Ohio
It just happened in Indiana and it could happen in Ohio, if a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would enable workers to benefit from a collective bargaining contract a union negotiates with an employer without having to contribute a dollar of their pay to that union, as a condition of employment, makes the General Electiton ballot in NOvember.
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Ohio voters, who last November rejected a Republican-backed bill that radically reformed the rules governing collective bargaining in the state by a nearly 2-1 margin, could have another chance to weigh-in on whether amending the constitution to reign in union dues collection is preferable to the bill (SB 5) that fired up Democratas, progressive, unions and their allies to turn out to turn the bill down.
Ballotpedia’s final analysis on donations to all 2011 statewide ballot measure campaigns has been released; the donations add up $85 million.
The report reveals some interesting information like the fact that the state with the highest contributions from all campaign sides from all ballot measures was in Ohio. The least amount of contributions was in Arkansas.
You can also find an overview of the contributions from supporters & opponents, a ranking of ballot measures from the most to the least contributions, and the ranking of political topic contributions where “labor” shows the most donations in Ohio on Issue 2.
The Ohio Attorney General approved a ballot initiative over the weekend that could ban all abortions in Ohio, as well as contraception, fertility treatments, health care for pregnant women and other basic health care.
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Like many other so-called personhood groups, the Ohio egg-as-person movement (which believes that fertilized eggs have more rights than the women in whose body they are floating) is promoting a ballot initiative that would declare a fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a fully-developed person.
The Ohio Legislature passed sweeping election law reforms in 2011. Advocacy groups cried foul and collected enough signatures to put the issue on the November 2012 ballot.
The reforms in question include:
» Narrowing the early voting window.
» Prohibiting counties from automatically sending out absentee ballots.
» Creating a standard form for provisional ballots which, if filled out incorrectly, could disqualify the ballot.Â
Anti-abortion activists, undaunted by a defeat last month in Mississippi, are pushing to get a “personhood” amendment on next year’s ballot. The effort, while still in the preliminary stages, has in-vitro fertilization doctors and abortion-rights groups digging in for a fight.
The citizen-initiated referendum on Ohio Governor John Kasich’s public sector union law will be tested at the polls tomorrow across the state. Citizens utilizing their First Amendment petition rights could very well determine the fate of the governor’s political future:
Earlier this week Mitt Romney visited Ohio and declined to support Governor Kasich’s union reform law, but it seems he’s clarified his position after an uproar on right:
On November 8, Ohioans will head to the polls to vote on Issue 2, a referendum to repeal Governor John Kasich’s union reform bill that limits collective bargaining power for state public employee unions.
Much like the law passed in Wisconsin by Governor Scott Walker, Ohio’s collective bargaining law was met with stiff protest from unions who collected enough signatures to force a referendum vote.
Opposition to Ohio’s law limiting collective bargaining for public employees is increasing as a Nov. 8 referendum on the measure approaches, a Quinnipiac University poll showed. Fifty-seven percent of voters would repeal the law known as Senate Bill 5, which first-term Republican Governor John Kasich signed in March, compared with 32 percent who would keep it, according to results released today. The margin of difference has almost doubled from 13 percentage points in a survey last month, according to the poll released today.
Millcreek Township, PA Supervisor Richard Figaski is calling for his two colleagues to rescind a policy that bans political and social-cause petition drives on township property. Attorney Gery Nietupski said in a letter to Supervisors Brian McGrath and Joseph Kujawa that the policy adopted Tuesday is unconstitutional because it violates free-speech protections on public property.
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Voters in Ohio and Maryland will decide whether to veto acts of their state legislature in November. Ohio voters will weigh in on Senate Bill 5, and Maryland voters will decide whether to keep the “Dream Act.”
Leaders of tea party groups say they have collected enough signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment for the Nov. 8 ballot that would exempt Ohio from a key provision of last year’s federal health-care overhaul. If the Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment is enacted, it will forbid the federal, state and local governments from mandating that Ohio residents buy health insurance. This mandate was a major part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, frequently derided as “Obamacare” by critics.
A resolution approved by the Ohio Senate would let voters decide whether they should have to follow certain requirements under the federal health care overhaul. The GOP-controlled Ohio Senate voted to 24-9 to place on the November ballot a measure that would prohibit any law from compelling Ohioans to participate in a health care system.
House committee hearings on Senate Bill 5 will kick off next week as the GOP-controlled chamber prepares to debate and pass a sweeping collective-bargaining bill. The proposal, which would eliminate the ability of public-employee unions to strike and limit their negotiating power, will be heard by the House Insurance and Labor Committee, which normally meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays but could get a schedule adjustment.
Setting the stage for a second ballot showdown over the Cincinnati streetcar, opponents have started circulating petitions for a proposed charter amendment to block City Hall from spending any money on the $128 million-plus project for the next 10 years.