Ohio legislators call for national constitutional convention

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate are again pursuing companion resolutions calling for a national constitutional convention to address debt and other issues.

Reps. Christina Hagan, a Republican from Alliance, and Bill Patmon, Democrat from Cleveland, and Sen. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, spoke about the measures during a recent event at the Statehouse and as part of testimony in separate legislative committees.

Hagan and Patmon offered a similar joint resolution last session, and Huffman was primary sponsor of a comparable House resolutions when he served in that chamber.

This session’s HJR 2 and SJR 1 would formalize state lawmakers’ call for Congress to have a convention of states, as allowed under Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

Such a gathering is needed, Hagan told the Ohio House’s Federalism and Interstate Relations Committee, to allow needed amendments to the nation’s governing document.

“Federal laws now impede upon nearly every aspect of our lives,” Hagan said. “Very personal aspects such as but not limited to: what kind of light bulbs we can buy, farming practices, school curriculum, school lunches and most recently and egregiously our individual freedoms and rights to choose our own health care and insurance policies.”

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