Battle Intensifies over Ohio Constitution
In the context of last week’s explosive hearings as the Ohio Legislature races to raise new hurdles for citizen-sponsored constitutional amendments, this post documents the growing disconnect between the Ohio Legislature and the views of the majority of Ohioans on issues including reproductive rights, gun safety, and how schools from elementary to university can teach about the role of race and racism in American history.
Next week I’ll report on the House’s decisions on state funding for K-12 public schools, where citizen input did seem to be heard as the House moved away from an earlier proposal to adopt a flat tax plus major cuts in state funding to local governments. These policies, in HB 1, would trigger local property tax rises on homeowners and farmers.
Wednesday, May 3, 12:30: Day of Action at the Statehouse: No on HJR 1. The meeting place is still being worked out. Sign up here and you will get updates. The Ohio House goes into session at 2 pm May 3, and is expected to vote on a resolution to change the Ohio Constitution to require citizen-sponsored amendments to pass by 60% instead of the current simple majority. This resolution could come before voters in a special August election if the authorizing legislation for that election passes in the House and the bill is signed by the Governor. An equivalent resolution and the bill authorizing the August election were passed by the Ohio Senate on April 19.
Drama intensifies over rules to amend Ohio Constitution: As citizen groups strive to get constitutional amendments to voters, the Ohio Legislature advanced measures last week that would make it significantly harder both to place citizen-sponsored amendments on the ballot, and then to pass them. Companion resolutions HJR1 and SJR1 would require petitions to include signatures from all 88 Ohio counties (currently the rule is 44) and eliminate the cure period to collect more valid signatures if too many are disqualified. These measures would also change the threshold to pass a citizen-sponsored amendment from simple majority to 60% of the votes cast. If the House joins the Senate in passing this resolution plus a bill authorizing a special August election, the harder rules could be voted in this summer by a typically tiny August turnout, raising the hurdles before any of the citizen-sponsored amendments can reach voters.
People across the state are collecting signatures to put a reproductive rights amendment on the fall ballot. “ In most ‘purple’ and ‘red’ states, abortion rights supporters have prevailed in the 52% to 59% range, and a 60% supermajority in Ohio would likely defeat it,” wrote Laura Hancock in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on April 19.
The fall 2022 Ohio Pulse Poll by Baldwin Wallace University found that 59.1% of respondents said they would vote yes to make the right to an abortion a constitutionally protected right in Ohio. Other groups are working to qualify ballot language and collect sufficient signatures on a renewed quest to prevent partisan gerrymandering and to raise Ohio’s minimum wage (currently $10.10/hr). The earliest these could come before voters is 2024.
Citizens have started working on constitutional amendments because they cannot get their elected officials to heed majority views in the normal legislative process. The context behind this struggle is Ohio’s gerrymandered district maps, designed by incumbents last year and successful in preserving the leadership party’s supermajority because they created a sufficient number of uncompetitive districts. The evidence presented by experts to the Ohio Supreme Court on this last year led the court to rule every plan submitted by the Redistricting Commission (whose members are all elected officials) unconstitutional. Our elections last year were conducted using one of those plans under order by a federal court panel. That means that the General Assembly picks its voters, and can pass bills that please donors and the minority of base voters who turn out for primaries that choose the candidates.
What follows is long, but please read it. It documents the disconnect between the views of the majority of our fellow citizens and many of the policies being debated and passed by our elected officials.
The Baldwin Wallace Ohio Pulse Poll last October found that 59.1% of respondents would vote yes on a constitutional amendment to make the right to an abortion a fundamental right in Ohio. 57.2% feel that abortion should be permitted, with 30.1% favoring permission with limitations. An additional 26.1% said abortion could be allowed in cases of rape or to save a life. The Ohio Legislature passed and the Governor signed a heartbeat bill forbidding abortions as soon as a heartbeat can be detected – about six weeks.
56.6% feel Ohio’s public schools do a good or excellent job of exposing students to concepts and ideas at the appropriate age level. 74.9% strongly or somewhat support teaching about the history of race and racism in America, and 75.3% strongly or somewhat support teaching about the impact of race and racism in the U.S. The Legislature has been discussing bills to chill or block “divisive content” from elementary through university curriculum, including last week’s hearing on SB 83, which would stop the kinds of discussion and learning in Ohio’s universities that Episcopalians across the country have been engaging in through Becoming Beloved Community and the Sacred Ground Curriculum.
85.5% of respondents support expanding background checks for gun purchasers aged 18-21. 59.6% oppose allowing legal gun owners age 21 or older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, and 78.8% support raising the minimum wage to buy an AR-15 style semiautomatic weapon from 18-21. 56.5% support banning the sale of AR-15s. Despite that, the Ohio Legislature have passed, and the Governor has signed, multiple bills removing restrictions on gun ownership including allowing people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit or any safety training. Major Ohio cities including Cincinnati and Columbus are litigating against the state for the right to set stronger gun safety rules to try to stop gun violence in their communities. Gun violence is now the number one cause of death for American children.
The Senate passed SJR 2 plus HB 92 authorizing the special August election – just months after the General Assembly passed voting rules changes prohibiting August elections except in cases of local fiscal emergency. Last week, House Constitutional Resolutions Committee Chair Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) abruptly cut off testimony and called a vote to advance HJR 1. Over 300 citizens had submitted written testimony opposing HJR 1 – the most I have ever counted in a hearing record – and scores were waiting to speak in person. The House is expected to vote on the measure May 3. If the House also passes a bill authorizing a special election and the Governor signs it in early May, this election will take place at an estimated cost of $20 million to Ohio taxpayers.
August elections are rare and usually draw a small turnout. That would mean that a tiny minority of Ohio’s voters could amend Ohio’s constitution under current law – 50% plus one vote would pass it – and immediately raise the bar for any subsequent citizen-sponsored amendment.
Advocacy briefings are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com
