By Gongwer Staff
Posted: April 17, 2023 8:52 AM

House Republicans are looking to make up for lost time heading into multiple hearings next week on a controversial plan to make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution.

But whether newly installed committee chair Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) will bring the House proposal (HJR 1) up for a vote any time soon or strategically hold off as the chamber awaits a fast-tracked companion Senate plan (SJR 2) remains to be seen.

It is just one of a host of policy topics lawmakers are poised to dive back into following a two-week spring hiatus, the most pressing of which may be the pending operating budget. (See separate story)

As the legislature enters its two-month sprint toward summer recess, the constitutional provision remains top of mind for voting rights groups that continue mobilizing supporters to turn out in force in opposition.

The plan from Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) and its Senate companion, if approved by voters, would raise from a simple majority to 60% the required voter approval threshold for future amendments.

The House plan is marked for a possible vote Wednesday, along with opponent testimony, at the second of two hearings planned for the week by the House Constitutional Resolutions Committee.

A day earlier, the plan will receive proponent and interested party testimony and possibly pick up an amendment. Rep. Stewart said that update is likely to change the resolution's reference to the May primary since lawmakers missed the cutoff for that election and are now seeking to bring the question to voters in August.

The back-to-back hearings come after nearly a month of inaction by the committee, which held its first and only hearing so far on March 22. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, March 22, 2023)

Former chair Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster) had attributed his reluctance to schedule hearings to his desire to maintain the option of using a discharge petition to force a vote in the event Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) refused to bring the measure to the floor. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, April 3, 2023)

Speaker Stephens instead ejected Mr. Wiggam from the chairmanship, labeling the plan a "priority for our caucus," and installed Rep. Plummer in his place. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, March 30, 2023)

Rep. Plummer has yet to comment on his thinking and Rep. Stewart in an interview said he remains uncertain of the best approach given the procedural landscape at play.

"I'm not 100% decided on that right now," Rep. Stewart said. "Obviously, it's the chairman that calls the vote and, ultimately, the speaker who, absent a discharge petition, decides when something comes to the floor."

But he said he believes Rep. Wiggam's concerns were "valid" and that committee passage should be accompanied by a commitment from the speaker to bring the item to the floor.

"I think that any speaker is going to be hard pressed not to allow a vote on a measure with this broad of support, not only within the caucus but amongst the Ohio Republican Party as a whole," he said.

Opponents are focusing their efforts on the House in an effort to thwart the plan, with groups urging supporters to phone key lawmakers in a bid to halt the proposal's advance.

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, told supporters of the Fair Districts Ohio coalition earlier this week, "We shouldn't give up hope."

"There is still an opportunity to stop this in the Ohio House," Ms. Turcer said. "The Senate seems a bit more poised to move. But the thing to remember is a supermajority of both chambers have to pass the same proposal and the House has had some challenges…. So, the House seems to be the place to focus our energy."

Rep. Stewart, though, expressed confidence the votes are there, saying: "I think if this measure's put on the floor it will have 60 votes."

Rep. Plummer has already signaled a different approach as chair than his predecessor by relaxing some committee rules Rep. Wiggam had established pertaining to testimony.

Although speakers will still be limited to five minutes each, directives from Rep. Plummer's office suggest he is ditching Rep. Wiggam's previous requirement that only invited testimony will be accepted. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, March 20, 2023)

Not on the House panel's agenda is a proposal (HB 144) to establish an August special election for voters to weigh in on HJR1 – a measure that has yet to be formally assigned to the committee after it was introduced days before the legislative break.