Ohio Constitution News

All meetings will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2015 in Columbus, Ohio.  If you are interested in addressing a committee please contact Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission at 614.644.2022.

9:30 a.m.

Education Public Institutions, and Local Government Committee–  Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Presentation by Senior Policy Advisor Steven H. Steinglass entitled “Article VI, Section 3 (Public School System, Board of Education)”.  Presentation entitled “Local Boards of Education” by Lee Schreiner, Member, Board of Education, South-Western City Schools, Grove City, Ohio and Eric Germann, Member, Board of Education, Lincolnview Local Schools, Van Wert, Ohio.  Reports and Recommendations (first presentation for both) on Article VI, Section 1 (Funds for Religious and Educational Purposes) and  Article VI, Section 2 (School Funds).  Committee discussion concerning local boards of education.

11:00 a.m.

Legislative Branch and Executive Branch Committee – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Presentation by Senior Policy Advisor Steven H. Steinglass on Article II issues.   Report and Recommendation on Article II, Section 2 (Election and Term Limits of State Legislators) and possible adoption.  Discussion of: (1) SJR 1 (Public Office Compensation Commission) and (2) Congressional Redistricting, HJR 2.

12:30 p.m.

Public Education and Information Committee and Liaisons with Public Offices Committee – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse.

Coordinating Committee – Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse. Presentation and discussion regarding Article II, Section 2 (Election and Term Limits of State Legislators), with possible approval.

1:30 p.m.
Judicial Branch and Administration of Justice Committee – Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse,  Presentation by Michael E. Solimine, Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati on Standing and Justiciability.  Committee Discussion on Ohio Supreme Court Original Jurisdiction, State Supreme Court Advisory Opinions, Judicial Candidates Solicitation [Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar, 575 U.S. ___ (2015) ]

3:00 p.m.

OCMC Constitutional Revision and Updating Committee – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse. Presentation by David Yost, Ohio Auditor of State, “Limitation on Initiative Petition – No Special Interest ” Discussion – Special privileges and the initiative and referendum powers.

The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission voted to recommend repealing two sections of the Ohio Constitution which are no longer used:

• Article IV, Section 19 – Courts of Conciliation  (It has never been used and is not needed as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.)
• Article IV, Section 22 – Allows the governor to create a commission that would take on the Ohio Supreme Court’s backlog of cases.  (The section has not been used since 1885 and is not needed.)

This recommendation will be given to the General Assembly.  Then the General Assembly has to follow its normal procedure to initiate a proposed constitutional amendment.  A Joint Resolution must be passed by 3/5 of the members of both the House and Senate to get the issue on the ballot.

See  Hannah Report, OCMC Eyes ‘Increased Momentum’ with Amstutz, Approves Constitutional Repeals, April 9, 2015.

Matt Mayer, president of Opportunity Ohio, submitted a proposal to the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, suggesting right-to-work amendments to the Ohio Constitution.  This is the first proposal the OCMC received from outside the Commission.  The proposed amendments would prohibit mandatory union membership or dues and prohibit the use of public resources to assist a labor organization in collecting dues.  It is predicted that it will not gain the required votes of 2/3 of the Commission members.  See Hamilton Journal-News, Right to work amendment unlikely to advance far.

The Commission is determining whether their charge includes reviewing entirely new constitution sections proposed by the public.  See Hannah Report, OCMC Committee Delays Decision on Whether to Hear ‘Right-to-Work’ Proposal, April 9, 2015.

If you are interested in addressing a committee or the Commission, please contact Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission at 614.644.2022.

The following meetings will take place in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, April 9, 2015:

9:30 a.m.

Legislative Branch and Executive Branch Committee – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Presentation:  Rep. Kathleen Clyde, Ohio House of Representatives, “House Joint Resolution 2 – Congressional Redistricting”.  Reports and recommendations:  Article II, Section 2 (Election and Term Limits State Legislators) – Option One and Option Two (possible adoption).  Discussion of Senate Joint Resolution 1 – Public Office Compensation Commission.

11:00 a.m.

Bill of Rights and Voting Committee – Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Reports and recommendations regarding:  Article I, Section 13 (Quartering of Troops), Article I, Section 17 (No Hereditary Privileges).  Presentation: Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director, “Review of Proposals Regarding Article V, Section 6 (Idiots and Insane Persons)”.  Discussion regarding Article V, Section 6 (Idiots and Insane Persons) and Article V, Section 4 (Felon Disenfranchisement).

12:30 p.m.

Coordinating Committee – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse. Presentations:  (1) Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director: “Proposed Amendment to Article XV – Public Resources for Collection of Labor Dues” and “Proposed Amendment to Article XV – Work Place Freedom”.

 1:30 p.m.

Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission:South Meeting Rooms B & C, 31^st Floor of the Riffe Center for Government and the Arts.  Consideration and possible adoption of:  repealing Article IV, Section 19 (Courts of Conciliation) and Article IV, Section 22 (Supreme Court Commission).  First presentation regarding Article I, Section 2 (Right to Alter, Reform, or Abolish Government, and Repeal Special Privileges), Section 3 (Right to Assemble), and Section 4 (Right to Bear Arms). (The committee will most likely propose to retain these sections as they are currently written).

2:30 p.m.

Constitutional Revision and Updating Committee  – South Meeting Rooms B & C, 31^st Floor of the Riffe Center for Government and the Arts.  Presentations:  (1) Steven H. Steinglass, OCMC Senior Policy Analyst: “Subject Matter Limitations on the Constitutional Initiative”; (2) Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director and Shari L. O’Neill, Counsel to the Commision: “NCSL Report on the Initiative and Referendum in the 21st Century”.

WOSU public radio explored The Impact of Term Limits in their recent podcast.    Podcast participants included:

• Rob Walgate, Vice President at the American Policy Roundtable
• Herb Asher, professor emeritus of political science and former Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at OSU
• Representative Michael Curtin, Ohio House of Representatives, author of “The Ohio Politics Almanac”

Thanks to the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, who posted this on their Facebook page.

The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission will consider whether to increase the maximum term an Ohio legistator can serve from eight years to twelve years.  See Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission’s Facebook post.  A recent Akron Beacon Journal editorial, Fix redistricting now, term limits next year, suggests waiting on the term limits issue.  While liberal and conservative groups may have more difficulties working with term-limited legislators, there has been no public outcry against term limits from these groups.  The term limit issue would distract from the changes to Ohio legislative redistricting which will appear on the November ballot.

According to its Facebook and Twitter, the OCMC’s Education, Public Institutions, and Local Government Committee voted to leave the language in the Ohio Constitution requiring a “thorough and efficient system of public education” intact.  The vote occurred at a committee meeting today. The Committee considered removing this wording because, as proponents argued, it provides an “in” for Ohio courts to evaluate public school operating and funding.  Proponents felt these matters should be left to the legislature.  They pointed to   DeRolph v. State, which found Ohio’s school funding scheme unconstitutional, as an example of improper “judicial legislation”.  School boards and education advocates disagreed and protested the removal of the wording.  See Ohio’s Public School Mandate Debated.

See Columbus Dispatch Thorough and efficient’ language on funding schools to stay in Ohio Constitution

See our prior posts:

Remove Wording Requiring Thorough and Efficient System of Public Education from Ohio Constitution?

Don’t Remove the Wording “Thorough and Efficient System of Public Education”, Says Justice Pfeifer to Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission

If you are interested in addressing any of the committees please contact Steven C. Hollon, Executive Director of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission at 614.644.2022.

The following meetings will take place on Thursday, March 12, 2015:

9:30 a.m.

Education Public Institutions, and Local Government Committee  – Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Will discuss the “Thorough and Efficient” Clause in Article VI, Section 2, including a presentation by Steven H. Steinglass, Senior Policy Advisor

11:00 a.m.

Legislative Branch and Executive Branch Committee  – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse.  The committee will discuss Reports and Recommendations for Article II, Section 2 (Election and Term of State Legislators) and Article II, Section 2 (Election and Term of State Legislators).  The committee will also discuss  SJR 1 – Public Office Compensation Commission.

1:00 p.m.

Coordinating Committee –  in Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse.  Will discuss Reports and Recommendations on Article I, Section 2 (Right to Alter, Reform, or Abolish Government, and Repeal Special Privileges); Article I, Section 3 (Right to Assemble) and Article I, Section 4 (Bearing Arms; Standing Armies; Military Power).

1:30 p.m.

Finance, Taxation, and Economic Development – Room 018 of the Ohio Statehouse – Presentations by: Seth Metcalf, General Counsel, Ohio Treasurer, on Financial Transparency and Modernizing Article VIII and Steven H. Steinglass, Senior Policy Advisor on State Debt Recommendations by the 1970s Ohio Constitutional Revisions Commission.  Discussion regarding the next steps for Article VIII.

3:00 p.m.

Judicial Branch and Administration of Justice –  Room 017 of the Ohio Statehouse.  The committee will hear presentations by Steven H. Steinglass, Senior Policy Advisor on Ohio Supreme Court original jurisdiction and advisory opinions.  The committee will discuss the same.

For those of you who missed Dean Emeritus Steven H. Steinglass‘s talk yesterday, The History and Future of the Ohio Constitution, here is the video.  In addition to a look at the history of the Ohio Constitution from pre-Statehood to the present, Professor Steinglass discussed some of the current issues before the Ohio Constitution Modernization Commission, of which he is the Senior Policy Adviser.  These issues include:

• cleaning up obsolete language, such as the State debt limitation of $750,000;
• increasing term limits for Ohio legislators and
• changing the initiative and referendum procedures by which the Constitution can be amended.

Concerning initiatives to change the Ohio Constitution by individuals (not by the General Assembly), the question arises whether the current initiative procedure is too easy, resulting in too many specifics in the Constitution that are more appropriate to legislation.  For example, see Cleveland.com, Ohio Constitution too easy to alter, some lawmakers say.   Also see article by Terzian, Barbara A. “Ohio’s Constitutional Conventions and Constitutions”, at p. 76-77 (Excerpt via Google Books)  in The History of Ohio Law. Professor Steinglass (video at 55:10) says this may not be true because out of 68 initiatives made by individuals from 1913 to 2014, only 18 of these were approved by voters.  The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission is examining whether to amend Ohio’s seldom-used statutory initiative process, Ohio Constitution Art. II, Section 1b.  The idea is to make statutory initiatives easier, and encourage the use of that process, rather than an initiative petition to amend the Constitution.

The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission posted its 2013-2014 Biennial Report to its webpage.  The report summarizes progress over the past two years, including:

• Hiring an executive director and Commission staff.
• Adoption of Rules of Procedure and Conduct
• Topics discussed by each committee, status of any recommendations and topics/Constitution sections each committee is charged with reviewing.  Speakers heard by the committees are also listed.

Some of the topics reviewed by each Committee were (links are to articles in this blog with more information on the topic):

Education, Public Institutions and Local Government:

• Potential impact of sharing governmental functions between state and local entities.
• Challenges created by population changes and by conflict between state and local law.
• Article VI, Section 2, specifically focusing on the background and implication of the section’s directive that the General Assembly “secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state.”  See tag: education

Finance, Taxation, and Economic Development Committee:

• What the state’s role should be in encouraging economic development through funding of private enterprise.
• The impact of tax preferences and other tax-related considerations on state financing and economic growth.
• How the state addresses debt.

Judicial Branch and Administration of Justice Committee:

• Ohio’s current method of electing judges, and whether adopting an appointive system might improve the quality of the judiciary and eliminate some perceived problems with judicial elections.  See tag Judicial election reform
• Whether two constitutional provisions, Article IV, Sections 19 and 22, were obsolete and should be recommended for repeal.  See OCMC Judiciary Committee Recommends Deleting Unused Constitution Sections
• A proposal to allow the Ohio Supreme Court to take original jurisdiction over actions for declaratory judgment in cases of public or great general interest.  (A response to ProgressOhio.org, Inc. v. JobsOhio, 2014 Ohio 2382, see tag: standing)

Bill of Rights and Voting Committee

• Review of Article I, Sections 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 13, 17, and 20, as well as Article V, Sections 2, 2a, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Preliminary consensus to retain Article I, Section 2 (Right to Alter, Reform, or Abolish Government, and Repeal Special Privileges), Section 3 (Right to Assemble), Section 4 (Right to Bear Arms), Section 6 (Slavery and Involuntary Servitude), Section 13 (Quartering Troops), Section 17 (No Hereditary Privileges), and Section 20 (Powers Reserved to the People).
• With regard to Article V, Sections 2 (Elections by Ballot), 2a (Names of Candidates on Ballot), and 7 (Primary Elections), preliminarily agreeing that Sections 2 and 2a should be retained in their current form, and Section 7 will be addressed later.
• Review of Article V, Section 4, relating to the disenfranchisement of persons convicted of felony crimes, and Section 6, relating to the disenfranchisement of “idiots” or “insane persons.”  See Voting Rights of Felons, Mentally Ill, Discussed by Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission Committee

Constitutional Revisions and Updating Committee

• Whether the existing constitutional provisions regarding initiative and referendum should be retained, or whether they should be modified in favor of a system that would encourage members of the public wishing to effect change to pursue the enactment of statutory law rather than the adoption of constitutional amendments.

Legislative Branch and Executive Branch Committee

• Legislative redistricting, both in relation to plans for how Ohio draws districts for members of the General Assembly and plans for how Ohio sets congressional districts for United States Representatives and Senators, provision for which is not currently part of the Ohio Constitution.  See tag: redistricting.
• Term limits for Ohio legislators, as provided for in Article II, Section 2, and considered whether it would be advisable to lengthen term limits for state representatives from the current limit of four two-year terms to six two-year terms, and to lengthen term limits for state senators from the current limit of two four-year terms to three four-year terms.  See tag: term limits