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Legal protest filed against Blackwell's proposed constitutional amendment

Friday, February 24, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Donald J. McTigue, 614-263-7000
Thursday, February 23, 2006 or Jenny Camper at 614-224-0658

LEGAL PROTEST FILED TODAY AGAINST TEL/TABOR PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PETITIONS

COLUMBUS - Opponents of the proposed constitutional amendment that would force a rigid budgeting formula on Ohio state and local governments today filed a legal protest against the initiative petitions with the Clark, Clermont, Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Lorain County Boards of Elections.

The grounds for the protest are stated in a letter sent to the counties (see attached letters). The letter states specific defects on the part-petitions filed last year for the proposed tax and expenditure limitation (TEL) amendment in Ohio.

“Our review of these petitions has revealed numerous problems and inconsistencies,” said Bill Faith, the official protester and an opponent of the proposed constitutional amendment. “The petitions are just like the amendment itself, sloppy and poorly done. A constitutional amendment of this importance and complexity needs to be approached with a lot more care.”

The legal filing today specifies three broad grounds for protest:

A number of submitted part-petitions list inaccurate and false employer information. Paid circulators are required by Ohio law to disclose their employer. The part-petitions in question list “Reform Ohio Now,” Citizens for Tax Relief,” "Citizens for Tax Return" or names other than the entity actually paying circulators.
A number of part-petitions have a false number of total signatures per sheet as reported and witnessed by the circulator. Ohio law requires circulators to state the number of signatures he or she witnessed on each part-petition. Some part-petitions have a wrong number, and in others the number was changed to a different number by unknown persons. In both cases, the entire part-petition must be ruled invalid.
A number of part-petitions do not accurately state the compensation of circulators. Ohio law requires a circulator to complete a compensation statement prior to circulating a part-petition. In this instance, part-petitions contained compensation information that was omitted, false, altered or interlineated, which would invalidate the entire part-petition.

A number of Ohio organizations and individuals representing local governments, as well as police, fire and public safety professionals, teachers and school administrators, doctors and healthcare workers, higher education, senior citizens, business, labor, faith communities, environmental groups and more oppose the proposed tax and expenditure (TEL) or Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) constitutional amendment. The Coalition for Ohio’s Future is a nonpartisan, non-profit coalition of more than 140 Ohio organizations that oppose the TEL/TABOR amendment. Visit the web site at www.ohiosfuture.org .

The TEL/ TABOR proposal limits growth in state and local budgets through a formula of inflation (the Consumer Price Index) plus population growth, or 3.5 percent, whichever is greater. Under this rigid formula, budgets are squeezed over time, with no flexibility to address the realities of funding for public services. A policy that equates the items purchased by average consumers to the large-scale goods and services purchased by government cannot work. Especially given that costs associated with education and healthcare – the two main areas of government spending – rise much faster than the rate of inflation.

As written, the amendment is fraught with problems and sloppy language. One example is the issue of local governments and various political subdivisions’ ability to hold special elections to override the TEL budget formula. The amendment requires that any local tax increase or spending increase beyond the constitutional spending cap would require the "approval of a majority of electors in that political subdivision," not just a majority of those electors voting. This means that if the voter turnout for local election on a tax increase or spending increase fell below 50 percent, the measure would automatically fail because the issue would need the approval of a majority of all those registered to vote, not just those voting. In November 2004, Ohio voters approved 114 school levies, but if the TABOR “majority of electors” rule had been in effect only 11 of them would have passed.

In addition, the TEL/TABOR amendment could affect Ohio’s solid bond rating. Ohio has a very positive AA+ bond rating. Compare that with Colorado which was actually put on a “credit watch” by Moody’s Investor Services in 2000 as a result of TABOR. In 2002, Standard and Poor’s put Colorado under a “negative credit watch” also as a result of TABOR. Governing Magazine ranks Colorado's financial management among the worst in the country, due to TABOR. Decreased credit ratings would cost taxpayers millions more in interest on future borrowings.

The CFOF warns that Ohio’s TABOR/TEL is virtually identical to one passed 12 years ago in Colorado, where it has been a proven failure. In the only state where this particular budget formula has been tried, it has seriously compromised Colorado’s ability to keep pace with higher education, public safety, roads and transportation needs, healthcare and more. In fact, Colorado voters approved Referendum C last November which placed a five-year moratorium on its TABOR, so that the state can restore funding to critical services.

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