Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Monday that he would sign a bill allowing an August special election to decide whether to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments if both chambers of the state legislature pass it.
The proposed August election would decide whether the voter threshold for initiative petitions should be raised to a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
Last week, the Ohio Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 to put the question before voters and a separate bill, Senate Bill (SB) 92, that would change the law to allow for an August special election. Both chambers must pass a joint resolution to place the issue on the ballot for voters. That does not require DeWine’s signature. However, SB 92 would require DeWine to sign off on the bill.
Lawmakers must pass both pieces of legislation because DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 458 into law earlier this year, which drastically altered the state’s election laws, including the requirement for a photo ID and eliminating August elections.
According to DeWine, he thinks that there are several benefits to resolving these issues quickly.
“I think that if both houses approve this, that’s the direction they want to go, I’m going to sign it. I think that there is some advantage to having these matters over with and August will do that,” DeWine said.
Although the Senate has passed both measures, the Ohio House has not yet taken a position on either the resolution or the bill establishing the election date. Also last week, a committee in the House passed a similar measure, House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, but has not yet taken up the legislation allowing for an August election.
“We have to send him (DeWine) the bill. Guess we just need the vote called,” State Representative Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) said.
State Representative Susan Manchester (R-Waynesfield) attempted to circumvent the committee procedure on HJR 1 last month by submitting a discharge petition. If 50 lawmakers sign the petition, lawmakers can remove the resolution from committee consideration and put it up for a vote right away. The petition does not yet have 50 signatures at this time.
The legislation comes when pro-abortion activists are working to pass a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would legalize abortion throughout the state.
A second proposed amendment that would eventually raise the state’s minimum wage will likely appear on a 2024 ballot.
Republicans say that the state Constitution is a sacred document that special interest groups should not be able to amend so easily.
“Our Founding Fathers ensured that the United States Constitution would be protected against outside influence and special interests by requiring a super-majority vote for amendments. We can and should protect the Ohio Constitution in a similar way,” state Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said.
“The Ohio Constitution is supposed to serve as a framework of our state government, not as a tool for special interests. Requiring a broad consensus majority of at least 60 percent for passing a petition-based constitutional amendment provides a good government solution to promote compromise and to have a historically proven record of passage,” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said.
According to State Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), these resolutions will not protect the state constitution from special interests but will rather add to the problem.
“Having to get all 88 counties is going to make more money involved. People who want to change the constitution are going to spend more and more money and now they will spend more money to get more signatures to get all of the counties,” Demora said.
According to LaRose, lawmakers need to pass the legislation in both the House and Senate by May 10th to place it on an August ballot.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Mike DeWine” by Mike DeWine. Background Photo “Ohio State House” by Warren LeMay. CC0 1.0.
