Early in-person voting begins this week on rules for amending Ohio’s Constitution. Many Ohioans are still not aware that we are having a special election Aug. 8 on Issue 1. The outcome will set the rules for amending Ohio’s constitution.
- A NO vote on Issue 1 keeps the law as it has been for over a century: Ohio citizens can amend our constitution by a simple majority vote.
- A YES vote raises the bar to 60% and also creates a huge increase in the difficulty of getting enough signatures to qualify a proposal for the ballot. Currently, the rule is that signatures need to be collected from 44 counties – a YES on Issue 1 would increase that to all 88 counties.
Here are several ways you can help fellow Ohioans vote and ensure their vote counts:
- Post this voter information link on your social media. This goes to the Ohio Secretary of State’s page which explains how to request an absentee ballot, early voting schedules, and new rules for voting including ID requirements.
- Tell your community that early voting begins this week. Starting July 11, Ohioans can vote early in person at their county boards of election.
- Sign up to serve as a poll worker. This is a paid position. County Boards of Election desperately need poll workers to staff the Aug. 8 special election.
- Sign up to be an Election Protection volunteer, either as a poll monitor or as an Election Ambassador to inform your community on new voting rules and schedule. Virtual training for Ambassadors is July 13th at 6 pm. Sign up here.
July 11 or 14 Train the Trainer sessions on the regional impact of the Farm Bill: Up for renewal in 2023, the Farm Bill determines a massive range of federal policies affecting food security and promoting environmentally-sustainable farming and land use. Its biggest program is nutrition, including SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council is offering two Train the Trainer sessions to support community advocacy. Click on the link to register for the program you prefer. The July 11 training is in person from 5 to 7 pm at the Walnut Hills Public Library in Cincinnati, with food provided by the award-winning food recovery program La Soupe. The July 14 training is virtual from 10 to noon, so accessible for participants from any part of Ohio.
Amanda Lucas of the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council has created three short, informative videos and blog posts on the Farm Bill, rich in examples from Ohio. These cover the nutrition, conservation, and sustainable farming components of the law. Lucas compiled the information from organizations including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Community Farm Alliance, American Farmland Trust, and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farmer Association (OEFFA). She reviews policies on commodities, conservation, nutrition, and loans for farmers, including those historically underserved.
July 12 at 6 pm: Hear from plaintiffs, counsel in major Supreme Court redistricting decision! Fair Districts Ohio is proud to invite you to a webinar on last month’s Supreme Court decision in Moore v Harper that affirmed the right of state constitutions and courts to balance the power of state legislatures to draw Congressional district maps. Register here. This decision makes it possible for Ohio citizens to try again in 2024 to amend our constitution to prevent extreme partisan gerrymandering by whatever party controls state government. The speakers include Becky Harper, the plaintiff in the case and a member of Common Cause North Carolina’s board, and Meryl Neiman, the plaintiff in Neiman v. LaRose, the Ohio case testing the “independent state legislature” theory which the US Supreme Court sent back to the Ohio Supreme Court on June 30.
New Community Solar bill introduced! On June 6, Ohio Representatives James Hoops (R-Napoleon) and Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) have introduced HB 197, the Community Solar Pilot program in the House Public Utilities Committee with five bipartisan co-sponsors. As Green Energy Ohio reports, “this bill would make solar power available for the first time to renters, condo owners, and most small to medium-size businesses who cannot install rooftop solar. It will also provide access to solar power for Ohioans who cannot afford a residential system on their home, and those homeowners whose location or design is not suitable for a solar installation.” This would be especially beneficial to participating low-income renters by reducing their electric bills.
GEO goes on to explain the bill’s provisions for community solar pilot program in Ohio: “The program is capped at 1,750 MW of solar installed in three categories:
- 1,000 MW spread across all of Ohio, allocated by customer base for each utility.
- 500 MW spread across Ohio focused on the redevelopment of distressed sites.
- 250MW for the Appalachian area’s distressed sites in a standalone program.
“These caps are set high enough to allow for many projects in all parts of the state. Community solar projects can be owned by for-profits or nonprofits and would require a minimum number of subscribers to purchase solar energy. The utility in the region would then be responsible for providing a credit on the subscriber’s utility bill for the solar energy purchased from the community solar array. After four years, a review will be conducted to assess the program’s success and determine its future.”
Write to your Representative with your views on HB 197. You can use the “who represents me?” widget on the Ohio House of Representatives page to find your Representative, click on the pictures to get to his or her page, from which you can call or email.
More on the state budget: You can read about the outcome on funding and policy for K-12 schools and higher education, food banks, school meals, and tax revenue at last week’s blog. Thank you to everyone who called and wrote legislators – this was vital to preserving some essential funding for vulnerable Ohioans and to preventing (for now) some extremely harsh policies. Hunger Network Executive Director the Rev. Nick Bates, JD, one of the state’s leading faith-based experts on Ohio’s budgets, sent some additional key points at the end of last week.
The State Share of Education for public colleges and universities) only saw a 1.1% increase over current funding levels – well below inflation. SSI is the funding source that helps to establish tuition rates at Ohio’s public colleges and universities. Over the past generation, the state has cut SSI, flat funded it, or kept it well-below inflationary levels. This leads colleges and universities in a position where tuition increases are inevitable.
Income tax rate reductions: This will be the 11th time Ohio cuts income tax rates since 2005. Yet, Ohio’s economy continues to underperform the nation and we are already down about $8 billion in revenue (primarily taken from social services, schools, and higher education). These tax cuts leave social services under-resourced, our schools without enough teachers, and our parks struggling to maintain our natural beauty. This proposed tax cut is by far one of the largest in recent memory and costs more than $1 billion a year in lost revenue and (the savings) primarily go to the wealthy.”
OHFA: The Senate wanted to gut the Ohio Housing Finance Authority’s ability to guide our states housing and homeless service investments. This highly problematic language was removed.
Affordable housing development tax credits: $150 million ($100 million for multi-family housing, $50 million for single family housing) in tax creditswere authorized for developers. This is far less than the Governor and House proposed and will likely help support 3,500-4,000 new rental units coming onto the market. Advocates for this proposal call it a ‘down payment’ on the lack of affordable housing in Ohio.
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
