H.J.R.
3
127th General Assembly
(As Introduced)
Reps. D. Stewart and Peterson, Beatty, DeWine, Book, Batchelder, Healy, Domenick, Brown, Yuko, Harwood, Sayre, Dodd, Koziura, Lundy, Foley, Brady, Heard, Otterman, Celeste, Yates, Szollosi, Sykes, Letson, Driehaus, Dyer, Carmichael, Flowers, Gibbs
RESOLUTION SUMMARY
· Proposes amending the Ohio Constitution to increase to 125 days before an election the deadline for filing a statewide initiative or referendum petition, in order for the issue to appear on the ballot at that election.
· Proposes amending the Ohio Constitution to revise or establish other deadlines relative to the filing and processing of statewide initiative and referendum petitions.
· Specifies that the Ohio Supreme Court has original, exclusive jurisdiction over all challenges made to petitions and signatures on petitions for statewide initiatives and referenda.
· Places the proposed constitutional changes on the ballot at a special election to be held on the date of the March 4, 2008, primary election, and specifies that the changes will take immediate effect if adopted by the voters.
CONTENT AND OPERATION
Section 1 of Article II of the Ohio Constitution reserves to the people the powers of initiative and referendum. The power of initiative allows electors to propose a statute, propose the amendment or repeal of a statute, or propose an amendment to the Constitution. The power of referendum allows electors to reject a statute enacted by the General Assembly before the statute takes effect.
To submit an initiative or referendum to the voters, a petition must be filed with the Secretary of State that meets certain standards, which are established in both the Ohio Constitution and the Revised Code. The Ohio Constitution specifies the required number of signatures for such a petition, the deadline for filing the petition, and the deadline for determining the validity of the signatures on the petition. Other details of the petition process, such as the manner in which signatures are verified, are established in the Revised Code.
Currently, petitions proposing initiatives must be filed with the Secretary of State at least 90 days before the day of the election at which the issue will appear on the ballot. Petitions proposing referenda must be filed with the Secretary of State at least 60 days before the day of the election at which the issue will appear on the ballot. The resolution increases this time to 125 days before the election (Ohio Constitution Article II, Sections 1a, 1b, and 1c). The resolution also increases other petition-related deadlines and, in some cases, establishes constitutional deadlines for the various aspects of the petition process. The following chart identifies the deadlines established in the resolution for filing and processing initiative and referendum petitions (Ohio Constitution Article II, Section 1g).
|
Activity |
Current deadline |
New deadline |
|
Date petitions must be
filed to appear on the ballot at an election |
90 days before the
election (initiatives) 60 days before the election (referenda) |
125 days before the
election |
|
Date by which the
sufficiency of the initial signatures must be determined |
Not specified |
105 days before the election |
|
Deadline for filing
challenges to the initial signatures |
Not specified |
95 days before the
election |
|
Deadline for the court to
rule on challenges to the initial signatures or signatures will be presumed
sufficient |
40 days before the
election |
85 days before the
election |
|
Deadline for seeking additional signatures |
10 days after the petition
is determined to be insufficient |
10 days after the petition
is determined to be insufficient (not later than 75 days before the election) |
|
Date by which the
sufficiency of the additional signatures must be determined |
Not specified |
65 days before the
election |
|
Deadline for filing
challenges to the additional signatures |
Not specified |
55 days before the
election |
|
Deadline for the court to
rule on challenges to the additional signatures or signatures will be
presumed sufficient |
Unclear |
45 days before the
election |
Under the
resolution, the final determination of petition validity must be completed not
later than 45 days before the date of the election, or the petition signatures
will be deemed to be sufficient. The
45-day deadline allows ten days for the boards of elections to prepare absent
voter's ballots, which must be ready by the 35th day before the day of the
election (R.C. 3509.01 and 3511.04).
The Ohio Constitution does not currently specify a court that has jurisdiction over the statewide petition process. Because petition signatures are verified on a county-by-county basis, challenges to signature decisions generally are brought in the county in which the signature was verified. Thus, a petition that includes signatures from 44 counties may be challenged separately in each of those counties. The resolution changes the challenge process by specifying that the Ohio Supreme Court has original, exclusive jurisdiction over all challenges made to petitions and signatures for statewide initiatives and referenda (Ohio Constitution Article II, Section 1g). Thus, under the resolution, all signature challenges would be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court, regardless of the county in which the signer resides or the petition was verified.
The resolution proposes placing these constitutional changes on the ballot at a special election to be held on the day of the March 4, 2008, primary election (see COMMENT). If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on the proposal, the constitutional provisions would take immediate effect (effective date and repeal).
COMMENT
Constitutional amendments proposed by the General Assembly must be filed with the Secretary of State at least 90 days before the day of the election at which they will appear on the ballot (Ohio Constitution Article XVI, Section 1). The 90th day before the March 4, 2008, primary election is December 5, 2007. Due to this time restriction, the resolution cannot be placed on the March 4, 2008, ballot. The resolution will need to be amended in order to be placed on the ballot at a later date.
HISTORY
|
ACTION |
DATE |
|
|
|
|
Introduced |
11-13-07 |
hjr3-i-127.doc/kl