by J.D. Davidson
A citizen group trying to use a constitutional amendment to raise Ohio’s minimum wage eventually to $15 doesn’t need to start over but it does need to make changes to its plan if it hopes to eventually get it on the ballot.
Attorney General Dave Yost rejected the group’s proposal, calling it misleading to a potential signer. He also said it had numerous omissions.
Yost decides if a summary of a citizen petition for a constitutional amendment is a fair and truthful representation of the proposed law. He determined the “Raise the Wage Ohio” summary was not.
In a letter, Yost encouraged the group to review the summary to ensure that it accurately captures the proposed amendment’s definitions, contents and limitations before submitting another version.
Among other things, Yost’s letter said, “The summary fails to sufficiently inform a potential signer of the proposed amendment’s changes to wage requirements for employees with disabilities, employees under 16 years of age, and tipped employees.”
The proposed amendment would raise the state minimum wage to $10.50 an hour Jan. 1, 2025 and increase it annually from there for three years to reach $15 an hour Jan. 1, 2028.
It would also increase the minimum wage for inflation, beginning Jan. 1, 2029, and require employers pay employees who receive tips the full minimum wage with tips on top of the hourly rate.
Once a summary is approved by Yost, the Ohio Ballot Board determines whether the proposal contains a single law or multiple laws.
If the board certifies the petition, the group must collect signatures from at least 3% of registered voters based on the ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election. Those signatures must come from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties, and in each of those counties, the number must be at least 1.5% of the vote cast in the last gubernatorial election.
The petition then must be signed by the secretary of state at least 10 days before the beginning of any General Assembly session, and the secretary of state will send the petition to the General Assembly as soon as it convenes. The general assembly has four months to act.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Dave Yost” by Dave Yost.
