Election Recap: SB 5 Repeal, Judicial Age Limit Unchanged and Health Care Amendment Passes

Ohio voters rejected two statewide ballot initiatives while approving a third in the Nov. 8 general election. The results of the vote on these statewide issues maintains the current age limit for judges, repeals changes to Ohio’s collective bargaining laws as passed in Senate Bill 5 and adds an amendment to the Ohio Constitution regarding health care mandates.

Issue 1:

By rejecting Issue 1 with 62 percent of the vote against, voters shot down a potential increase to the age limit to be elected or appointed to judicial office. The measure sought to increase the current age limit of 70 to age 76. While there isn’t much immediate impact to the rejection of this measure, the results of this vote will have an impact on the potential candidates running for the Ohio Supreme Court, including preventing some of the sitting justices from running for re-election.

Issue 2:

With a no vote on Issue 2 by a margin of nearly 2-1, voters repealed changes to Ohio’s collective bargaining law contained in Senate Bill 5. As passed, SB 5 only permitted public employees to collectively bargain for wages, prevented them from collectively bargaining for health insurance and pensions, prohibited all public employees from striking and increased employee contributions for pensions and health care. The Kasich administration backed the legislation to provide what the administration said would lead to savings of more than $1 billion a year and help local governments absorb steep cuts in state funding in the current budget. It is unclear as to the next steps after the repeal of SB 5. However, with Republicans still in control of both chambers of the Ohio legislature and the governor’s office, proposals may be developed that contain some of the less controversial aspects of SB 5, like asking public employees to make a greater contribution to their health insurance.

Issue 3:

In what will not have the far-reaching impact that its supporters originally envisioned, Ohio voters approved the Ohio Health Care Amendment by a 65-35 margin. The measure amends Ohio’s constitution to stop any state law from forcing persons, employers or health care providers from participating in a health care system. The goal of the legislation was to exempt Ohio from the insurance mandates contained in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, since federal law supersedes state law, the measure will not have that impact. The individual mandate in the ACA most likely will end up being decided by the United States Supreme Court. The future ramifications of the passage of Issue 3 are still to be determined, especially since the definition of “health care system,” as contained in the ballot initiative, is not clear.