The November General Election ballot could be quite extensive. Lawmakers are preparing and working on a variety of measures to put before voters.
One would amend how judges set bail for a detained person. The change, if approved, would amend the state constitution to allow judges to consider “public safety” when determining a detained person’s bail.
The measure, House Joint Resolution 2, was set for a House vote this week but that was delayed. House Republican leaders say they expect the measure to move again soon.
The resolution came out of am Ohio Supreme Court decision, DuBose versus McGuffey. The 4-3 decision ruled that public safety should not be a consideration when setting bail because the state has other mechanisms where public safety is used as a condition of release.
In addition to adding public safety as a consideration in bail, the resolution would also strip the Ohio Supreme Court from setting rules for the amount and conditions of bail.
Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate are working toward a joint resolution that would amend the state constitution and affirm language that non-citizens cannot vote in local elections. If the measure gets enough support it would be on the ballot for voters to decide. Non-citizens are already unable to vote in state and federal elections. The forthcoming resolution proposal is in response to a New York policy that allows non-citizens there to vote in local elections for mayor and city council.
One issue that will not be decided by voters this November: whether to legalize marijuana for personal use and regulate it like alcohol.
The coalition pushing for legalizing recreational marijuana settled a lawsuit with state leaders last week. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol agreed to delay its campaign to 2023 and state leaders said they will accept the more than 140-thousand signatures already collected and not make the group start over.
Lake Catholic and Kent State University police are investigating separate incidents this week that involved the swastika---a symbol of hate and anti-Semitism.
A boy’s lacrosse player on Lake Catholic with a swastika image on his calf played in a tournament game against Orange on Monday. A Lake Catholic fan also used slurs during the match.
In Kent, a swastika image on front campus has been removed. The university said it is not known when the image first was painted on the campus. But an email to the university community said that in the wake of the Buffalo shootings, the image exemplified the need to denounce the “growing wave of racism, intolerance and violence in our nation.”
By a two-to-one margin, Ohio’s school principals voted down a proposal that would have allowed high school student-athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association proposed the policy to allow athletes to sign endorsement deals without losing their amateur status. Deals could not use team logos or mascots and could not involve companies that do not support education-based athletics such as casinos or tobacco companies.
But the organization left it up to member schools which voted it down by a margin of 538 to 254.
Gabriel Kramer, Multiple Media Producer, Ideastream Public Media
Kabir Bhatia, Senior Reporter, WKSU
Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
