Pro-charter group seeks Ohio community Rights Amendment
County charter proponent now working on statewide initiative
Photo by GLENN WOJCIAK Kathie Jones, a member of Sustainable Medina County, now supports the proposed Ohio Community Rights Amendment.
MEDINA – Frustrated advocates for establishing a charter form of government in Medina County may have a new vehicle for reaching some of their goals.
The Ohio Community Rights Amendment and the Initiative and Referendum Amendment for Counties and Townships were certified by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine Nov. 27. Both are efforts to give Ohioans more power to pass and enforce local laws that might conflict with state law in much the same way the proposed charters for Medina County intended to empower elected county officials.
Sharon Township resident Kathie Jones helped lead the effort to place a charter initiative on the Medina County ballot and is now working with the Ohio Community Rights Network to get the two state amendments on next year’s ballot.
The campaign to pass an Ohio Community Rights Amendment stems from mounting frustration among environmental groups that have failed for years to push anti-fracking measures onto local ballots. But the latest effort is broader, said spokeswoman Tish O’Dell.
“This goes beyond fossil fuel industries,” said O’Dell, Ohio organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. “The right to pass local laws regarding fracking, gun control, predatory lending, minimum wage, and more, are thwarted by state preemptive laws. And those laws are often written by industry.”
State laws are making it increasingly difficult for communities to regulate predatory lending, puppy mills, wireless equipment location, minimum wages, pesticide treatments and a host of other issues, O’Dell said.
Jones concurs about the reasons to support the Community Rights Amendment.
“This isn’t just about pipelines,” she said. “People should have a say about what happens in their communities. That extends to things like having their property taken by eminent domain for projects that are for private gain, not the public good.”
Jones helped gather the signatures required to bring the two state amendments to the attorney general’s attention. However, DeWine’s certification is the first in a long series of steps for the measures to appear on a statewide ballot.
The community rights amendment would establish a constitutional right to local community self-government for the “health, safety and welfare of community members.” The county and township amendment would extend Ohio’s constitutional right to initiative and referendum on state and city laws to county and township laws.
The amendments now go to the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether each amendment is one or multiple issues. Once approved by the board, the group has to collect at least 305,591 signatures of registered Ohio voters, including a certain number in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, to qualify each measure for a statewide ballot.
Jones said she plans to help gather the signatures needed to place the issues on next year’s ballot.
Jones does not yet know if she will also be helping gather petitions to place a county charter initiative on the ballot in Medina County. She and other members of Sustainable Medina County gathered thousands of signatures from county voters to place the charter issue on the ballot in each of the last three years only to have the initiative pulled from the ballot each year by the Ohio Secretary of State or the Medina County Board of Elections.
Jones said members of Sustainable Medina County have not yet decided if they will make a fourth attempt at getting a county charter issue on the ballot.
The Ohio Community Rights Amendment and the Initiative and Referendum Amendment for Counties and Townships were certified by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine Nov. 27. Both are efforts to give Ohioans more power to pass and enforce local laws that might conflict with state law in much the same way the proposed charters for Medina County intended to empower elected county officials.
Sharon Township resident Kathie Jones helped lead the effort to place a charter initiative on the Medina County ballot and is now working with the Ohio Community Rights Network to get the two state amendments on next year’s ballot.
The campaign to pass an Ohio Community Rights Amendment stems from mounting frustration among environmental groups that have failed for years to push anti-fracking measures onto local ballots. But the latest effort is broader, said spokeswoman Tish O’Dell.
“This goes beyond fossil fuel industries,” said O’Dell, Ohio organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. “The right to pass local laws regarding fracking, gun control, predatory lending, minimum wage, and more, are thwarted by state preemptive laws. And those laws are often written by industry.”
State laws are making it increasingly difficult for communities to regulate predatory lending, puppy mills, wireless equipment location, minimum wages, pesticide treatments and a host of other issues, O’Dell said.
Jones concurs about the reasons to support the Community Rights Amendment.
“This isn’t just about pipelines,” she said. “People should have a say about what happens in their communities. That extends to things like having their property taken by eminent domain for projects that are for private gain, not the public good.”
Jones helped gather the signatures required to bring the two state amendments to the attorney general’s attention. However, DeWine’s certification is the first in a long series of steps for the measures to appear on a statewide ballot.
The community rights amendment would establish a constitutional right to local community self-government for the “health, safety and welfare of community members.” The county and township amendment would extend Ohio’s constitutional right to initiative and referendum on state and city laws to county and township laws.
The amendments now go to the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether each amendment is one or multiple issues. Once approved by the board, the group has to collect at least 305,591 signatures of registered Ohio voters, including a certain number in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, to qualify each measure for a statewide ballot.
Jones said she plans to help gather the signatures needed to place the issues on next year’s ballot.
Jones does not yet know if she will also be helping gather petitions to place a county charter initiative on the ballot in Medina County. She and other members of Sustainable Medina County gathered thousands of signatures from county voters to place the charter issue on the ballot in each of the last three years only to have the initiative pulled from the ballot each year by the Ohio Secretary of State or the Medina County Board of Elections.
Jones said members of Sustainable Medina County have not yet decided if they will make a fourth attempt at getting a county charter issue on the ballot.
