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 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 Appellate & Common Pleas Court Cases on Jun 22nd, 2015
Judge Myron C. Duhart of the Lucas County Common Pleas Court found that Ohio’s budget bill passed in 2013, H.B. 59, violates the one subject rule of the Ohio Constitution. H.B. 59’s provisions banning public hospitals from making transfer agreements with abortion clinics had no common purpose with the rest of the budget bill. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 20th, 2015
The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments today to determine whether inclusion of a prison privatization measure in state budget legislation violates the Ohio Constitution’s one subject rule. The case is State ex rel. Ohio Civil Service Employees Association v. State , Ohio Supreme Court case no. 2014-0319. (Docket, Oral Argument Preview). Also at issue […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 10th, 2014
What started off as an admirable effort to curb Lake Erie pollution and to enforce Ohio oil and gas laws ended up including language to weaken recently passed legislation against puppy mills, as well as provisions possibly endangering basic land-line telephone services. H.B. 490, as passed by the Ohio House this November, includes all those […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 25th, 2014
The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal and cross-appeal of a Tenth District Court of Appeals ruling ordering that the trial court must conduct a hearing as to whether an Ohio Budget Bill, Am. Sub. H. B. No. 153 , 129th General Assembly violated the One Subject Rule of the Ohio Constitution, because it […]
Posted in Posts on Jun 17th, 2014
Thomas Suddes asserts that the one subject rule, Article II, Section 15(D) of the Ohio Constitution, needs to be strictly enforced. Legislators seem to easily get around the one subject rule, particularly in budget bills. See Cleveland.com: A Slinky is more rigid than Ohio legislation’s one-subject rule: Thomas Suddes
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 10th, 2014
Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and ProgressOhio sued the State of Ohio, asserting that the Budget Bill, Am. Sub. H. B. No. 153 , 129th General Assembly, violated the One Subject Rule of the Ohio Constitution because it included a prison privatization measure. The Franklin County Common Pleas Court granted the State’s motion to dismiss the complaint. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 11th, 2013
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Preterm-Cleveland, Inc., asserting that the abortion amendments added to Ohio’s budget bill, H.B. 59, violate the one subject rule. see Canton Repository article . One of the amendments in question bans public hospitals from making transfer agreements with abortion clinics. Another requires clinics to follow a government script when […]
