Requirement

Action

Authority

Create Petitioners Committee

Petitioners must designate a committee of 3 to 5 individuals to represent them in all matters relating to the petition.

Ohio Revised Code Section:  3519.02

File Initial Petition with Ohio Attorney General and Secretary of State

1. An initial written petition, signed by 1,000 Ohio registered voters, must be submitted to the Attorney General with the full text and summary of the proposed law.
2. Once the petition is received, the Attorney General will certify if he or she believes the summary to be a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law. 
3. Once the statement on the petition is certified, the Attorney General will forward the petition to the Ohio Ballot Board who will evaluate the petition to ensure that it contains only one proposed law.  The Ballot Board has ten days from the date they receive the petition from the Attorney General to complete this task.
4. After the Ballot Board has certified the petition, a verified copy of the proposed law, together with its summary and the Attorney General’s certification must then be filed with the Secretary of State by the Attorney General.  The petitioners may then begin to collect signatures for their initiated statute.

Ohio Revised Code Sections: 3501.05;
3505.062;
3519.01;
3519.05

Create Petitions & Gather Signatures

1. In order to begin gathering signatures, the petitioners must create a petition. Each petition must have a copy of the title and full text of the proposed law and must have the following statement printed at the top: “Law proposed by initiative petition first to be submitted to the General Assembly”.
2. All signatures must be submitted as one document and at one time.
3. Any person receiving compensation for supervising, managing, or otherwise organizing any effort to obtain signatures for a statewide petition must file a Form 15 with the office of the Secretary of State before circulating petitions. Any person compensating a person for supervising, managing, or otherwise organizing any effort to obtain signatures for a statewide petition must also file a Form 15 with the office of the Secretary of State before any signatures are obtained.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1g
Ohio Revised Code Sections: 3501.38; 3501.381; 3501.382; 3503.06;
3519.05

Signature Requirements

1. The total number of signatures on the petition must equal at least 3 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.  The Secretary of State may not accept any petition for filing which does not reasonably appear to contain the minimum number of required signatures.
2.  The signatures must have been obtained from at least 44 of the 88 counties in Ohio.  From each of these 44 counties, there must be signatures equal to at least 1.5 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor in that county at the last gubernatorial election. 
3. Each petition-signer must be a qualified elector of the state of Ohio and each petition must contain signatures of electors from only one county.  If a petition contains signatures from electors in more than one county, the Secretary of State will determine which county has the majority of signatures and only the signatures from that county will be counted.

Ohio Constitution:
Article II, Section 1b;
Article II, Section 1g
Ohio Revised Code Section:
3519.10; 3519.14

Filing Deadline and Filing Fee

1. The Petition must be filed with the Secretary of State not less than 10 days prior to the commencement of any session of the Ohio General Assembly. Legislative sessions begin on the first Monday in January.
2. A $25 filing fee must be paid at the time of filing.
3. Petitions may be withdrawn if written notice is given to the Secretary of State by a majority of the committee members named to represent the petitioners. Notice must be given more than 70 business days before the initiative is to appear on the ballot, and once withdrawn, it may not be resubmitted.
4. Upon receipt of the petition, the Secretary of State will send the proposal for a new law to the General Assembly as soon as it convenes.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1a
Ohio Revised Code Sections:
3501.05; 3501.38;
3513.10;
3519.08

Ohio General Assembly

1.  The Ohio General Assembly has four months to act on the proposed law. 
2. If the General Assembly fails to pass the proposed law, passes it in amended form, or takes no action at all within four months from the date it was received by the General Assembly, supplemental petitions may be circulated by the petitioners demanding that the proposed law be submitted to Ohio voters at the next general election.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1b

Supplemental Petition

1. The supplemental petition must contain signatures of Ohio voters that is equal to 3 percent of the most recent vote for governor and must be obtained from at least 44 of the 88 Ohio counties. From each of these 44 counties there must be signatures equal to at least 1.5 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor in that county at the last gubernatorial election.
2. The petition must be signed and filed with the Secretary of State within 90 days after the General Assembly fails to enact the proposed law, pass it in original or amended form, or take any action within four months from the time it was received by the General Assembly. The petition must also be filed not later than 125 days before the election at which the initiative is to be placed on the ballot.
3. The supplemental petition may be worded in its original form or may contain amended language included by the Ohio General Assembly.

Ohio Constitution:
Article II, Section 1b

Signature or Petition Challenges

1. The Ohio Supreme Court has original, exclusive jurisdiction over any and all challenges made to petitions or individual signatures.
2. Any challenge to original signatures or petitions must be filed no later than 95 days before the election. The Supreme Court will rule on these challenges no later than 85 days before the election. If the court does not rule prior to the 85th day before the election, the original signatures will be deemed sufficient.
3. Any challenge to additional or supplemental signatures must be filed no later than 55 days before the election. The Supreme Court will rule on any challenges no later than 45 days before the election. If the court does not rule prior to the 45th day before the election, those additional signatures will be deemed sufficient.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1g

1. Once the Secretary determines the sufficiency of the Supplemental Petition, the Ohio Secretary of State must pass the initiative on to the Ballot Board.
2. The Ohio Ballot Board must prescribe the ballot language for the proposed law and certify it to the Secretary of State not later than 75 days before the election

Ballot Arguments

1. Members of the petitioner’s committee may prepare and file an argument and/or explanation in favor of the proposed law.  The General Assembly, or the Governor if the General Assembly is not in session, must name persons to prepare the argument and/or explanation against the proposed law. All arguments and/or explanations must be 300 words or less and must be filed with the Secretary of State no later than 80 days before the election.
2. If the petitioner’s committee or persons named by the General Assembly or Governor fail to prepare or timely file the argument and/or explanation, the Secretary of State must notify the Ohio Ballot Board, which must prepare the argument and/or explanation or designate a group to do so. The argument and/or explanation must be filed with the Secretary of State no later than 75 days before the election.
3. The proposed law together with the arguments and/or explanations must be published once a week for three consecutive weeks preceding the election, in at least one newspaper of general circulation in each county of the state, where a newspaper is published.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1g; Article XVI, Section 1
Ohio Revised Code Section: 3519.03

Effective Date

Any law approved by the majority of voters will become effective thirty (30) days after the election.

Ohio Constitution: Article II, Section 1b