But this debate misses a more immediate danger: lame-duck lawmakers still making decisions while in office. Polls show that most Democrats and Republicans alike worry about the future of our democracy - though they disagree over what threatens it. Biden echoed others when he argued that such Republicans were “determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people.” Asked last week how that squares with his signing of a bill in January that eliminated August special elections, which were held up as expensive, low-turnout assaults on democracy, DeWine said “it’s inconsistent.President Joe Biden warned Americans before the midterms that democratic self-government was “under assault” by candidates who refused to accept that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.
Mike DeWine, who is also a former state attorney general, has said he would sign the August special election bill, should the politically fractured Ohio House get it through a floor vote. He and GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose introduced the 60% proposal during last year’s lame duck session, with LaRose arguing it would be “a win for good government” that would protect the state’s founding document from deep-pocketed special interests. Brian Stewart, the House resolution’s Republican sponsor, defended the resolution at a meeting of the House Constitutional Amendments Committee. The former top lawyers said Ohio’s existing initiative process has “worked well“ as a vehicle over more than a century for a host of policy changes impacting Ohioans - including creation of county home rule, a 10-mill limit on unvoted property taxes, legislative term limits and setting a minimum wage. Clearly, that has not happened in this rush to revise our constitution.” “Such changes should not be made without the opportunity for participation of those most intimately affected by the constitution - the people. “Constitutions are designed to endure, and major changes in fundamental constitutional arrangements should not be made unless the changes are supported by a careful understanding of the policies being changed and the consequences of the proposed changes,” they wrote. Republicans Betty Montgomery and Jim Petro and Democrats Richard Cordray, Lee Fisher and Nancy Rogers all told lawmakers they are uniquely positioned to comment on the proposal, given the state attorney general’s key roles in reviewing citizen-led initiatives and litigating on the state’s behalf.
Bob Taft and John Kasich and former Democratic Govs. The resolution eventually cleared the committee.įive former Ohio attorneys general wrote a letter to every state senator and representative Monday opposing the plan, a move that follows opposition from former Republican Govs. The other committee saw its business extend into the afternoon, as lawmakers heard hours of opposition testimony on a joint resolution that would place an issue on that ballot asking to raise the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from 50%-plus-one to 60%. One of the committees was canceled after what appeared to be a stalemate over legislation establishing a $20 million special election this summer, with some lawmakers balking at the fact that it would reverse a bill they supported just a few months ago that eliminated most such elections. The next House session is scheduled for May 10, the deadline that the secretary of state has set for an as-yet-hypothetical August ballot.
Once it was missed, Stephens canceled the session. Two Ohio House committees that had separate possible votes scheduled Tuesday failed to act before Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens’ deadline to set the next day’s House calendar. Other foes the idea include a coalition of more than 200 labor, faith, voting rights, civil rights and community groups, the state’s four living former governors and, as of Tuesday, the Ohio Libertarian Party. The contingent championing the idea had continued to press forward even as former attorneys general of both parties joined a growing chorus in opposing their plan. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Efforts Tuesday by Republican state lawmakers moving to ask Ohio voters this August to raise the threshold for passing future constitutional amendments - with the idea of thwarting a November abortion rights question - were again plagued by delays.
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