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Voter rights groups say Ohio GOP voting overhaul threatens the state's citizen initiative process
Field staffers for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol deliver boxes containing petitions with 222,198 signatures to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, July 5, 2023, at the loading dock of the Office of the Ohio Secretary of State, 180 E Broad St in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) A coalition of government watchdog groups are warning state legislation could hobble Ohio's initiative process. Direct democracy has been available to Ohioans since 1912, and citizen-led groups can organize initiated statutes or constitutional amendments. The proposals would create strict new paperwork requirements and add other administrative hurdles like requiring many circulators wear a badge identifying themselves as 'paid' even if they're given something as small as a pen for signature collection. Above and beyond changes to the initiative process, the bills would also eliminate ballot drop boxes and require all voters to show proof of citizenship to cast a ballot. 'Bottom line, this is attack on direct democracy,' Jen Miller from Ohio's League of Women Voters argued. 'This is an attack on local control. It's an attempt to bully, intimidate, harass, and possibly prosecute people just because they want to take part in democracy,' Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer praised the people who grab clipboards and collect signatures to put proposals on the ballot. 'This extreme legislation is an attempt to bully, intimidate, and hassle these front-line heroes,' she argued. The paperwork involved in signature gathering is already complex and time consuming. She explained circulators have to fill out a standard form — name, address, employer, etc. — when they turn in petitions. But the new bills would ratchet up the stakes of that relatively banal procedure. Right now, if the circulator messes something up, they can cross it out and write their initials. Opponents warn of harm to eligible voters if Ohio lawmakers require citizenship documents 'And it is accepted as a change that was legally made,' Turcer explained. 'House bill 233, and Senate bill 153, would make it so that any error here, anything that you made a mistake on, it would mean that the entire booklet would be invalid. And just, I can't imagine the number of signatures that would just get tossed out.' She added that provisions requiring circulators to wear a badge identifying themselves as 'paid' if they accept 'anything of value,' sets an unrealistic standard. 'If I were to give a clipboard and a pen to a volunteer, and a t-shirt that says the name of the campaign,' she explained, 'anything of value would then mean that a circulator would have to get a badge.' That's more paperwork, she said, and thus more chances for something to go wrong. Turcer also criticized a provision requiring an individual to be registered to vote prior to signing a petition, rather than by the time the petition gets filed with election officials. 'One of the things that we often do is check registration before we before people sign,' Turcer explained, 'so that we can get somebody registered as we're doing a ballot measure.' Taking that opportunity away doesn't just reduce their signature count, Turcer argued, 'it also stops that opportunity for a voter-to-voter conversation about, well, this is why you should get registered. These are the things that are coming up on the upcoming ballot.' Ohio Unity Coalition Executive Director Petee Talley drew a straight line from 2023's Issue 1 defeat, which rejected a GOP-led effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution, and the current slate of legislation. She argued the latest bills are 'retribution' for that defeat. Talley took particular offense at the provision requiring signature gatherers wear a badge if they're compensated. 'If I wanted to give a can of cold pop and a slice of pizza to someone and maybe even a t-shirt that (Turcer) alluded to, suddenly they're going to have to add wearing a badge to all of that stuff?' she asked. 'It's nothing but intimidation. It's nothing but bullying,' she argued. 'It's voter harassment, and this is an attack on our voice and our rights, and we're not going to stand for it.' Miller walked through the follow-on consequences of requiring paid circulator badges. Some voters will mistakenly think volunteers who got a slice of pizza are actually getting a paycheck, she said. 'We should expect opposition trackers attempting to catch circulators without their badges,' she added. 'And with the increase in uncivil and polarized rhetoric in political venues, this could result in intimidation or even violence against circulators or voters signing those petitions.' What's more, Miller said, 'boards of elections would have to become badge police.' It's a task they don't have the money, manpower or expertise to carry out, she argued. The requirement voters be registered before signing a petition? Miller said that might be a problem, too. 'We don't even know if boards of elections have the technical capacity right now to verify that a voter registration was valid on the date that the voter signed,' she said. One reason that might not have come up is that, so far, county boards haven't been able to weigh in. The bill's first and second hearing happened during the early voting period for this May's primary election. The third hearing landed on the day boards had to certify the election. Asked whether she thought that was intentional, Miller said, 'I don't think it matters. It's shameful, either way. There is no more important constituent when it comes to democracy bills than the boards of elections.' Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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23-04-2025
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Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments in same-sex parental rights case
The Gavel outside the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, September 20, 2023, at 65 S. Front Street, Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that centers around whether a same-sex couple shares parenting rights to children born through artificial insemination while they were in a relationship in the same way a heterosexual couple would. The court is taking up a challenge to a First District Appeals Court decision in which the appellate court ordered a legal 'would-have-been-married' test to decide whether things would have been different if the couple's potential marriage had been recognized in Ohio. Priya Shahani and Carmen Edmonds were in an 11-year relationship, and three kids carried the hyphenated last names of the two when they were together. Attorneys say marriage was discussed, Edmonds' lawyer said she proposed and Shahani said yes. But a trip to Boston that could have ended in marriage did not, and their home state didn't recognize same-sex marriage. Ohio also doesn't recognize common-law marriages that occurred after 1991. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 2015 Obergefell decision legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, and it required all states to them regardless of where they were performed. But it came after the couple went to Boston, and Shahani and Edmonds were never legally married. When their relationship ended, however, they entered into a shared custody agreement for the three children, an agreement that is in dispute by the couple. The hyphenated names for the children were removed by Shahani after the agreement was already in place. Attorneys want the Ohio Supreme Court to decide whether to apply parental rights to Edmonds in a way that presumes the couple would have been married had it been legal. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Paul Kerridge, attorney for Shahani, called the 'would-have-been-married' standard proposed by the appellate court 'unworkably speculative,' with the potential to cause a ripple effect in the legal world 'because every part, every factor in that standard, would also apply to relationships that didn't include marriage.' 'Really what the First District did here is create common-law marriage without saying that there was a creation of common-law marriage, and creating an exception to a statute without ever saying that's what they were doing,' Kerridge told the court on Tuesday. Obergefell recognizes marriages and allows that same-sex couples should have access to the full 'constellation' of rights under marriage, including parental rights. But does not extend that right to unmarried couples, Kerridge argued. 'Marriages have licenses and they have signatures, and it's a known entity of what kind of relationship and the change in your personal rights and obligations, that's a known entity that you're entering into,' he said. While the case is based on a custody battle, Edmonds' attorney, Jonathan L. Hilton, called custody 'a poor-man's version of parentage.' He said Edmonds struggles to obtain medical records or school records for the children she once shared with Shahani, and didn't receive notice or have legal standing when her last name was removed from the children's surnames. 'So you have children who have hyphenated names — their very identity — being changed, and my client has no more rights in that situation than a babysitter,' Hilton said. The shared custody agreement allows Edmonds to see the kids about 30% of the time, Hilton said. But if a partner of Shahani wanted to enter into the adoption process for the children, Edmonds would have limited rights. Justices went back and forth with the attorneys about whether Obergefell applied to two people who never were legally married, and whether the shared custody agreement was equivalent to a marriage document in terms of giving parental rights. 'It seems like you're advocating for a really impossible standard,' Justice Patrick DeWine said to Hilton. 'You have one parent who says 'I wouldn't have got married,' you've got one parent who says 'I would've gotten married.' How can a court really sort that out? Because no one actually knows what someone would have done, and if they would have been married, the rights would have been different.' Justice Jennifer Brunner pointed to the history of the Obergefell case, in which Ohioan Jim Obergefell's husband was terminally ill, and the two got married on a Maryland tarmac before flying back to Ohio, even though it was not recognized in their state. 'There was that issue of consent there, that both parties wanted it regardless,' Brunner said. 'And what proof do we have of that consent to marry when they didn't get married?' Hilton argues the children's hyphenated names, the shared custody agreement, and the engagement prove a plan was in place for Edmonds and Shahani. 'We have (Shahani's) consent here to shared parentage, and the only way that they could've gotten shared parentage would be to have this kind of union,' Hilton said. Justice Patrick Fischer pushed back, saying the supreme court was not facing a question on the custody agreement, but rather on whether parental rights should extend despite the lack of a marriage license. 'If the shared custody agreement continues, as a matter of fact, I know as a matter of law there may be a difference, but as a matter of fact, day-to-day, for the best interests of the children, anything we decide here doesn't change a thing,' Fischer said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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18-04-2025
- Business
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Trump's tariffs could increase the price of Ohio craft beer
A flight of four craft beers on the bar, June 8, 2023, at Restoration Brew Worx in Delaware, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.) Ohio craft brewers are worried how new tariffs on aluminum, steel and malted barley could raise the price of a pint of beer or a six-pack. President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel imported into the United States, and a 25% tariff on Canadian barley — three things that are vital to the craft beer industry. A tariff is a tax on imported goods. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'The tariffs in general have been chaotic and disruptive to our supply chain,' said Collin Castore, co-founder of Seventh Son Brewery in Columbus. 'It's just … kind of pointless.' Seventh Son produces 5,000 barrels of beer annually — 3,500 is roughly its wholesale volume and about 70% of that is packaged in aluminum cans, he said. The brewery uses roughly 750,000 cans per year. 'Breweries are facing potential tariffs on malted barley, aluminum cans, stainless steel equipment, and energy, all required in the manufacturing of beer,' according to the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. 'The increased prices that importers charge to their business customers to offset tariffs are likely to cause consumer price inflation in the best case scenario and closure of small businesses in the worst.' The U.S. relies on Canadian imports for barley, aluminum, and steel — the three key resources in brewing beer. Barley is the base grain for beer, aluminum is used for packaging beer in cans, and stainless steel is used to brew beer. 'There simply is not enough domestic cultivation of barley or production of primary aluminum to sustain the industries that rely on these products without imports from Canada and elsewhere,' according to the brewers association. Seventh Son bought four months worth of aluminum cans earlier this year, which has helped it keep prices the same, Castore said. 'We take raising prices very seriously,' he said. 'And it's also not really a switch that you can toggle on and off terribly easily. … It's not quite as easy as somebody just signing a blanket tariff order.' Just like in any other industry, some people are going to buy less craft beer if prices go up, Castore said. 'If this kind of chaotic environment continues, general consumer sentiment and spending at some point is going to take a hit, and that affects taprooms and six-pack purchases and everything in between,' he said. During Trump's first term in office in 2018, he slapped a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. For the first time since 2005, the number of craft breweries decreased nationwide in 2024, according to the Brewers Association. There were 9,612 operating U.S. craft breweries in 2024. During that same year, 434 breweries opened while 501 closed. Craft brewers produced 23.1 million barrels of beer in 2024, a 4% decrease from 2023. There were only about 70 breweries in Ohio when Seventh Son opened in 2013 and today there are more than 440, according to the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. Forty-six breweries opened in Ohio last year and 53 breweries are in planning. Ohio craft breweries' economic impact was $1.27 billion in 2022 and more than 12,000 people were employed by Ohio craft breweries that year. Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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18-04-2025
- Business
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International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the U.S.
On the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.) The Trump administration has recently revoked the visas of more than 1,300 foreign college students – detaining some – and launched immigration enforcement actions on college campuses across the country. This has raised concerns among the more than 1.1 million international students studying at U.S. universities. Headlines are filled with perspectives from immigration and civil rights experts, but one aspect of the story often goes overlooked: the tremendous economic impact international students have on local communities. Although the actual impact on enrollment won't be known until the next academic year, interest from foreign students in pursuing graduate-level education in the U.S. fell sharply in the early days of the Trump administration, one analysis showed. If these global scholars stay home, that's bad economic news for cities and towns across the United States. Higher education is America's 10th-largest export, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Yes, even though students are coming into the U.S. for their education, economists consider it an export.) Last year, U.S. colleges and universities attracted international students from 217 nations and territories, including one student from the island nation of Niue in the South Pacific. Their economic contributions added up to more than the value of U.S. telecommunications, computer and information services exports combined. While the national impact is impressive, the effects at the local level are even more important. After all, nearly every city across the U.S. has at least one institution of higher learning. The average international student brings a wallet stuffed with about $29,000 to spend on everything from tuition to pizza. As these students rent apartments, buy books and order DoorDash delivery to fuel all-nighters, they're pumping money into the local community. This money translates into American jobs. On average, a new job is created for every four international students enrolled in a U.S. college or university. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 378,175 jobs were created. And that's just counting jobs that are directly supported by international students, such as local business hiring to staff retail shops and restaurants. If you count those jobs indirectly supported by international students, such as employees at a distribution center, the number is even higher. In any of the 50 largest American cities, you'll find at least one college or university with international students on campus. For these communities, global learners bring a most welcome financial aid package. Consider Boston. Greater Boston hosts more than 50 colleges and universities, including Boston University, where I teach multinational finance and trade. The city's economic gains from the more than 63,000 international students attending these schools are huge: about $3 billion. Prestigious private schools are a draw, but hands down the biggest pull for international students are state universities and colleges. Of the nation's top schools enrolling these students last year, 29 were state colleges and universities, attracting over 251,300 students. In the top three of those public institutions alone − Arizona State University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley − international students contributed nearly $1.7 billion, supporting over 16,800 jobs. Expand that to the top 10 − the University of California system takes four of those spots − and the numbers pop up to $4.68 billion and 47,136 jobs. Yet international students aren't just boosting the economies of major university towns. Consider Mankato, a small city of 45,000 about 80 miles from Minneapolis that hosts a Minnesota State University campus. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 1,716 international students called Mankato their home away from home. Those students brought an infusion of $45.9 million into that community, supporting around 190 jobs. There are dozens of similar campuses in cities and towns like Mankato across the country. It adds up quickly. !function(){'use strict'; 0!== e= t in r=0;r< i= In addition to private and public universities, community colleges attract thousands of global scholars. Although their international enrollment declined during Covid-19, community colleges are resurgent, attracting some 59,315 international students in 2024, with China, Vietnam and Nepal leading the countries-of-origin list. Generating about $2 billion and supporting 8,472 jobs, they have a major economic impact − particularly in Texas, California and Florida, where the majority of these students come to learn. Texas leads the nation with the three community colleges with the largest international enrollment: Houston Community College, Lone Star College and Dallas College. Of the $256.7 million and 1,096 jobs international students brought into those institutions, Lone Star led the pack with $102.3 million and 438 jobs, nearly one job created for every two international students − double the national average. Due to changing demographics, American colleges enroll 2.3 million fewer domestic students than they did a decade ago − a decline of 10.7%. Colleges and universities are increasingly looking to international students to fill the gap. What's more, universities tend to see international students as subsidizing domestic students, particularly since international students are generally ineligible for need-blind admissions. Moreover, the vast majority of international students are funded by family or foreign sponsors. Few require student aid packages. In fact, less than 20% of all international students receive grant funding from a federal source, and most of that goes to postgraduates doing advanced research. If you look at undergraduate exchange students alone, just 0.1% receive any sort of public funding. One thing's for sure: Whether they're attending small-town community colleges or the Ivies in big cities, international students bring a 'high degree' of economic impact with them. This is an updated version of a story originally published Aug. 13, 2024. Barnet Sherman, Professor, Multinational Finance and Trade, Boston University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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18-04-2025
- General
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Same-sex parenting rights under scrutiny in Ohio Supreme Court case set for oral argument this month
The Gavel outside the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) A case regarding parental rights in a same-sex relationship will be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court this month. It could test not only Ohio law but the federal Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. The state's highest court will hold oral arguments in a case appealed from the First District Court of Appeals to decide the parental rights of a woman who was in a relationship with the children's mother when the child was born. But the woman was never married to the mother, and does not have adoptive rights to the children. Priya Shahani and Carmen Edmonds were in a relationship for more than a decade, and had thoughts of getting married. But the bulk of their relationship occurred before the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges, an Ohio-based case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Edmonds argues the couple travelled to Boston with plans to get married, but decided against it, due to the fact that Ohio would not recognize the marriage at that time. The state also does not recognize common-law marriages. During the course of the relationship, Shahani had three children using a sperm donor that court documents say was chosen because he matched Edmonds' nationality. Shahani and Edmonds sought to legally dissolve their relationship after 11 years, an agreement that included scheduled parenting time for Edmonds, but the children still held hyphenated names. It wasn't until after Shahani removed the hyphenate from the children's names and filed to terminate their shared-custody agreement that the case started. Edmonds argued that the couple's 'marriage-like relationship' gave her rights to the children. A lower court awarded Edmonds 'companionship time,' but otherwise effectively ruled against both women. It refused to terminate the shared custody agreement while also not allowing a 'parentage' decree for Edmonds. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX When both went to the First District Court of Appeals for answers, Edmonds brought up the Obergefell case legalizing same-sex marriage. Edmonds argued that under that decision, parental rights statutes apply in this case as they would for married couples. The appellate court said the trial court needed to hold a hearing to decide whether the couple would have been married if the same-sex marriage decision had been in place. Ohio law only recognizes parents if they are married, have a biological connection, or have legally adopted the child, something that requires marriage in the case of the 'second parent.' The ACLU of Ohio said state parentage laws, combined with the Obergefell decision, 'provide a pathway for Ms. Edmonds and other non-biological, non-adoptive, same-sex parents who were unable to have their marriages legally recognized in the state of Ohio during the course of their relationship to establish legal parentage and confer the accompanying rights and responsibilities of parenthood.' Shahani, noted that she made 'the major child-related decisions' including expenses and medical needs. She told the supreme court that giving Edmonds parental rights goes against both state law and the Obergefell decision, even if state statutes were looked at with gender-neutral language. 'This case is about whether Ohio's courts can reinvent history as a mechanism for seizing a fit parent's constitutionally protected rights,' attorneys for Shahani wrote in an October brief to the court. In a state where common-law marriage isn't recognized, the attorneys said the state constitution, as well as the U.S. Constitution, doesn't allow state courts to 'manufacture an unlicensed marriage into existence.' 'The foundation upon which a 'would have been married' standard rests is a hypothetical injury that the individual may have been denied a marriage license if they had applied for one, or the state may not have recognized a marriage had there been an out-of-state marriage,' attorneys told the state supreme court. Shahani refutes Edmonds' claim that the two travelled to Boston to get married, then changed their minds. But even if that were true, the legal result should be no different, she argues. 'Even in Ms. Edmonds's version of events, she would not have been married to Ms. Shahani when the insemination occurred, and therefore would not have parental rights,' court documents stated, citing a state statute regarding artificial insemination of a married woman. The law, effective as of March 2001, specifies a woman 'and her husband' must sign a written consent to the insemination for the 'non-spousal artificial insemination' to occur. The case was mentioned as one of the 'state oral arguments to watch' this month by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU. The center identifies 'prominent or interesting state court cases,' which this month include the Ohio parental rights case, along with a challenge to Wyoming's abortion ban, an appeal to New York City's greenhouse gas emissions caps, the process of electing appellate judges in Arizona and voter power over zoning changes in an area of Georgia where descendants of slaves have historically taken up residence. Oral arguments in the case will be heard on April 22 by the Ohio Supreme Court. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
