|
The online versions of legislation provided on this website are not official. Enrolled bills are the final version passed by the Ohio General Assembly and presented to the Governor for signature. The official version of acts signed by the Governor are available from the Secretary of State's Office in the Continental Plaza, 180 East Broad St., Columbus.
|
Am. H. J. R. No. 3 As Adopted by the House
As Adopted by the House
| 127th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2007-2008 |
| |
Representatives Stewart, D., Peterson
Cosponsors:
Representatives 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, Daniels, Collier, Reinhard, Schneider, Skindell, Bacon, Budish, Goyal, Hughes, Schlichter, Stebelton, Strahorn, Ujvagi, Wolpert
A JOINT RESOLUTION
|
Proposing to amend Sections 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1g of
Article II of the Constitution of Ohio to require
an initiative or referendum to be placed on the
ballot at the first regular or general election
conducted more than one hundred twenty-five days
after
the petition is filed and to revise other
deadlines relative to the filing of those
petitions.
|
| Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio,
three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring
herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the
state, in the manner prescribed by law at the general election to
be held on November 4, 2008, a proposal to amend Sections 1a, 1b,
1c, and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of Ohio to read as
follows: |
1a. The first aforestated power reserved by the
people is designated
the initiative, and the signatures of ten per
centum of the electors shall be
required upon a petition to
propose an amendment to the constitution. When a
petition signed
by the aforesaid required number of electors, shall have been
filed with the secretary of state, and verified as herein
provided, proposing
an amendment to the constitution, the full
text of which shall have been set
forth in such petition, the
secretary of state shall submit for the approval
or rejection of
the electors, the proposed amendment, in the manner
hereinafter
provided, at the next succeeding regular or general election in
any year occurring subsequent to ninetyone hundred twenty-five
days
after the filing of such
petition. The initiative petitions,
above
described, shall have printed
across the top thereof:
"Amendment
to the Constitution Proposed by Initiative
Petition to
be
Submitted Directly to the Electors." |
Section 1b. When at any time, not less than ten days prior
to the
commencement of any session of the general assembly, there
shall have been
filed with the secretary of state a petition
signed by three per centum of the
electors and verified as herein
provided, proposing a law, the full text of
which shall have been
set forth in such petition, the secretary of state shall
transmit
the same to the general assembly as soon as it convenes. If said
proposed law shall be passed by the general assembly, either as
petitioned for
or in an amended form, it shall be subject to the
referendum. If it shall not
be passed, or if it shall be passed in
an amended form, or if no action shall
be taken thereon within
four months from the time it is received by the
general assembly,
it shall be submitted by the secretary of state to the
electors
for their approval or rejection at the next regular or general
election, if such submission shall be demanded by supplementary
petition
verified as herein provided and signed by not less than
three per centum of
the electors in addition to those signing the
original petition, which
supplementary petition must be signed and
filed with the secretary of state
within ninety days after the
proposed law shall have been rejected by the
general assembly or
after the expiration of such term of four months, if no
action has
been taken thereon, or after the law as passed by the general
assembly shall have been filed by the governor in the office of
the secretary
of state. The proposed law shall be submitted at the
next regular or general election occurring subsequent to one
hundred twenty-five days after the supplementary petition is filed
in
the form demanded by such
supplementary petition, which form
shall
be either as first petitioned for or
with any amendment or
amendments which may have been incorporated therein by
either
branch or by both branches, of the general assembly. If a proposed
law
so submitted is approved by a majority of the electors voting
thereon, it
shall be the law and shall go into effect as herein
provided in lieu of any
amended form of said law which may have
been passed by the general assembly,
and such amended law passed
by the general assembly shall not go into effect
until and unless
the law proposed by supplementary petition shall have been
rejected by the electors. All such initiative petitions, last
above
described, shall have printed across the top thereof, in
case of proposed
laws: "Law Proposed by Initiative Petition First
to be Submitted
to the General Assembly." Ballots shall be so
printed as to permit an
affirmative or negative vote upon each
measure submitted to the electors. Any
proposed law or amendment
to the constitution submitted to the electors as
provided in 1a
and 1b, if approved by a majority of the electors voting
thereon,
shall take effect thirty days after the election at which it was
approved and shall be published by the secretary of state. If
conflicting
proposed laws or conflicting proposed amendments to
the constitution shall be
approved at the same election by a
majority of the total number of votes cast
for and against the
same, the one receiving the highest number of affirmative
votes
shall be the law, or in the case of amendments to the constitution
shall
be the amendment to the constitution. No law proposed by
initiative petition
and approved by the electors shall be subject
to the veto of the governor. |
Section 1c. The second aforestated power reserved by the
people is designated
the referendum, and the signatures of six per
centum of the electors shall be
required upon a petition to order
the submission to the electors of the state
for their approval or
rejection, of any law, section of any law or any item in
any law
appropriating money passed by the general assembly. No law passed
by
the general assembly shall go into effect until ninety days
after it shall
have been filed by the governor in the office of
the secretary of state,
except as herein provided. When a
petition, signed by six per centum of the
electors of the state
and verified as herein provided, shall have been filed
with the
secretary of state within ninety days after any law shall have
been
filed by the governor in the office of the secretary of
state, ordering that
such law, section of such law or any item in
such law appropriating money be
submitted to the electors of the
state for their approval or rejection, the
secretary of state
shall submit to the electors of the state for their
approval or
rejection such law, section or item, in the manner herein
provided, at the next succeeding regular or general
election in
any year occurring subsequent to sixtyone hundred twenty-five
days
after the filing of
such petition, and no such law, section
or
item shall go into effect until and
unless approved by a
majority
of those voting upon the same. If, however, a
referendum
petition
is filed against any such section or item, the remainder
of the
law shall not thereby be prevented or delayed from going
into
effect. |
| Section 1g. Any initiative, supplementary, or referendum
petition may be
presented in separate parts but each part shall
contain a full and correct
copy of the title, and text of the law,
section or item thereof sought to be
referred, or the proposed law
or proposed amendment to the constitution. Each
signer of any
initiative, supplementary, or referendum petition must be an
elector of the state and shall place on such petition after his
name the date
of signing and his place of residence. A signer
residing outside of a
municipality shall state the county and the
rural route number, post office
address, or township of his
residence. A resident of a municipality shall
state the street and
number, if any, of his residence and the name of the
municipality
or post office address. The names of all signers to such
petitions
shall be written in ink, each signer for himself. To each part of
such petition shall be attached the statement of the circulator,
as may be
required by law, that he witnessed the affixing of every
signature. The secretary of state shall determine the sufficiency
of the signatures not later than one hundred five days before the
election. |
The Ohio supreme court shall have original, exclusive
jurisdiction over all challenges made to petitions and signatures
upon such petitions under this section. Any challenge to a
petition or signature on a petition shall be filed not later than
ninety-five days before the day of the election. The court shall
hear and rule on any challenges made to petitions and signatures
not later than eighty-five days before the election. If no ruling
determining the petition or signatures to be insufficient is
issued at least eighty-five days before the election, the
petition and signatures upon such petitions shall
be presumed to
be in all
respects sufficient, unless not later
than forty days
before the election, it
shall be
otherwise proved and in such
event. |
If the petitions or signatures are determined to be
insufficient, ten additional days shall be
allowed for the filing
of additional signatures to such petition.
NoIf additional
signatures are filed, the secretary of state
shall determine the
sufficiency of those additional signatures not
later than
sixty-five days before the election. Any challenge to the
additional signatures shall be filed not later than fifty-five
days before the day of the election. The court shall hear and
rule on any challenges made to the additional signatures not later
than forty-five days before the election. If no ruling determining
the additional signatures to be insufficient is issued at least
forty-five days before the election, the petition and signatures
shall be presumed to be in all respects sufficient. |
| No law or
amendment to the constitution submitted to the
electors
by initiative and
supplementary petition and receiving
an
affirmative majority of the votes cast
thereon, shall be held
unconstitutional or void on account of the
insufficiency of the
petitions by which such submission of the same was
procured; nor
shall the rejection of any law submitted by referendum petition
be
held invalid for such insufficiency. Upon all initiative,
supplementary,
and
referendum petitions provided for in any of the
sections of
this article, it shall be necessary to file from each
of one-half of the
counties of the state, petitions bearing the
signatures of not less than
one-half of the designated percentage
of the electors of such county. A true
copy of all laws or
proposed laws or proposed amendments to the constitution,
together
with an argument or explanation, or both, for, and also an
argument
or explanation, or both, against the same, shall be
prepared. The person or
persons who prepare the argument or
explanation, or both, against any law,
section, or item, submitted
to the electors by referendum petition, may be
named in such
petition and the persons who prepare the argument or
explanation,
or both, for any proposed law or proposed amendment to the
constitution may be named in the petition proposing the same. The
person or
persons who prepare the argument or explanation, or
both, for the law,
section, or item, submitted to the electors by
referendum petition, or
against any proposed law submitted by
supplementary petition, shall be named
by the general assembly, if
in session, and if not in session then by the
governor. The law,
or proposed law, or proposed amendment to the
constitution,
together with the arguments and explanations, not exceeding a
total of three hundred words for each, and also the arguments and
explanations, not exceeding a total of three hundred words against
each, shall
be published once a week for
three consecutive weeks
preceding the election, in at least one newspaper of
general
circulation in each county of the state, where a newspaper is
published. The secretary of state shall cause to be placed upon
the ballots,
the ballot language for any such law, or proposed
law, or proposed amendment
to the constitution, to be submitted.
The ballot language shall be prescribed
by the Ohio ballot board
in the same manner, and subject to the same terms and
conditions,
as apply to issues submitted by the general assembly pursuant to
Section 1 of Article XVI of this constitution. The ballot language
shall be
so prescribed and the secretary of state shall cause the
ballots so to be
printed as to permit an affirmative or negative
vote upon each law, section of
law, or item in a law appropriating
money, or proposed law, or proposed
amendment to the constitution.
The style of all laws submitted by initiative
and supplementary
petition shall be: "Be it Enacted by the People of the
State of
Ohio," and of all constitutional amendments: "Be it Resolved by
the
People of the State of Ohio." The basis upon which the
required number of
petitioners in any case shall be determined
shall be the total number of votes
cast for the office of governor
at the last preceding election therefor. The
foregoing provisions
of this section shall be self-executing, except as herein
otherwise provided. Laws may be passed to facilitate their
operation, but in
no way limiting or restricting either such
provisions or the powers herein
reserved. |
| EFFECTIVE DATE AND REPEAL
|
| If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this
proposal, Sections 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1g of Article II amended by
this proposal shall take immediate effect, and existing
Sections
1a, 1b, 1c, and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of
Ohio are
repealed from that effective date. |
|
|
