On
June 29, 2006, the UAW and the small group of claimant attorneys spearheading
the workers' compensation reform bill (SB 7) referendum filed 14,256
part petitions (pages with signatures) totaling 230,415 signatures with
the Secretary of State's office. For a copy of the statewide referendum
petition filed by this group with the Secretary of State CLICK
HERE.
What are the requirements for this issue to be on the ballot?
This group was required to file 193,740 valid signatures (6 percent
of votes cast in the 2002 gubernatorial election) by 5 p.m. on, June
29. In addition, 3 percent of the valid signatures collected must come
from 44 of the 88 counties.
What does this mean?
The provisions not being challenged in SB 7 will become effective, Friday,
June 30, 2006, (90 days after the bill was signed by the Governor and
filed with the Secretary of State. Please see WCReformNotOver.PDF
for a list of the issues being challenged.) The provisions being challenged
in the bill will be "stayed" (meaning these provisions will
not become effective) until it is determined whether or not enough valid
signatures were collected to place the issue on November's ballot.
The Secretary of State's office has informed Tony Fiore, director, labor
& human resources policy, that they have until September 8 to determine
whether all of the signatures are valid. This process is accomplished
by sending the petitions to the local boards of election to validate
that registered Ohio voters have signed these petitions. These signatures
will be "presumed valid" forty (40) days before the general
election unless proven otherwise. If signatures are found to be invalid,
the petitioners have an additional 10 days to "cure" the defect
and file additional signatures. Therefore, we may not know for sure
whether the issue will be on the November ballot until early October.
If this group is successful in collecting enough valid signatures, there
will be a workers’ compensation question on the November 2006 ballot.
This question will ask voters to approve (“Yes” vote) or disapprove
(“No” vote) the specific changes made to Ohio’s workers’
compensation law by legislators in SB 7. A “No” vote in November
would strip the employer provisions negotiated by the Ohio Chamber out
of SB 7, leaving most of the provisions included in the bill for claimants.
Hopefully, this signature gathering campaign will follow historical
trends where invalidation rates can range from 20 to 50 or more percent.
For example, a 20 percent invalidation rate eliminates 46,083 signatures
from the 230,415 signatures submitted, placing the valid signatures
at 184,332, about 9,408 shy of the total needed. But, many things can
happen between now and November.
What happens from now until the election?
Unfortunately, this group challenging SB 7 can continue to collect signatures!
So, make sure to tell friends, family, coworkers, clients or employees
around the state NOT to sign petitions for the UAW’s
challenge to SB 7. The Ohio Chamber will be discussing our strategy
to keep this issue off the November ballot over the next few months.
Please contact Tony Fiore
at 614-228-4201 if your company, or any other business, is interesting
in helping us fight to maintain the pro-business workers' compensation
reforms being challenged. |
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