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The Public Policy
Ohio’s Issue Initiatives
Obamacare will be judged by voters on November 8, its last stop before reaching the Supreme Court.
As they await next year’s likely Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” states continue to grapple with its odious expenses as they decide whether to accept federal money for health care insurance exchanges so long as the law’s constitutionality remains in doubt.
As this chart from ALEC shows, a vast majority of states from California to Maine have passed measures to reject aspects of the new health care law. And because this month, the Department of Justice filed petitions for certiorari, asking for a final review by the Supreme Court in HHS v. Florida, the last citizens’ initiative to be voted on before oral arguments at the Supreme Court begin is on Ohio’s November 2011 ballot.
Polling shows that while Ohio voters are eager to reject (via the Issue 2 initiative) Gov. John Kasich’s strict anti-collective bargaining laws for public employees, there is bipartisan support for Issue 3, which would create a new amendment in Ohio’s constitution explicitly prohibiting the federal or state government from mandating citizens’ participation in private health care systems.
The mixed polling results may explain why Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who endorsed both issues in June, came to Ohio to speak at a call-center for Republicans, only to refuse to endorse them. However, more than 24 hours later, Romney has backtracked again and endorsed both issues. He said he is “110%” behind both issues and he apologized for the confusion. However, a Lexis-Nexis search reveals Romney in 2006 campaigned in Ohio in support of Massachusetts-style health insurance mandates.
Issue 3, originally sponsored by local Tea Party groups and the Ohio Liberty Council, saw more than 27,000 volunteers join in the largest, truly grassroots ballot initiative in the state, and perhaps the country. Jeff Longstreth, campaign manager for Issue 3, notes that less than $50,000 was spent on collecting the first 441,000 signatures, with an overwhelming 90 percent validity rate.
As the federal law trumps state authority, Longsreth is quick to say the “first priority is to prohibit a forced insurance program on the state level.” But he adds, “The individual mandate is unconstitutional. We believe our ballot initiative adds strength to that argument. And because it was a citizen driven initiative, it will send a clear message to anyone in the federal level that forcing citizens to buy products from private insurance companies is wrong.”
The opposition to Issue 3 is led by Innovation Ohio, a union-funded think tank run by former staffers of former Gov. Ted Strickland. Its communications director, Dale Butland, a former press secretary for Sen. John Glenn, believes the problem with Issue 3 is how broadly it defines a “health care system.” He asks, “If no one can be required to be in a health care system, how can deadbeat parents be forced to buy health care for their children? Or how could [the] Ohio State University require students to buy health insurance?” Butland also believes that under the initiative’s strict wording, Ohioans could not be forced to pay for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) levies and the legislature would be unable to rework the state’s scandal-ridden workers’ compensation system.
Issue 3 backers are quick to refute these points, noting that child support orders are already binding on both parties and are part of preexisting law. Also, universities can still mandate health insurance coverage because attending them is voluntary and as such a far cry from forcing citizens to purchase health insurance simply because they are alive. Also, as a matter of state law, levies to provide health services for the less fortunate do not require anyone to join a health system any more than the taxes that pay for roads compel a taxpayer to drive on them.
Ohio, as a depressed manufacturing state, has a majority of voters in favor of collective bargaining rights. So expect Issue 3 to pass on November 8. However, with turnout expected to be low and a month of early voting, the fate of Issue 2 is still up in the air. It will probably come down to which side is better organized. Win or lose, the outcome will be reverberate nationwide, as the contentious issue of mandated care moves to the Supreme Court.
About the Author
Matt Naugle writes about state governments for The American Spectator.
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Gary B| 10.27.11 @ 6:38AM
"Butland also believes that under the initiative's strict wording, Ohioans could not be forced to pay for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) levies and the legislature would be unable to rework the state's scandal-ridden workers' compensation system."
You mean future health care solutions would left to the free market? Oh, what a tragedy...
Gary B| 10.27.11 @ 6:43AM
Also, I'm just curious... how many mandates on citizens are in contained in the Constitution? Unless I'm mistaken, the Constitutional mandates government behavior, not the other way around.
Just once, wouldn't you like to see a reporter ask Obama if he believes in and supports the Constitution? Just a simple "yes" or "no" would work.
Kenny| 10.27.11 @ 7:00AM
Naugle writes, "Ohio, as a depressed manufacturing state, has a majority of voters in favor of collective bargaining rights. "
It is not the right to collective bargan that is in question with Ohio's Issue 2.
It is the collective barganing priviliges that has been given to the government employees that is.
LarryK| 10.27.11 @ 8:39AM
As an Ohio resident and taxpayer, voting Yes on Issue 2 is my only option. You can't expect the 93% of workers to continue to fund 7% of the workforce that has Lexus and Mercedes benefits and wages. The No on Issue 2 crowd is shameless with their commercials.
Mike 3/505| 10.27.11 @ 9:25AM
Get all your friends to the polls then. It 's gonna be about enthusiasm & turnout.
Regards,
Mike
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.27.11 @ 9:33AM
When did Health Care become a FEDERAL Power? When did Hiring Cops and Firefighters and Teaches, become the province of Federal Expenditures. Isn't that what our State Taxes and our Property Taxes are for?
Roads, Bridges, and Infrastructure. Isn't that why we pay GASOLINE TAXES, and $100 to go over the GWB? We pay ROAD USE TAXES on every Gallon of Gasoline. State AND Federal. Where does all of THAT Money go?
"The powers of the Federal Government are FEW, and WELL DEFINED." James Madison. The Father of our Constitution.
The Liberals want us to believe that The Constitution is a Living and Breathing Document. One that CHANGES with the times. What they really mean is: The Constitution is SILLY PUTTY. You can Roll it, Bounce it on the ground, and Shape it in to anything you want.
Of course, I disagree. The Constitution is not Living and Breathing. It's DYING. It's been DYING for a long time, now. We are thisclose to losing it, once and for all. FOREVER.
The Individual Mandate will decide if we will have ANY Freedom, any more, or not. We know what they've done with The Commerce Clause. If they get this? There's NOTHING they won't be able to do.
SIEG HEIL!
Gary B| 10.27.11 @ 6:33PM
Should the Supreme Court uphold the individual mandate, its credibility and perceived regard for American principles will sink as low as Obama's.
Should Have Impeached| 10.27.11 @ 8:47PM
It seems to me that if the consequences of a decision are unconstitutional, the decision itself should therefore be deemed unconsitutional. In other words, if approving the individual mandate (or applying a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause) gives the government unlimited powers, the very fact that the decision gives unlimited powers goes against the stated mandate of the Constitution which is that governmental powers ARE LIMITED! Therefore, the individual mandate itself should be deemed unconstitutional! Well, such reasoning would not sway the Supreme Court I'm sure. (Note that I said the government's powers ARE LIMITED, not that they CAN BE limited, MIGHT BE limited, or USED TO BE limited, as if it all depends on whatever unanticipated decisions come down the pike, or new enlightenment, etc. The powers ARE LIMITED. Anything that changes that is a violation of the Constitution. That's why a "living document" interpretation of the Constitution is nonsensical.)
Ed| 10.27.11 @ 11:34AM
I live in Ohio, and I plan to vote for both measures. The problem with Issue 2 is that the wording is very murky, and you have to remind yourself that a "yes" vote is anti-union. There are no clear advertisements from the right or the left about what exactly is in Issue 2. Given this ambiguity, which was probably deliberate, I have no idea how Issue 2 is going to go. Polling under these circumstances is a fool's errand.
Al Adab| 10.27.11 @ 1:01PM
Ohio is one of two states, FL being the other, where the 2012 election will be decided. Let us hope and pray that voters will stand by their convictions and not be led by soundbites and rhetoric.
Margie| 10.27.11 @ 5:45PM
Sound bites and rhetoric are for the weak.
Country Class Women for Herman Cain 2012!
Quartermaster| 10.27.11 @ 6:11PM
If Kasich's efforts to reign in the public unions fails, Ohio is in deep trouble.
LarryK| 10.28.11 @ 8:51AM
You mean we're up the creek without a paddle.
Margie| 10.28.11 @ 12:42PM
QM,
The Unions had their thugs going door to door here getting people to vote against it. Sadly, I think they may prevail.
Well, the state of Ohio just got two more conservative voters in me and my husband. And we have some neighbors here that are going to start learning a thing or two.
brenda| 10.29.11 @ 4:49PM
I live in Ohio, I voted for Kasich and I am in a union. I work for a local school system. I hate what the NEA does with my dues year after year. The last democrat I voted for was Carter and we all know what a mistake that was.
To my point. I pay 10% of my gross to my retirement each pay, my employer pays 14%, we have agreed to spilt the difference and each will pay 12%, I also pay 12% for healthcare. This is not far from what Kasich wants with issue 2, however the public is being lead to believe that we are all a bunch of moochers who pay nothing and I deeply resent that.
I checked with social security and found that incomes up to $111,000.00 only pay 6.2% for SS, I have been paying much more than that for almost 30 years now, and the taxes I did pay into Social Security before I joined the school system is lost to me, the laws are such that the money I paid in I will never collect nor do I have an option of a lump sum of what I paid without interest even. How fair is that?
I went to bat for Kasich and took a lot of heat for it, and I dont know that I will do that again.
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