This proposed amendment would:

1. Be for the purpose of creating and preserving jobs and stimulating economic growth in all areas of Ohio by improving local government public infrastructure, including roads and bridges, expanding Ohio's research and development capabilities to promote product innovation and commercialization, and preparing sites and facilities for economic development in Ohio.

2. Declare that local government public infrastructure, and financial assistance for research and development and development of sites and facilities in Ohio for and in support of industry, commerce and distribution (all referred to together as "development purposes") are public purposes.

3. Authorize the state to issue bonds to finance, or assist in financing, public infrastructure capital improvements for local governments. Authorize the state to issue bonds to provide financial assistance for research and development in support of Ohio industry, commerce, and business, and authorize state and local governments and state supported and state-assisted institutions of higher education to issue bonds and provide other financial assistance to support research and development purposes as provided for by law. Authorize the state to issue bonds to pay costs, or assist others in the payment of costs, of projects for the purpose of developing sites and facilities in Ohio.

4. Limit the total principal amount of general obligation bonds issued under this amendment for financing development purposes as follows: no more than $1.35 billion for local government public infrastructure with no more than $120 million in each of the first five fiscal years and no more than $150 million in each of the next five fiscal years; no more than $500 million for research and development purposes with no more than $100 million in each of the first three fiscal years and no more than $50 million in any other fiscal year; and no more than $150 million for developing sites and facilities with no more than $30 million in each of the first three fiscal years and no more than $15 million in any other fiscal year; provided that any principal amount that in any prior fiscal year could have been but was not issued may also subsequently be issued.

5. Require bonds for infrastructure capital improvements and developing sites and facilities mature no later than thirty (30) years after their date of issuance and for research and development purposes mature no later than twenty (20) years after their date of issuance, and that any refunding obligations mature no later than the permitted maturity date for the obligations being refunded; and provide that bonds for research and development purposes and developing sites and facilities will not be subject to the limits on state debt service under Section 17 of Article VIII or the prohibitions against lending aid and credit in Sections 4 and 6 of Article VIII of the Ohio Constitution.

6. Authorize the General Assembly to pass laws providing for its implementation, including laws providing procedures for issuing obligations, ensuring the accountability of all state funding provided for development purposes, restricting or limiting the taking by eminent domain of private property for disposition to private sector entities for research and development and the development of sites and facilities, and for the implementation of the research and development purposes to benefit people and businesses otherwise qualified for the receipt of funding in all areas of Ohio, including economically disadvantaged business and individuals in all areas of the state, including by the use Ohio products, materials, services and labor to the extent practicable.

IF PASSED THIS AMENDMENT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

In order to expand to all electors the choice to vote by absentee ballot in all elections, this amendment would:

· Provide that any person qualified to vote in an election is entitled during the thirty-five days prior to the election to receive and to cast a ballot by mail or in person at the county board of elections or additional location designated by the board. No reason for casting such a ballot shall be required. When a ballot is mailed to an elector, the county board of elections shall also provide a pre-addressed, postage pre-paid envelope for returning the ballot to that county board of elections.

· An elector to whom a ballot has been mailed, but which has not been received by the issuing county board of elections prior to the election, may cast a provisional ballot on election day. If the elector's first ballot is received by the tenth day following the election, the provisional ballot shall not be counted. A ballot which is received by the issuing board by mail no later than the tenth day following the election shall be treated as timely cast if it contains a postmark not later than the day of the election.

IF PASSED THIS AMENDMENT WILL BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

SHALL THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED?

Yes

In order to establish revised limits on political contributions, establish prohibitions regarding political contributions and provide for revised public disclosure requirements of campaign contributions and expenditures, this amendment would:

· Establish the following limits on political contributions:

Annual limitation on contributions by individuals: $25,000 in total to all candidates for state executive offices and member of the General Assembly, political parties, PACs, multi-candidate PACs, and small donor PACs.

Contributions from individuals: $50 to a small donor PAC; $500 to a political action committee; $1,000 to a candidate for member of the general assembly, a multi-candidate PAC, or a county or local political party; $2,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office; and $5,000 to a national or state political party.

Contributions from political action committees (PACs): $500 to a candidate for member of the General Assembly or another PAC or multi-candidate PAC and $1,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office or a political party.

Contributions from multi-candidate PACs: $500 to a PAC; $1,000 to a candidate for member of the general assembly or another multi-candidate PAC; $2,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office or a county or local political party; and $10,000 to a national or state political party.

Contributions from small donor PACs: $500 to a PAC; $1,000 to a multi-candidate PAC; $5,000 to a local or county political party; $10,000 to a candidate for member of the general assembly; $20,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office; and $25,000 to a national or state political party.

Contributions from candidates' committees: $500 to a candidate for member of the general assembly; a PAC or multi-candidate PAC and $1,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office or a political party.

Contributions from affiliated national, state, county, and local political parties combined: $25,000 to a candidate for member of the general assembly and $100,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office.

· Provide that limits on contributions to candidates are per election; all other limits are per year; limits on contributions to political parties apply to all donations regardless of purpose; and limits on contributions to and by PACs apply as a single limit on affiliated committees.

· Define a "small donor action committee" as a PAC that receives contributions only from individuals of no more than $50 per year per contributor, except that a non-profit membership organization may contribute funds from regular membership dues of its members to small donor action committees that it establishes or are established by a non-profit membership organization with which it is a member or affiliated, provided that no more than $50 per year per member may be contributed.

· Define a "multi-candidate political committee" as a PAC that has been in existence for at least six months, received contributions from at least 50 individuals in the 24 months preceding qualifying, and made contributions to at least five candidates with no more than half being to one candidate.

· Define "independent expenditure" as an expenditure made with a purpose of influencing a candidate election, that is not made in coordination, cooperation, or consultation with any candidate at the election; and also as any communication to the public during the period 60 days prior to a primary or general election that contains a reference to a person who is a candidate at the election for state executive office or member of the General Assembly, regardless of the purpose of the communication.

· Establish restrictions on contributions, including by political parties and corporations and other business entities and from individuals under age 18 and prohibit earmarked contributions.

· Prohibit statewide and general assembly candidates and office holders from:

o Soliciting contributions to more than one political action committee, small donor action committee or multi-candidate political committee in a calendar year.

o Soliciting contributions to a committee supporting or opposing a state ballot issue.

o Appearing in advertising in connection with a state ballot issue, unless the candidate or the candidate's campaign committee pays the entire cost.

· Require public disclosure of political contributions and expenditures, including independent expenditures. Require candidates for state executive offices or member of the general assembly to electronically file with a single office within one business day of receipt of a contribution in the amount of $1,000 or more received during the period 30 days before an election.

· Provide for no limits on a candidate's capacity to spend his or her own money in connection with his or her own campaign, and have the effect of repealing existing law allowing an opponent to be exempt from contribution limits.

· Permit labor unions, and other nonprofit unincorporated membership organizations, to contribute funds from regular membership dues paid by the organization's individual members to a small donor action committee. The small donor action committee is not required to report the names of individuals who contribute in this fashion.

· Prohibit committees registered with and regulated by the Federal Election Commission from making contributions or independent expenditures in connection with any nonfederal candidate election in this state or making a contribution to a political party in this state for nonfederal elections.

· Prohibit out-of-state political parties and candidate campaign committees from making contributions or expenditures in connection with any candidate election or making a contribution to a political party in the state.

· Prohibit candidates from receiving contributions from political action committees, small donor action committees or multi-candidate political committees if the candidate exercises any decision making authority with respect to the committee or has solicited contributions to the committee in the current or prior four years

SHALL THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED?

Yes

To provide for the creation of a state redistricting commission with responsibility for creating legislative districts, this amendment would:

· Replace the current provisions of Article XI of the Ohio Constitution, including the two existing separate processes for creating legislative districts and for electing representatives to Congress and representatives and senators to the Ohio General Assembly with a new state commission.

· Provide that the new commission would be composed of five members, two of whom would be chosen by sitting judges, and the remaining members appointed by the first two or chosen by lot. The terms of the members of the commission shall be until the later of the adoption of the redistricting plans required to be adopted under the Article or the conclusion of all litigation in any court regarding such plans or the commission's responsibilities, actions or operations.

· Provide that a primary criterion to be utilized by the new commission in creating legislative districts would be to ensure that the districts are competitive, according to a mathematical formula contained in the Amendment.

· Provide that the commission must adopt a qualifying plan with the highest "competitiveness number," as defined in the proposed Amendment. The Amendment defines the "competitiveness number" of a plan by a mathematical formula, that is the product of the number of balanced districts multiplied by two, plus the total number of other remaining competitive districts, minus the total number of unbalanced uncompetitive districts multiplied by two. The competitiveness number for a general assembly plan is the sum of the competitiveness number for the house of representatives districts and the competitiveness number for the senate districts. Provide that the "measure of competition" of a legislative district be based on a calculation using the two average partisan indexes for the district, which are calculated on the basis of the percentage of votes received by each of the two partisan candidates who received the two highest vote totals statewide in each of the three closest general elections during the four previous even-numbered years prior to adopting a redistricting plan, keeping the index for one of the partisan affiliations always as the minuend and the index for the other partisan affiliation always as the subtrahend from district to district throughout a redistricting plan.

· Provide that the commission may consider whether to alter a plan to preserve communities of interest based on geography, economics, or race, so long as the reconfiguration does not result in a competitiveness number that is more than two points lower for a congressional plan and four points lower for a general assembly plan.

· Provide that the commission may design and adopt a redistricting plan if the plan meets the same criteria and has a competitive number equal to or greater than each submitted qualifying plan.

· Provide a method for the commission to assign state districts for senators whose term do not expire at the end of the first even-numbered year following adoption of the plan.

· Provide that legislative district boundaries shall change in 2007 and, thereafter, every year ending in one following a federal decennial census.

· Provide that the supreme court of Ohio has exclusive original jurisdiction involving redistricting plans adopted under the amendment, but limits such jurisdiction to ordering the commission to perform duties required under the amendment and prohibit the court from revising or adopting a plan.

· Provide for open meetings, public hearings, and certain public record requirements regarding the activities of the commission.

· Provide that the general assembly must appropriate sufficient funds for the commission to perform its duties. The commission may expend funds as it, in its discretion, deems necessary

SHALL THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED?

Yes

· Eliminate responsibility of the elected Ohio Secretary of State to oversee elections.

· Create an appointed board of nine members to administer statewide elections and oversee the existing county boards of elections.

· Provide that the members of the board are appointed as follows: four by the governor, four by the members of the general assembly affiliated with the political party that is not the same as that of the governor, and one by a unanimous vote of the chief justice and justices of the Ohio Supreme Court. The member appointed by the Supreme Court may not be affiliated with a political party. The governor and members of the general assembly must appoint equal numbers of men and women and take into consideration the geographic regions and racial diversity of the state. Members would serve staggered nine-year terms. Members may not hold any elective or other appointive public office, be a candidate for public office, hold a position with a political party, or be a registered lobbyist, and would be prohibited from making or soliciting political contributions and being involved in a candidate or ballot issue campaign.

· Require the state board of elections supervisors to hire an administrative director, to prescribe uniform procedures to be followed by the county boards of elections, to appoint and remove members of the county boards of elections in accordance with statutory provisions, to certify the petitions of candidates for statewide offices and petitions for statewide ballot issues, to certify all equipment and systems used for voting and counting of votes, to approve ballot language for all statewide issues, and to maintain a statewide voter registration file.

· Require the General Assembly to set a reasonable level of compensation for the members of the state board of elections supervisors and to appropriate sufficient funds for the board to be able to fully perform it duties and to compensate such staff and to acquire such equipment, supplies and office space as necessary for such performance.

SHALL THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED?

Yes