There may be another effort to make it harder for Ohio residents to change the state’s constitution, according to a Republican senate leader. This comes as volunteer groups are rushing to gather 413,487 valid signatures by July 1 to get amendments to abolish property taxes and to ban large data centers onto this fall’s ballot.
Senate Joint Resolution 2
Senate Finance Committee chair Jerry Cirino says it’s too easy to amend Ohio’s constitution, and wants lawmakers to try again to require 60% voter approval for amendments instead of a simple majority – an idea voters rejected three years ago.
“I think in Ohio, we should make it more difficult, and I suspect, and I hope, before my time is up in the Senate, in two and a half years, that we will once again be able to take this out to the public. And do it a little differently. I think we made some mistakes last time.”
The last three citizen-initiated amendments on Ohio’s ballot got there through paid petition circulators who gathered more than 700,000 signatures. The 2023 proposal also required signatures from all 88 counties, not just half, and would have cut the 10 extra days to gather more signatures if petitioners come up short.
Sen. Jerry Cirino says Republicans who pushed the effort in 2023 made mistakes, so he wants to try it again.
“We made it a little more complicated than we needed to. I think if we simplify it and make a stronger case for it, that I think that the voting public will agree with us that the Ohio Constitution is a sacred document, and it should be very difficult and challenging to change it.”
