Ohio Constitution News (OCN) is a blog that tracks developments relating to the Ohio Constitution, including Ohio Supreme Court cases, ballot initiatives, state legislation, lectures, and seminars. The blog also reports on new material added to the Ohio Constitution: Law and History website and other items of interest concerning state constitutional law and the Ohio Constitution. Developed by Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus Steven H. Steinglass and maintained by the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library, OCN is not affiliated with the Ohio Supreme Court or with the State of Ohio.
Posted in Ballot Initiative News on Feb 15th, 2018
The Ohio General Assembly has approved a proposed amendment, SJR 5 (132nd GA (2018)), to add a new Article, Article XIX, to the Ohio Constitution to address congressional redistricting. The proposed amendment will be on the May 8, 2018, ballot, and Ohio voters will have to approve this amendment for it to become part of […]
Posted in Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission on Sep 21st, 2015
The Legislative and Executive Branch Committee of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission discussed the one subject rule contained in the Ohio Constitution, as well as amending the Ohio Constitutional to reform Congressional Redistricting. See OCMC Press Release. View meeting materials, including expert reports, here.
Posted in Posts on Jul 29th, 2015
Ohio’s Home-Rule Amendment: Why Ohio’s General Assembly Creating Regional Governments would Combat the Regional Race to the Bottom under Current Home-Rule Principles Jonathon Angarola A Citizen’s Guide to Redisticting Reform Through Referendum Grayson Keith Sieg
Posted in Posts on Jul 27th, 2015
SJR 2 ,introduced on July 22, 2015, reforms congressional redistricting in Ohio to make it more nonpartisan. A similar proposal is pending in the Ohio House, H.J.R. 2. See Columbus Dispatch: Ohio senators push for congressional redistricting See our prior post Ohio Can Proceed with Congressional Redistricting Reforms – SCOTUS Approves Independent Redistricting Commissions
Posted in Ballot Initiative News, Federal Court Decisions on Jun 30th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court found that nonpartisan citizen commissions may draw lines for Congressional districts, instead of state legislatures. See Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Indep. Redistricting Comm’n, No. 13-1314 (U.S. June 29, 2015). Now Ohio can move forward with H.J.R. 2, a proposal to amend the Ohio Constitution to make the redistricting process more […]
Posted in Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission on Apr 6th, 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: […]
Posted in Ballot Initiative News on Mar 4th, 2015
Yesterday, H.J.R. 2, a proposal to revise the redistricting process for congressional districts, was introduced in the Ohio House. The proposal would, via new language added to the Ohio Constitution, create an independent Ohio Redistricting Commission and take the redistricting process out of the hands of the state legislature. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard […]
Posted in Ballot Initiative News on Dec 18th, 2014
The Ohio House approved the Ohio Senate’s amended version of HJR 12, which would amend the Ohio Constitution in order to make the process for Ohio legislative redistricting more nonpartisan. In November 2015, Ohio voters will decide whether to approve the constitutional amendment. See (Joint resolutions do not need approval by the governor as […]
Posted in Ballot Initiative News on Dec 15th, 2014
The Ohio Senate passed a version of HJR 12, the Ohio House of Representative’s plan to amend the Ohio Constitution to making drawing a districting map for Ohio legislative elections more nonpartisan. See our prior post Ohio House passes Redistricting Reform Measure. “In the Senate-approved version, the second time the panel doesn’t get minority approval, […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 9th, 2014
The Ohio House passed HJR 12 , which would change the way state legislative districts are created, if voters approve this amendment to the Ohio Constitution. The hope is to make the redistricting process more bipartisan. Modifications were made to the previous language of HJR 12. See our prior post New Ohio Redistricting Idea Proposed […]
