Ohio House approves amendment to increase threshold for initiative petitions and August special election bill

The Ohio House of Representatives approved a resolution on Wednesday that tries to alter how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and allows for a statewide special election in August to vote on it.

The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.