COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Chamber of Commerce and several other major state business groups have endorsed the Republican-backed proposal to require that constitutional amendments receive 60% support in a statewide vote.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses in Ohio, the Ohio Restaurant Association and the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association have signed on to support the measure in an Aug. 8 election, the groups announced Thursday.
Republican state lawmakers voted on Wednesday to put SJR2 up for a vote. While the 60% proposal would have wide-ranging ramifications, GOP lawmakers specifically fast-tracked it to try to defeat an abortion rights amendment aiming for the November ballot. The timing makes the campaign a proxy fight in the larger political battle over whether abortion should be legal in Ohio and across the country.
Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Stivers, a former Republican congressman, said his organization’s board voted to endorse SJR2 because it would create additional legal hurdles for citizen groups trying to propose amendments. Amendment campaigns in Ohio are a method through which the public can pass laws without involvement from the legislature. It’s been a long-term goal of the chamber to make the process harder, Stivers said.
If voters approve the measure, state lawmakers can still put a proposed amendment up for a vote. But citizen groups first must collect hundreds of thousands of signatures from registered Ohio voters, including from all 88 counties -- an increase from the 44 currently required. The measure also would eliminate a 10-day “cure period” during which amendment campaigns can collect additional signatures if the first batch they collect ends up falling short.
“There were folks who felt both ways on the 60%. But it was the signature issues that put us over the top that made us want to support this,” Stivers said. “The key for us was to avoid having these things on the ballot. Or we make sure they’re serious because what makes it on the ballot, our members end up holding the bag for the campaigns for or against these issues.”
“It’s a shame to see the Ohio business community endorse a special election for special interests, which is specifically designed to take power away from their customers, employees and all Ohioans,” said Dennis Willard, a spokesperson for One Person One Vote, the campaign to defeat the 60% amendment.
Read: More coverage from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on SJR2
In a Thursday announcement, the business groups also cited a pair of pending ballot issues — a potential 2024 proposal backed by labor unions to ask voters to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and another, less organized campaign backed by anti-vaccine groups that would bar employers from requiring vaccines or other medical products — as a major reason for their endorsement.
Notably absent from the roster of business groups backing the 60% amendment is the Ohio Business Roundtable, a group that’s similar to the Ohio Chamber, but whose members tend to be larger companies.
The Ohio Business Roundtable, which is led by a different former Republican congressman, Pat Tiberi, isn’t taking a position on the 60% amendment, said spokeswoman Alexandra Denney.
“Based on the timing of this effort, we believe the initiative has become entwined with social issues. The Ohio Business Roundtable does not get involved in social issues,” Denney said.
But Stivers said his organization doesn’t view the 60% proposal as a social issue.
”There’s nothing in the proposal that mentions a social issue,” Stivers said. “There are people who are motivated to for or against it due to social issues, but we support it for business issues.”
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest business association, historically tends to help finance ballot issue campaigns, in close coordination with Republican state government leaders. The campaigns can cost tens of millions of dollars, mostly due to advertising costs. The Ohio Chamber, for instance, was the key backer of the campaign in 2006 to try to defeat a proposal backed by labor unions to raise Ohio’s hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85.
Voters approved the minimum wage hike by a 56% to 44% margin. Labor unions are organizing another potential minimum wage ballot issue for 2024, which would phase in a $15 an hour minimum wage by 2025. It also would require employers to pay tipped workers the full minimum wage by 2029.
Ohio’s current minimum wage is $10.10 an hour, although for tipped employees it’s $5.05 an hour.
Democrats, who are part of a coalition opposing the 60% proposal that also includes labor unions and voting-rights groups, panned the business groups’ endorsement of the measure. Besides referencing abortion, some also criticized the chamber for opposing the looming minimum-wage campaign.
“The Ohio Chamber’s stated top policy goals include workforce development, equality of opportunity and healthcare,” Allison Russo, the top Democrat in the Ohio House, wrote on Twitter. “Yet, they support a 60% threshold intended to block a woman’s full access to healthcare and living wages. Remind me again which companies contribute to their PAC?”
Key supporters of the 60% proposal include Ohio Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization, and the Buckeye Firearms Association, which lobbies for looser gun laws.
Stivers said the Ohio Chamber’s 66-member board also voted Thursday to remain neutral on the potential abortion-rights ballot issue in November, because, he said, the group doesn’t get involved in social issues.
Stivers said the chamber hasn’t yet decided how much it would spend in support of the pro-SJR2 campaign. The measure is on a compressed timetable, with early voting for the Aug. 8 election starting in just 60 days.
“We have not committed to a dollar figure, but I can say that we obviously are going to try to support the campaign to protect the constitution,” Stivers said.
Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer