is, each bill has an idea," said state Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers. "And it's an idea to improve a situation, to make life a little better for someone."
Some are bills the reps file on behalf of constituents, like a proposal that would make the failure to display both the U.S. and Massachusetts flag when courts are in session "a violation of due process."
Another would create a registry to track animal abusers and bar them from adopting a dog or cat in the future.
"I don't turn them away. It's the nature of our legislative process that everyone has a right to be heard," said state Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, who filed both bills on behalf of Salem residents. "These bills will get a hearing just like every other bill."
Among Keenan's own bills is an option to let cities and towns set up cameras at intersections to capture drivers running red lights. He also signed on to a similar bill to place cameras on the stop signs of school buses.
One of Speliotis' constituents asked him to file a bill that would let voters check off "none of the above" if they felt contenders for public office simply weren't worth electing.
"He's displeased with the candidates on the ballot," Speliotis said of his constituent. "Rather than just blanking it, he wants a strong statement saying, 'I'm not pleased with the candidates on the ballot.'"
Speliotis also filed multiple smoking-ban bills, including refiling a previous proposal to ban smoking within 25 feet of an entrance to a public building. He's more optimistic, however, about a bill that would mandate at least a portion of elderly housing units be smoke-free.
"It's critical for people with asthma and health-related problems to not be around smoking," Speliotis said.
State Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, is pushing a series of environmental reforms — among them, a bag on the plastic bag, as we know it.
That bill would require stores that offer plastic bags to instead offer compostable plastic bags that meet certain environmental standards.
Most consumers, she said, wouldn't be able to tell the difference between regular plastic and compostable plastic, but the ban would eliminate the problem of "non-biodegradable, petroleum-based" bags getting stuck in trees and threatening marine life.
"This idea isn't new," Ehrlich said. "Cities across the U.S. and around the world, most recently Italy, have already banned non-compostable plastic. In addition, a company on the leading edge of producing these compostable bags is in Massachusetts."
Legislators had until the end of last week to file bills. Now they must find a way to get them passed.
"It just makes the standards for a good idea very high," Erhlich said, "because your idea has to be so good that it rises above all the other good ideas out there — and some not so good."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salemnews.com and on Twitter @ChrisCassidy_SN.
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