Ohio referendum to abolish health reforms gains steam

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

As union groups begin collecting signatures to repeal controversial collective bargaining reform, conservative groups are continuing a petition drive to place their own constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

A coalition of tea party and like-minded groups announced Friday that it has collected more than 300,000 signatures toward an effort to repeal federal health-care mandates signed into law by President Barack Obama last year.

The Ohio Liberty Council needs close to 400,000 to place the issue on the November ballot, and members have until early July to submit their petitions to the secretary of state’s office.

“During the same period last year, from May to July, we gathered 175,000 signatures, and we have more volunteers this year,” said Chris Littleton, president of the Ohio Liberty Council. He added, “We should have no issue in submitting.”

The year-old federal health-care-reform package included provisions requiring individuals to buy health insurance and companies to provide benefits to their employees, with fines for those who fail to do so.

The constitutional amendment proposed by the Ohio Liberty Council would prohibit any law or rule that forces individuals, employers or health-care providers to buy or sell health care or insurance. It levies a fine against those that choose not to participate.

It would cover the new federal law, plus any others brought at the national, state or local levels.

Tea-party volunteers have been collecting signatures for about a year and have 303,000 in hand, Littleton said. They need about 386,000 to qualify for the November ballot.

“The interest is there, it certainly hasn’t disappeared,” Littleton said.

We Are Ohio, the coalition of unions and others opposed to Senate Bill 5, also is collecting signatures to place a referendum on the November ballot, setting up a potential election with issues that would draw their party faithful — Democratic-leaning labor groups and conservative tea parties.

But Littleton said Ohio voters from all parts of the political spectrum are supporting the health-care amendment.

“In some counties, as high as 50 percent of the signers for our petitions are Democrats,” he said.