As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session S. J. R. No. 2
2025-2026
Senator Blessing
A J O I N T R E S O L U T I O N
Proposing to amend Sections 1b and 1g of Article II of
the Constitution of the State of Ohio to modify the
process for statutes proposed by initiative petition.
Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of
Ohio, three-fifths of the members elected to each house
concurring herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors
of the state, in the manner prescribed by law at the general
election to be held on November 3, 2026, a proposal to amend
Sections 1b and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of the
State of Ohio to read as follows:
ARTICLE II
Section 1b. When at any time, not less than ten days prior
to the commencement of any session of the general assembly,
there shall have been filed with the secretary of state a
petition signed by three per centum of the electors and verified
as herein provided, proposing a law, the full text of which
shall have been set forth in such petition, the secretary of
state shall transmit the same to the general assembly as soon as
it convenes. If said proposed law shall be passed by the general
assembly, either as petitioned for or in an amended form, it
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As Introduced
shall be subject to the referendum. If it shall not be passed,
or if it shall be passed in an amended form, or if no action
shall be taken thereon within four months from the time it is
received by the general assembly, it shall be submitted by the
secretary of state to the electors for their approval or
rejection, if such submission shall be demanded by supplementary
petition verified as herein provided and signed by not less than
three per centum of the electors in addition to those signing
the original petition, which supplementary petition must be
signed and filed with the secretary of state within ninety days
after the proposed law shall have been rejected by the general
assembly or after the expiration of such term of four months, if
no action has been taken thereon, or after the law as passed by
the general assembly shall have been filed by the governor in
the office of the secretary of state . The proposed law shall be
submitted at the next regular or general election occurring
subsequent to one hundred twenty-five days after the
supplementary petition is filed in the form demanded by such
supplementary petition, which form shall be either as first
petitioned for or with any amendment or amendments which may
have been incorporated therein by either branch or by both
branches, of the general assembly with the secretary of state . If
a proposed law so submitted is approved by a majority of the
electors voting thereon, it shall be the law and shall go into
effect as herein provided in lieu of any amended form of said
law which may have been passed by the general assembly, and such
amended law passed by the general assembly shall not go into
effect until and unless the law proposed by supplementary
petition shall have been rejected by the electors . All such
initiative petitions, last above described, shall have printed
across the top thereof, in case of proposed laws: "Law Proposed
by Initiative Petition First to be Submitted to the General
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As Introduced
Assembly." Ballots shall be so printed as to permit an
affirmative or negative vote upon each measure submitted to the
electors. Any proposed law or amendment to the constitution
submitted to the electors as provided in 1a and 1b, if approved
by a majority of the electors voting thereon, shall take effect
thirty days after the election at which it was approved and
shall be published by the secretary of state. If conflicting
proposed laws or conflicting proposed amendments to the
constitution shall be approved at the same election by a
majority of the total number of votes cast for and against the
same, the one receiving the highest number of affirmative votes
shall be the law, or in the case of amendments to the
constitution shall be the amendment to the constitution. No law
proposed by initiative petition and approved by the electors
shall be subject to the veto of the governor.
A law proposed by initiative petition and approved by the
electors shall not be amended, repealed, or suspended by the
general assembly for two years from the date the law takes
effect unless by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of each
house of the general assembly. Any law passed by the general
assembly that amends, repeals, or suspends a law proposed by
initiative petition and approved by the electors before two
years from the date the law takes effect shall be void and
unconstitutional unless done so by an affirmative vote of three-
fifths of each house of the general assembly.
Section 1g. Any initiative, supplementary, or referendum
petition may be presented in separate parts but each part shall
contain a full and correct copy of the title, and text of the
law, section or item thereof sought to be referred, or the
proposed law or proposed amendment to the constitution. Each
signer of any initiative , supplementary, or referendum petition
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As Introduced
must be an elector of the state and shall place on such petition
after his name the date of signing and his place of residence. A
signer residing outside of a municipality shall state the county
and the rural route number, post office address, or township of
his residence. A resident of a municipality shall state the
street and number, if any, of his residence and the name of the
municipality or post office address. The names of all signers to
such petitions shall be written in ink, each signer for himself.
To each part of such petition shall be attached the statement of
the circulator, as may be required by law, that he witnessed the
affixing of every signature. The secretary of state shall
determine the sufficiency of the signatures not later than one
hundred five days before the election.
The Ohio supreme court shall have original, exclusive
jurisdiction over all challenges made to petitions and
signatures upon such petitions under this section. Any challenge
to a petition or signature on a petition shall be filed not
later than ninety-five days before the day of the election. The
court shall hear and rule on any challenges made to petitions
and signatures not later than eighty-five days before the
election. If no ruling determining the petition or signatures to
be insufficient is issued at least eighty-five days before the
election, the petition and signatures upon such petitions shall
be presumed to be in all respects sufficient.
If the petitions or signatures are determined to be
insufficient, ten additional days shall be allowed for the
filing of additional signatures to such petition. If additional
signatures are filed, the secretary of state shall determine the
sufficiency of those additional signatures not later than sixty-
five days before the election. Any challenge to the additional
signatures shall be filed not later than fifty-five days before
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As Introduced
the day of the election. The court shall hear and rule on any
challenges made to the additional signatures not later than
forty-five days before the election. If no ruling determining
the additional signatures to be insufficient is issued at least
forty-five days before the election, the petition and signatures
shall be presumed to be in all respects sufficient.
No law or amendment to the constitution submitted to the
electors by initiative and supplementary petition and receiving
an affirmative majority of the votes cast thereon, shall be held
unconstitutional or void on account of the insufficiency of the
petitions by which such submission of the same was procured; nor
shall the rejection of any law submitted by referendum petition
be held invalid for such insufficiency. Upon all initiative ,
supplementary, and referendum petitions provided for in any of
the sections of this article, it shall be necessary to file from
each of one-half of the counties of the state, petitions bearing
the signatures of not less than one-half of the designated
percentage of the electors of such county. A true copy of all
laws or proposed laws or proposed amendments to the
constitution, together with an argument or explanation, or both,
for, and also an argument or explanation, or both, against the
same, shall be prepared. The person or persons who prepare the
argument or explanation, or both, against any law, section, or
item, submitted to the electors by referendum petition, may be
named in such petition and the persons who prepare the argument
or explanation, or both, for any proposed law or proposed
amendment to the constitution may be named in the petition
proposing the same. The person or persons who prepare the
argument or explanation, or both, for the law, section, or item,
submitted to the electors by referendum petition, or against any
proposed law submitted by supplementary initiative petition,
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As Introduced
shall be named by the general assembly, if in session, and if
not in session then by the governor. The law, or proposed law,
or proposed amendment to the constitution, together with the
arguments and explanations, not exceeding a total of three
hundred words for each, and also the arguments and explanations,
not exceeding a total of three hundred words against each, shall
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. The
secretary of state shall cause to be placed upon the ballots,
the ballot language for any such law, or proposed law, or
proposed amendment to the constitution, to be submitted. The
ballot language shall be prescribed by the Ohio ballot board in
the same manner, and subject to the same terms and conditions,
as apply to issues submitted by the general assembly pursuant to
Section 1 of Article XVI of this constitution. The ballot
language shall be so prescribed and the secretary of state shall
cause the ballots so to be printed as to permit an affirmative
or negative vote upon each law, section of law, or item in a law
appropriating money, or proposed law, or proposed amendment to
the constitution. The style of all laws submitted by initiative
and supplementary petition shall be: "Be it Enacted by the
People of the State of Ohio," and of all constitutional
amendments: "Be it Resolved by the People of the State of Ohio."
The basis upon which the required number of petitioners in any
case shall be determined shall be the total number of votes cast
for the office of governor at the last preceding election
therefor. The foregoing provisions of this section shall be
self-executing, except as herein otherwise provided. Laws may be
passed to facilitate their operation, but in no way limiting or
restricting either such provisions or the powers herein
reserved.
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As Introduced
EFFECTIVE DATE
If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this
proposal, Sections 1b and 1g of Article II amended by this
proposal shall take immediate effect and the existing versions
of Sections 1b and 1g of Article II of the Constitution of the
State of Ohio shall be repealed from that effective date.
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