COLUMBUS, Ohio — An amendment to end legal protections for police officers and some government employees in Ohio cleared one hurdle to reaching the ballot with a decision Monday by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
The group backing the amendment, the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity, needs 420,000 valid signatures to place the amendment on the ballot for Ohio voters, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
On Monday, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office accepted the group’s untitled petition summary of a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to add an Article I, Section 23 to the Ohio Constitution eliminating qualified immunity for peace officers.
The office previously rejected the petition summary, which was submitted on July 15, citing the absence of a title. But a Nov. 8 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court prompted Attorney General Dave Yost’s office to re-evaluate the summary.
In a statement, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said the Attorney General’s role in the petition process is limited to determining whether the proposed summary is “fair and truthful,” accurately reflecting the proposed statute or constitutional amendment. In its ruling, stemming from a separate petition summary, the high court said Ohio law authorizes the Attorney General to evaluate only a petition summary, without the title.
Yost re-evaluated the summary only, deeming the petition to be fair and truthful. In a letter to the petitioners, however, he reiterated his belief that the petition summary without a title is misleading.
“I stand by my position that the title of a proposed constitutional amendment is an indispensable piece to determining whether the summary of it is fair and truthful,” he wrote.
The summary’s certification by Yost’s office now triggers the next step in the constitutional amendment process, which means the Ohio Ballot Board must now determine whether the proposal contains a single constitutional amendment or multiple constitutional amendments.
If the board certifies the proposal, the petitioners must then collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 10% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.
Opponents of the amendment say ending qualified immunity would cause lawsuits and liability issues for officers. Proponents say the amendment would hinder officers from violating citizens’ civil rights.
The full text of the certification letter and the petition can be found here.
