Week in Review: July 30, 2023

The proposed initiated statute to legalize marijuana for adults ages 21 and older fell just short of the number of valid signatures required to make the ballot in November, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) now has 10 days to collect 679 additional valid signatures. CRMLA submitted 123,367 valid signatures, and 124,046 are required. During the first round of signature gathering, CRMLA was initially 13,062 signatures short, and the campaign was able to collect enough to satisfy the requirement during the additional 10-day period.

A proposed reproductive and abortion rights constitutional amendment has enough signatures to make the November ballot, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday, though it still faces a potential barrier for passage. State Issue 1, which is on the August special election ballot, would raise the threshold for passage of future constitutional amendments to 60 percent. However, recent polling suggests that while the reproductive/abortion rights amendment has a majority of voter support, it falls short of 60 percent. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights submitted more than 700,000 signatures earlier this month to get on the ballot. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent a letter to the ballot committee saying boards of elections certified 495,938 of the signatures for the proposed "Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety." The campaign needed at least 413,487 signatures, or 10 percent of the total votes cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election, to qualify for the ballot. Additionally, the campaign met a requirement to gather valid signatures equal to at least 5 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor in that county at the last gubernatorial election in at least 44 Ohio counties. LaRose said in his letter that the proposed initiative hit the county threshold in 55 counties.

While both sides of Issue 1 debate the influence of out-of-state special interests on Ohio's Constitution, they are also all bringing in large amounts of the same out-of-state money to help in their efforts to pass or defeat the issue that will be on the Tuesday, Aug. 8 special election ballot. Thursday was the deadline for groups that are spending money to advocate for or against Issue 1, which would make it more difficult to amend Ohio's Constitution, to report their spending activity. Protect Our Constitution, the coalition supporting the "Yes" side of the Issue, reported $4.85 million in contributions, nearly $1.6 million in spending, and $3.252 million on hand. Of the money it received, $4 million has come from Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, IL, who owns packing supplies company Uline, and has funded anti-abortion causes around the country. Uihlein had also spent more than $1 million earlier this year on lobbying for passage of SJR2 (McColley-Gavarone), which put the issue on the ballot. Meanwhile, One Person One Vote, the coalition against Issue 1, has raised $14.8 million, spending $10.4 million, with $4.4 million on hand. The largest contributor to One Person One Vote -- $2.5 million -- was the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money group based in Washington, D.C., that has funded left-leaning causes and campaigns, including for President Joe Biden.

Protect Our Constitution, the main coalition backing Issue 1, which would raise the threshold of passage for constitutional amendments to 60 percent, released its first ad of the campaign over the weekend. The 29-second ad, titled "We the People," notes how the founders of the United States had set a two-thirds majority threshold in order to amend the U.S. Constitution and suggests it is too easy to amend Ohio's Constitution.

In debates held Tuesday and Wednesday, Secretary of State Frank LaRose promoted Issue 1 as a way to protect Ohio's Constitution from what is to come rather than what has previously happened. Meanwhile, former Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, an opponent of Issue 1 who appeared with LaRose at a forum hosted by the City Club of Cleveland Wednesday, argued that the issue would remove checks and balances that people have on Ohio government. Along with Montgomery, the "No" side was represented in Cleveland by former Gov. Dick Celeste. LaRose was joined by Rep. Susan Manchester (R-Lakeview). LaRose argued that it should be harder to amend Ohio's Constitution, which he said could be up for sale by out-of-state special interests. When it was noted that only 19 citizen-initiated amendments have passed since 1912, LaRose said Issue 1 is more about the future, noting not only an abortion and reproductive rights amendment on the November ballot, but also potential minimum wage and livestock care amendments that could come in the future. Montgomery called the whole issue hypocritical, especially those in support who say it will limit special interests. "Special interests are behind this because they know they can get to the Legislature. The Legislature is persuadable in ways that we have seen already," she said, pointing to the recent federal convictions of former Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges. She also said with the 88-county requirement, one county with persuadable voters could put an end to something that is wanted by the other 87.

With court orders still in place to block the prior budget's attempt to penalize schools that can't consistently transport charter and private school students to class and back home on time, lawmakers took a slightly different approach to addressing the difficulties in bus transportation for school choice families in the new budget. In HB33 (Edwards), lawmakers removed references to "a consistent or prolonged period of noncompliance" and instead specified that schools are out of compliance if they experience five or more consecutive days, or more than 10 total days during an academic year, of certain behavior. That noncompliant conduct includes dropping students off more than 30 minutes before school starts; picking them up more than 30 minutes after it ends; failing to transport students entirely; or failing to comply with any other student transportation requirements in law. Regarding the litigation arguments about ODE's failure to follow rulemaking procedures when implementing the 134-HB110 (Oelslager) provisions, the department said it does not have information presently on whether the department will go through the formal rulemaking process for the HB33 provisions regarding penalties for transportation compliance problems.

An improving economic outlook coupled with Ohio's initial experience in resuming eligibility renewals post-pandemic brought Medicaid caseload projections in the final budget down from the administration's initial estimates. Recent reporting by Ohio to the federal government shows procedural problems are the leading cause of people's removal from Medicaid. Near the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the federal government started to provide states extra Medicaid matching funds, in exchange for a promise not to remove most people from the program. That state of affairs continued for about three years, leading Ohio's Medicaid caseload to increase by about 800,000 people and reach a peak of nearly 3.6 million people in May of this year. Upon introduction of HB33 in February, the Ohio Department of Medicaid predicted only 220,000 of those added to the program would be removed in the new biennium, citing a different overall economic environment than the pre-pandemic reality as well as coverage pullbacks and rising costs in commercial insurance. Near the conclusion of budget deliberations, ODM's updated caseload forecasts instead predicted a decline of about 280,000 people.

The state budget's funding for schools to provide free feminine hygiene products in bathrooms will increase student attendance across Ohio, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) and Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said Wednesday. "This appropriation in the budget will change the way periods are perceived by students in Ohio," Antonio said during a press conference in the Ladies Gallery at the Statehouse. "Menstrual products are vital to the health and wellbeing of women and girls. By having period products be both accessible and free in Ohio schools, we can expect attendance in our schools to increase," Antonio continued. "Research shows that among teenage girls in the U.S. ... often or sometimes they can't do their best schoolwork because they have lack of access to period products. It really gets in the way of them being able to rise to their fullest potential." HB33 provides $5 million in FY24 for schools to provide free period products in schools. Of the $5 million, $2 million will go toward installing product dispensers and $3 million will go toward purchasing the products.