(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today issued certification of the summary language for one of the two referenda seeking the repeal of Senate Bill 5. The certification was issued today in a letter delivered to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
On April 4th, 2011 two petitions were filed with the Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of State. The proposals submitted were informally titled "Short" and "Long." After reviewing the summaries, Attorney General DeWine issued two separate letters certifying the Short Version Summary and rejecting the Long Version Summary.
"The Office's explicit statutory duty is to determine whether the submitted summary 'is a fair and truthful statement of the measure to be referred,'" DeWine stated in his letter certifying the Short Version Summary language. "Without passing upon the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred…I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed referendum concerning Am. Sub. S.B. 5 of the 129th General Assembly."
In rejecting the Long Version Summary language, Attorney General DeWine stated, "The summary, though greatly condensed at 28 pages, is still far too lengthy and detailed to be considered a short and concise summing up of the matter to be referred. For this reason, I am unable to certify the proposed Long Version Summary of the Petition."
In order for the certified referendum to proceed, the petitioners must collect signatures from registered voters in 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, equal to 3 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election. Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 6 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election. The petition, containing at least the minimum number of signatures, must be filed with the Secretary of State not later than the effective date of the legislation, which is 90 days after it was enrolled with the Secretary.
The full text of today's letters and of the initiative petitions submitted can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BallotInitiatives.