BALLOT ISSUES Summary

Ohio voters will decide five issues on the November ballot:

Issue 1

Proposed constitutional amendment providing earlier filing deadlines for statewide ballot initiatives. Currently, petitions backing constitutional amendments and new state laws must be filed 90 days before a general election, while referendums approving or rejecting new laws OK’d by the Legislature must be submitted 60 days prior. Under Issue 1, the deadline for all three would be 125 days before the election. The constitutional amendment also changes timelines for submissions by groups challenging petitions and for verification of signatures by the Secretary of State’s Office and county boards of elections.

Issue 2

Clean Ohio Bond Renewal. Originally approved by voters in 2000, the new issue is a constitutional amendment that would authorize $400 million in bonds to pay for brownfield revitalization and greenspace preservation. The funds would be split, with $200 million devoted to revitalization and $200 million for conservation programs.

Issue 3

Property Owners’ Water Rights. It formalizes, within the Ohio Constitution, property owners’ rights to the groundwater on their land.

It states that property owners have interests in the groundwater and nonnavigable waters on or flowing through their land and that that water “cannot be held in trust by any governmental body,” according to an analysis compiled by the state’s Legislative Services Commission.

Issue 4

The former Paid Sick Days initiative was removed by petitioners and will not be decided by voters.

Issue 5

Payday lending. The referendum calls for changes to portions of the payday lending reform law enacted by lawmakers and the governor earlier this year. A vote of “no” would change the loan cap (to $800 from $500), remove repayment periods (30 stipulated in the law) and increases allowable annual percentage rates on loans to a rate “that substantially exceeds” 28 percent.

Issue 6

Clinton County Casino. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow the establishment of a privately owned casino near Wilmington in southwestern Ohio. Provisions also outline tax payments, age and game limits and use of public proceeds.