Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from Medical mutual providing more than 1.4 million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at med mutual dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country.

Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

Maude Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association representing 124,000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OHEA.org.

Marijuana Legalization Joins abortion access on the fall ballot, and some activists are already looking to the 2024 election.

A group has filed paperwork to change the way of drawing district maps for elected officials.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of ohio.

I'm karen Kasler.

The November 7th election could be one of the most talked about in many years, along with an amendment on reproductive rights and abortion access, a proposed law to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, and has been certified to be on that ballot as well.

The coalition to Regulate marijuana like alcohol had been short 679 valid signatures when it turned in petitions last month.

It turned in another round of signatures and more than 4400 of them were valid.

That means voters will decide in November on the proposed law, which would legalize and regulate recreational marijuana for Ohioans over 21 and impose a 10% tax to go to addiction treatment.

Administrative costs and social justice programs.

The same ballot will include an amendment that would guarantee abortion rights.

But this is a proposed law, which means a majority of legislators could repeal it if it passes.

But the group says it's confident that it will be approved by a wide margin.

An opposition group had formed even before the issue was certified.

Protect Ohio Workers and Families will campaign on the message that Ohio has suffered enough from casual recreational drug use and that legalization of marijuana would create additional risks and costs to families, businesses and communities.

Suzanne Shealy of Dublin is working with the group.

Her son, Ben abused marijuana for years.

In May 2020, he was in California, where he'd been through a recovery program.

Though Shealy says her athletic, funny and energetic son had dramatically changed.

He died after being hit by a semi while crossing an interstate.

He was 21.

This weed today is not the seventies.

Green leafy plants.

This weed today is a processed chemical that is going into our bodies and brains.

And it's very different than what it was in the seventies.

So, you know, it's it's only stronger and more dangerous, especially for developing brains.

You know, we miss them every day.

I mean, there's just holes in our hearts.

And I wish that it was different.

And I wish we had we had known how we'd really would have affected him.

And I wish he knew, but he didn't know.

And there wasn't enough education out there.

What was going on with weed and how strong it is today.

The opposition group includes the Ohio Children's Hospital Association, the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Buckeye Sheriffs Association.

There's a group of activists that's already looking ahead to November 2024, using the redistricting saga of the last two years as the reason for its existence.

Citizens, not politicians, has proposed an amendment to put the process of drawing maps for 99 members of the Ohio House, 33 members of the Ohio Senate and Ohio's 15 U.S. representatives to Congress in the hands of a 15 member Citizen's Commission.

Bypassing the politician dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission and the General Assembly.

The amendment spells out some specifics.

A search firm would seek applications from people around the state and create a pool of 90 qualified applicants.

After looking at anything that might indicate party affiliation, current or former politicians, political party officials, lobbyists and large political donors would be banned.

Bipartisan members of the Ohio ballot board would pick four retired judges, two from each party to select 45 candidates from that group of 90.

After getting public input, 15 Republicans, 15 Democrats, and 15 independents, six commissioners would randomly be selected at a public meeting.

Then they would pick the other nine commissioners.

The amendment requires multiple public hearings at each stage of the process, before maps are drawn, after drafts are created and after changes are made.

A map would have to be approved by at least nine commissioners.

If there's an impasse, each commissioner would propose a map.

There would be public input and the winning map would be chosen through a ranked choice vote.

The proposal defines partizan, gerrymandering, and says there aren't specific rules on how counties and cities can be split.

But the focus should be on communities of interest.

And the amendment would give the Ohio Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction in lawsuits.

The justices would select two special masters who would hold a public hearing and issue a report on the maps.

The court would decide if each map is illegal or illegal.

If it is illegal, the court would send the map back to the Citizens Commission.

And if its changes are not satisfactory, the special masters would make the changes.

Citizens, not politicians, includes two former Ohio Supreme Court justices Yvette McGee Brown, a Democrat who was on the court from 2011 to 2012, and Republican Maureen O'Connor.

She served on the court for 20 years, 12 of those as Chief Justice.

She didn't run for reelection last year because of age limits, and she was the critical fourth vote in ruling Republican drawn maps unconstitutionally gerrymandered last year.

O'Connor and the court's three Democrats struck down the state legislative maps drawn by the GOP dominated Ohio redistricting Commission five times and twice ruled against the congressional maps that were approved by the commission.

Let's talk a little bit about the specifics of the proposal.

You have current and former politicians, lobbyists, other partizans would be banned from being on this commission.

A search firm will seek applications to create a pool of 90 qualified applicants.

Then the bipartisan members of the ballot board pick four retired bipartisan judges to select 45 candidates, 15 Democrats, 15 Republicans, 15 independents.

And of those, 45, six will be randomly selected to serve on the redistricting commission at a public meeting.

At every step here, though, there are partizans involved.

So how do you make sure the process doesn't turn partizan?

Well, when you say partizans involved, the partizans are excluded from you know there are no partizans that are involved in this process unless you say the ballot board, which then selects the nonpartisan and retired judges.

We have very specific guidelines on what those judges.

But keep in mind, those judges are there to make sure that the Constitution is followed.

That's the role of judges.

Do all their lives, their judicial lives.

So it's not asking them to do something out of their wheelhouse.

And it is a process that is going to ensure that the people that are selected and then randomly selected at the very end are Democrats, are Republicans and are individuals who are not affiliated with either the Democrat or the Republican Party.

And, you know, the goal here is to create their districts that we eliminate gerrymandering and that there are considerations that these commissioners will have to take into account when they the maps are being drawn.

But they're not the same matters that the previous commission took.

And the consideration when during the, for example, there's no identification or relevance is allocated to a current address.

In other words, current members of Congress, the politics are not entering into the selection or the map.

Drawing, you know, is really the critical part here is drawing the maps and doing so in a way that does away with gerrymandering because there's no politics, no considerations.

The constitutional amendment says they shall be drawn so that it does not benefit either party, nor does it hurt either or any political party or any party.

I know this comes up sometimes when you talk about merit selection of judges, for instance, how do you make sure that people who are selected are well known and qualified but not politically connected?

So let me ask you, how do you make sure that these applicants won't be politically connected so that people know who they are?

What are you looking for in applicants?

The applicants for the commission we're looking for?

The criteria is in the constitutional amendment.

We want people who do belong to one party or the other majority a party, and then a group, an equal group that belong to neither party of.

We want there will be a questionnaire, obviously a screening questionnaire that will be part of the process.

We're looking for people who are registered voters who participate, who are not connected with politicians.

The party of being donors, you know, that sort of connection.

And then they will their name will be vetted by the screening venue that we are, that we will be brought to, you know, to be involved here.

And I here's the other thing.

It's all public.

So when they get down to the end and there's a group of people that are known, you know, their names will be out there and then further selection process has to be made.

I would like everything the public could weigh in.

And if the public could, you know, this is a far fetched example, but I'm giving you.

Let's say someone checks out as being truly a Democrat and a out ticks all the boxes, etc., and was being in that pool.

And then a neighbor, shall we just this is the political activity that I saw this person involved with, you know, for a fundraiser, for an opponent, for a member of the legislature.

And I know that because I was invited to attend, you know, that sort of thing.

So that would be a disqualifier.

That sort of that sort of activity would be a disqualifier, number one.

It would be a disqualifier because it was not disclosed.

And number two, that's not the type of involvement that we want.

We ask you about the certain opposition that you're going to find in this proposal.

We were already seeing some of that.

Both the citizens commission would draw the maps and that the Ohio Supreme Court, which like to special master.

So your challenges to the map, you've got members of the legislature say they are the only ones who can draw a map, and that's because they are the ones that should be held accountable to voters.

When the map drawing process, which an unelected commission cannot be.

Well, I know what they're saying, and that's kind of a new twist on things.

But let's keep in mind, this is a constitutional amendment.

Okay.

So this is the governing document, which is this amendment when the citizens of Ohio passed this amendment, it becomes part of our Constitution and it will end gerrymandering.

It will be specific on the duties and the responsibilities that the various entities will have.

And again, the goal is to take politics and politicians and special interest groups and lobbyists out of the process so that we have fair, non-jury mandated districts in Ohio.

So that should be a welcome of consequence to anybody who is mindful and concerned with the of the future of Ohio.

Senate President Matt Hoffman was heavily involved in the creation of the two amendments that are in the Constitution right now that deal with the Ohio Redistricting Commission and that essentially banned gerrymandering.

He said through his spokesperson, John Fortney, quote, so-called citizen led commissions or anything, but that they are proxy votes and puppets of partizan, special interest groups like Eric Holder's and the PRC.

What's your response to that?

I don't know what he bases that on, but the citizens groups are our puppets.

That's that is unfounded.

I think, quite frankly, we have taken extensive steps to contain the matters in this amendment that is going to make sure that they are independent of political influence.

Yes, they will be registered Republicans.

Yes, they will be registered Democrats and yes, they will be voters who belong to neither party.

But there is a provision, if you read the amendment, there is a provision that says if you are a commissioner and someone approaches you from a party or in some way and tries to influence you in this matter, making your duties the responsibility according to the Constitution, you are obligated to report that.

And and it becomes public.

And that's the transparency here.

So the criticism I would say that you have either read the amendment or if they have read the amendment, they're purposely grasping at straws.

Some are thought the Ohio redistricting Commission coming to an agreement on a tenure map would be an incentive for both parties to work together.

And it turned out to not be that way at all.

So are you worried that there are potential pitfalls like that here, things that seem like they might be incentives or good things, but will turn out not to be?

Are you worried about that?

No, I don't think so at all, because let's you know, let's start from the premise that these are citizens.

They're not protecting their turf.

They're not protecting their party.

They're not protecting a lobbyist or a special interest group, an industry or utility.

They are here to draw their district maps and their food restaurant maps.

So they have no incentive to do anything other than that.

And we do have in the in the amendment, we have if there is, what would be an impasse, there's a method in the amendment to rectify that.

So, no, I'm not concerned at all.

In fact, I don't think the impasse part of this amendment will ever be used.

Voters had a chance to put an independent commission into the redistricting process in 2005, and they overwhelmingly rejected that.

What makes you think that this time voters will approve it?

I think that we experience that was 2021, 2022 with the unconstitutional maps that were put forth by this commission that we have now, the redistricting commission, and is still in existence and the awakening of what was going on, I think points to the fact we need to get politicians out so we can stop gerrymandering, make gerrymandering a thing of the past, not anything that will go forward in the future.

And I think that's appealing.

You know, we've got some proof just recently in the election that citizens in Ohio are involved.

We care about their their government.

They care about their state, and they care about the Constitution and the powers in their Constitution that are reserved for the people.

And the fact that they can make things happen when they vote.

And I don't think that there's this past election and the results of that election were so encouraging to those of us who believe in the power of the people.

Now, looking ahead to November 2024, assuming it gets past the attorney general and Val and all the signatures are gathered.

I'm wondering, with the criticism that you got from members of your own party in the whole redistricting process.

Some are even suggesting you should be impeached.

Was Republicans who created issue one specifically citing redistricting as a reason to raise the constitutional amendment voter approval threshold to 60%?

Are you concerned that your involvement in particular will be a problem, especially for Republicans, as you try to get them to vote for this?

I don't worry about that.

I mean, you know, the politics of very small politics of Columbus when it comes to this stuff, the fact that the legislature or members of the legislature were talking about impeaching me and the fact that, you know, I voted the way I did on the seven maps, what came before us.

That's important to people to pay attention, pay attention to things inside Columbus.

But the rest of the voters, the same community of voters that we have in Ohio, are not going to be swayed by the fact that a few politicians may be allowed to be impeached, all because they didn't like that I voted for constitutional lapse while that that's that does that will resume.

I'm sure it will not resonate and you know I think that the voters of Ohio are smarter than them.

Give them credit oftentimes by folks that, you know, I think that that would resonate and it won't.

It just won't.

And finally, I'm just wondering, are you surprised, disappointed, concerned that it has to come to this?

I mean, we had two constitutional amendments, all of this that's happened.

Is this kind of a surprise to you that this is where we are, that we're having to even talk about this, that it wasn't settled with two constitutional amendments?

In retrospect, looking at those moments, realizing who populated the commission, it was doomed to fail.

So you think that this had to go forward, Another step had to be taken and this is the next step?

Oh, I mean, just look at what happened, you know, and look at the makeup.

Where do you step?

Politicians have their own self-image and their own political futures and everything else that is involved in politics.

And you say, would you go to draw a fair and constitutional map that is not going to favor anybody, one party or another party?

Oh, and by the way, yes, you do have a supermajority and you do want that.

You know, if what you're doing, you know, you have that situation where you've got a supermajority and you want to hang on to that power.

That's not good evolution to draw maps, but gosh sakes, it's not so it was doomed to fail.

It truly was doomed to fail.

All right, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, anything else you want to add?

Thank you for the opportunity and the focus on this really very, very consequential amendment.

And I look forward to chatting with you again.

Absolutely.

Do you think people get what redistricting is now?

Oh, you know, they do.

They get what redistricting is.

And I am going to you know, my observation is that thanks to this August election, thanks to this attempt to usurp what power of the people of Ohio and their role in governing themselves.

Thanks to all that, people are now much more aware.

Number one of the Constitution and how the Constitution was changed.

If we hadn't had this election to move the people to 60% rather than the 50 plus one, which, you know, you just talk to, the average citizen would say, what?

That's crazy.

Obviously, you know, 57% of them said what?

That's crazy.

So I but but the the silver lining of having to go through this campaign was that people are now much more educated, much more aware about how you change the Constitution, the power in that constitution that is reserved for the citizens to change the Constitution when they when the legislature is not responding to the needs of the citizens.

And I think that will bode well going forward for any constitutional amendment, because people will understand and they will understand this constitutional amendment in relationship to what happened in 22 with the maps and the fact that there are using unconstitutional maps, they have to use unconstitutional maps of thanks to the federal court and they they understand that.

The language of the amendment is being reviewed by the attorney general.

If it's approved, it goes to the ballot board.

If it's certified, they're the group could start gathering 413,487 signatures before July 3rd to make the November 2024 ballot.

Next week, we'll hear another perspective on this proposed amendment from a Republican who worked with the Ohio Redistricting Commission on the maps it produced.

He says the amendment could open the door to gerrymandering and that it doesn't fix the problem with the process as it is now.

And that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News dot org or you can find us online by searching state of Ohio show.

And please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual providing more than 1.4 million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at med mutual dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country, Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

More at Porter right dot com.

And from the Ohio Education Association representing 124,000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OHEA.org.