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S. J. R. No. 3 As IntroducedAs Introduced
| 129th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2011-2012 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Brown, Schiavoni, Turner, Skindell, Smith, Sawyer, Kearney, Tavares
A JOINT RESOLUTION | Proposing to amend Sections 1b, 1c, and 1g of Article
II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to
restrict the General Assembly's authority to
amend, enact, or repeal sections of law that are
the subject of a pending referendum, to restrict
the General Assembly's authority to amend or
repeal a law enacted by initiative during the two
years following the vote on that initiative, to
prohibit the General Assembly from reenacting
provisions of law that were rejected by the voters
in a referendum during the two years following the
vote on that referendum, and to extend the time
for gathering signatures for a referendum petition
if the right to refer a particular law is
challenged and a court determines that the law is
subject to referendum.
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| 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 6, 2012, a proposal to amend Sections 1b, 1c,
and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to
read as follows: |
| 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, 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. |
| For a period of two years after a law proposed by initiative
petition is approved by the voters, the general assembly shall not
amend or repeal that law unless the amendment or repeal is made by
a vote of two-thirds of all of the members elected to each branch
of the general assembly. |
| Section 1c. (A) 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 one 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. |
| (B) During the ninety-day period in which a referendum
petition may be filed with respect to a law, section of law, or
item in a law appropriating money, the general assembly shall not
amend or repeal that law or any section or item of that law or
enact, amend, or repeal any law that is identical or substantially
similar to that law or any section or item of that law, unless the
enactment, amendment, or repeal is made by a vote of two-thirds of
all of the members elected to each branch of the general assembly. |
| (C) After a petition containing the signatures of six per
centum or more of the electors of this state has been filed under
division (A) of this section regarding a law, section of law, or
item in a law appropriating money, the general assembly shall not
amend or repeal that law or any section or item of that law or
enact, amend, or repeal any law that is identical or substantially
similar to that law or any section or item of that law until the
results of the referendum election on that law, section, or item
are certified, unless either of the following occurs: |
| (1) The petitioners withdraw the referendum; or |
| (2) The general assembly enacts, amends, or repeals the law,
section, or item by a vote of two-thirds of all of the members
elected to each branch of the general assembly. |
| (D) For a period of two years after a law, section of law, or
item in a law appropriating money is rejected by the voters in a
referendum election, the general assembly shall not enact, amend,
or repeal any law that is identical or substantially similar to
any portion of the rejected law, section, or item, unless the
enactment, amendment, or repeal is made by a vote of two-thirds of
all of the members elected to each branch of the general assembly. |
| 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. If pursuant to legal
challenge regarding the ability of petitioners to undertake a
referendum with regard to a specific law, section of law, or item
in a law appropriating money, the court upholds the right to refer
that law, section, or item, the petitioners shall have ninety days
subsequent to that ruling to gather signatures for that referendum
petition. 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. |
| 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. If 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
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| If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this
proposal, Sections 1b, 1c, and 1g of Article II as amended by this
proposal shall take effect immediately, and existing Sections 1b,
1c, and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio
shall be repealed effective immediately. |
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