The Ohio Republican State Central Committee has unanimously voted to support a resolution and implore lawmakers to pass the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and to allow for a special August election to vote on the amendment.
The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
The resolution directs lawmakers to approve SJR 2, which is only waiting on a House floor vote, and legislation to allow for an August special election to vote on the amendment. The resolution came at the request of one of the measure sponsors state Senator Rob McColley (R-Napoleon).
Republican lawmakers are working to get the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment on a special August election ballot before a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion in the state constitution goes before voters in November.
“I don’t think I need to reiterate but I will how important this is for us to be addressing this issue now. We all know about the abortion initiative which is targeted for November 7th. Basically, we are stating that we support The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment and to allow for a special election in August. Both of those are necessary to defeat the abortion amendment,” Committee Member Jessica Franz said.
However, moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) has once again delayed a floor vote on the legislation pushing it right up until its deadline of May 10th.
Committee Member Barbara Holwadel contended that if it weren’t for Speaker Stephens and his twenty-two Republican backers, they wouldn’t be in such a dire predicament.
“I think it’s absolutely pathetic that we are standing here days before the deadline. The twenty-two who voted with the Democrats in my opinion is unforgivable,” Holwadel said.
Some Republicans say that his delay is in direct relation to the deal that he made with the Democrats to secure the Speaker’s gavel from GOP pick state Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova)
According to Committee Member Melanie Leneghan, they need to ensure that SJR 2 makes it to a vote on the House floor no matter what.
“The blue 22 they made concessions and one of the concessions is that they kill this bill and don’t let it go to the floor. Even though this body voted to censure them, they have proceeded to flip us off and do what they want. They don’t care what we say and they don’t care what we do on this. Whatever Republican legislator does not vote yes on this will not get a dime from us. We need to put a little teeth into it,” Leneghan said.
According to Committee Member David Glass, if the Ohio Constitution Amendment does not pass by the May 10th deadline the damage will be irreparable.
“All I know is that the games have to end. We cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to parlor tricks. Our conservative Republican movement is on the same page of what needs to happen and that’s to give Ohioans a vote in August. What we cannot allow to happen is politics in the statehouse, power in the statehouse, to affect our children, and the parental consent that we parents should have. The Republican voters will be the victims of those parlor tricks,” Glass said.
The committee members unanimously voted to support the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment and to hold a special August election.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Rob McColley” by Senator Rob McColley. Background Photo “Ohio Statehouse” by â±®. CC BY-SA 4.0.
