COLUMBUS -- Supporters of an effort to repeal the state's temporary 1 percent sales-tax increase

COLUMBUS -- Supporters of an effort to repeal the state's temporary 1 percent sales-tax increase passed as part of the state's two-year, $48.8 billion budget are trying to get their petition language approved again.
The Citizens for Tax Repeal, a group affiliated with Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, filed another petition Thursday with Republican Attorney General Jim Petro after Petro struck down their original petition earlier this week.
In a letter, Petro said the group must specify that the temporary tax ends June 30, 2005, at the end of the current two-year budget.
Officials of Citizens for Tax Repeal say they've made the proper revisions to their petition.
If the group's petition is certified, Blackwell said he would mount a statewide effort to collect at least 96,870 signatures by late December to place the so-called "initiative statute" before the Legislature.
Blackwell said if lawmakers do not comply, he will seek the additional 96,870 valid signatures necessary to place the issue directly before the voters in November 2004.
The temporary sales tax is projected to generate about $2.6 billion for state coffers over the two-year budget period.