SB 5 Referendum Fight Begins From the Front Lines by Bill Lavezzi, Member of the Central Committee - Bedford 6-B

The Senate Bill 5 fight entered a new phase this week, as the House amended the bill and passed it, the Senate passed the amended bill, and Governor Kasich signed it and filed it with the Secretary of State's office.  While some details about the situation are still unclear, here's what we appear to know at this point.

1) The ninety-day countdown for filing referendum petitions began when the bill was filed on Friday, which means that the signing period expires on June 30.

2) Before general signing petitions can be circulated, 1,000 petitions with sample language need to be submitted to the Secretary of State, and the Ohio Ballot Commission needs to approve ballot language.  The referendum is on whether the law will be allowed to go into effect, so we will be working for a "No" vote.

3) The referendum campaign will be coordinated by a campaign organization called "We Are Ohio."  According to The Plain Dealer, "the new group is heavily influenced by Democratic and union leaders but was created to stand alone from the party and any single labor group, in part to try to attract others who do not subscribe to Democratic politics but who oppose SB 5" (March 31, 2011).

4) Now that the final bill has been passed and we know the time line, We Are Ohio is using the early weeks of April to conduct trainings.  At the local level, we should have much more information by late April, when we will be seeing the final petitions.

5) Under Ohio law, We Are Ohio will need to gather 231,147 valid voter signatures, which is the number equal to 6 percent of the total turnout in the 2010 gubernatorial election.  It is anticipated that the goal will be much higher than that, since the laws for collecting signatures are very detailed and some signatures will almost certainly be ruled invalid.  It is common in these campaigns for supporters to seek double the minimum number of signatures.

6) It is generally thought that collecting signatures will be relatively easy, since public labor unions alone have about 350,000 members; the tougher issue will be getting our friends, family members, and neighbors to vote the right way in the referendum.

7) The campaign to sustain SB 5 is expected to draw millions of dollars of contributions from right-wing sources outside Ohio.  Although union dues cannot be used to support candidates, they can be used for ballot issues, and many unions are planning special one-time dues assessments.  Still, it is generally believed that our side cannot match the other side dollar-for-dollar, and we will need to work creatively to leverage our "people power" to get the necessary votes.