David Skolnick

A proposal that would make it harder for citizen-initiated amendments to the Ohio Constitution to become law is drawing opposition from several organizations.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, and state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, recently announced they would seek to get the GOP-dominated state Legislature to approve a resolution in the final weeks of this year’s session for the ballot proposal. It is on the fast track to be passed.

It would require citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to get at least 60 percent support from voters to be approved. Those initiatives currently need a simple majority.

This proposal initially wouldn’t have impacted constitutional amendments approved by the Legislature as those would continue to need only a majority of voters for approval. After getting backlash and trying to eliminate a talking point from the opposition, House Republicans on Thursday submitted a substitute bill for legislative-backed amendments to also need 60 percent threshold in elections.

The proposal for citizen-initiated amendments is opposed by more than 140 organizations, including those representing unions, voter rights groups, faith-based groups and minorities. Local groups in opposition include education associations representing teachers in Campbell, Howland, South Range and Struthers.

Nearly all opposition groups are progressive organizations. But the conservative American Policy Roundtable in a separate statement also objects to the proposal.

Rob Walgate, its vice president, said it is “more than short-sighted. Requiring a 60 percent voter supermajority to pass a ballot measure breaks the intention and balance of the Ohio Constitution, which has been working effectively since the early 1900s. There is no outcry for such a measure. This is strictly inside baseball among the political elite in Columbus.”

If the Legislature approves the change, voters would decide its fate as soon as the May 2, 2023, election. It would need only a simple majority to pass and would be on a primary election ballot that typically has extremely poor turnout. Under state law, citizen-backed amendments can appear only on general election ballots while those approved by the Legislature can appear on any ballot.

Asked about the timing of the proposal, LaRose said: “Because it’s ready now. It’s an idea I’ve kicked around for a while. There’s no time like the present.”

He acknowledged the May 2023 primary turnout would be low.

“I wish that weren’t the case, but that doesn’t mean that for two years we stop making improvements that need to be made,” he said.

There is talk of having three citizen-backed constitutional amendments on the ballot in the next few years. One would protect abortion rights in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June. Another would change how state legislative and congressional districts are drawn because maps approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission were found to be unconstitutional seven times by the Ohio Supreme Court. The latter would make changes to legislative-backed amendments approved by voters in 2015 and 2018 that attempted to stop gerrymandering. A third would seek to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

LaRose said: “If this is about one specific issue, then somebody’s not really focused on what we’re trying to accomplish here. This is about trying to make the Ohio Constitution less susceptible to special interests.”

He also said, “If you don’t think that your idea isn’t broadly popular enough to muster 60 percent vote of the people, then maybe you shouldn’t consider bringing it to the ballot.”

Since 2000, there have been 16 citizen-based amendments proposed with five passing. Of those five, two didn’t get to 60 percent. There hasn’t been a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment proposal on the ballot since 2018.

During the past 22 years, the Legislature proposed 17 constitutional amendments with 15 passing. Of those, three didn’t get to 60 percent.

It already takes a 60-percent supermajority in the state Legislature to get that body’s proposed amendments on the ballot so there’s no reason to increase the voter threshold, LaRose said a few weeks ago. Republicans have more than that supermajority in the House and Senate.

But the proposal was changed Thursday to include legislative-backed amendments.

In a Tuesday letter to state legislative leaders, the 140-plus organizations wrote: “This is not a good-government reform. Making the ballot initiative process even harder for citizens groups will have the opposite of the desired effect. It will make it almost impossible for anyone except big

money special interests to successfully pass a ballot initiative in Ohio.”

dskolnick@vindy.com