Voters in Toledo, Ohio defeated Issue 19, a charter amendment that would have made the amendment process consistent with the process in the Ohio Constitution.

The Amendment would have also reduced the number of signatures required for an elector to initiate an ordinance or referendum from 12% to 7% of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for mayor at the most recent general municipal election.

The Amendment would have also increased the term limit for mayor from two to three consecutive terms.

The Amendment would have also increased the limit for contracts or purchases can be made without authorization by appropriate legislation from $10,000 to $25,000.

Columbus, Ohio Voters passed Issue 19.

Issue 19 is a charter amendment increasing the time that a petition committee has to gather signatures from one year to two years.

The Amendment also adds a 10-day curing period if the initial petition falls short of the required signatures, during which a petition committee may collect more signatures.

Akron City Council Vice President Jeff Fusco introduced an ordinance to increase contribution limits for city candidates.

The ordinance increases contribution limits for individuals giving to mayor and at-large council candidates from $750 to $1,000 per election and increases individual limits for ward council candidates from $500 to $750 per election.

The ordinance allows city candidates to accept campaign contributions or loans of up to $2,500 from any political party or PAC.

If passed, the ordinance would be effective immediately.

Public hearings on the ordinance have been scheduled for July 11 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Ohio State Sen. Sandra Williams announced her resignation this week to take a position in the public sector two months before the end of her term.

Along with resigning from the 21^st Senate District seat, Williams has also withdrawn her name as a candidate for Ohio’s 18^th House District.

The resignation will go into effect on Monday, June 6, and will not trigger a special election in the state.

Interim City Manager of Cincinnati, Ohio, John Curp, approved rules and regulations for the solicitation ban passed by City Council last year.

Ordinance 0415-2021 prohibits councilmembers from soliciting campaign contributions from developers who have an interest before council, created the Office of Ethics & Good Government, and authorized the city manager to establish rules and begin enforcement.

The new rules require all persons or entities who request or apply for city business to disclose financially interested persons by filing a form with the Office of Ethics & Good Government.

The office will maintain a City Business List and a Financially Interested Persons List on their website.

A financially interested person is a person or entity who has a financial interest in city business, including anyone who owns or controls 20% or more of the entity.

Campaigns are prohibited from accepting campaign contributions from a person on the temporary prohibition list.

The new rules and regulations will go into effect May 26.

Two training sessions for elected officials, business leaders, and the public are scheduled for May 20 at 1:30 p.m. and May 23 at 11 a.m. in Room 115 of City Hall.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a directive instructing all boards of elections in the state to remove the names of candidates for Ohio House, Ohio Senate, and State Central Committee from the May 3 primary ballot, stating that the boards of election must reprogram their databases and prepare ballots by April 5, and it is not possible to include the primary contests on the ballot because of the Supreme Court’s decision last week invalidating the February 24, 2022 General Assembly district plan.

The General Assembly has the authority to decide when the election will be held.

They can move the election, or allow the statewide, congressional, and local races to continue on the May 3 ballot and reschedule the General Assembly primary contests for a later date.

Senate Bill 316 was introduced this week to move the primary to June 28.

The Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve the first-ever code of conduct for council members and their staff.

All council members and their staff must sign a copy of the code of conduct and file it with the clerk.

Future council members and staff must sign the document within 45 days of taking office or starting the job.

Mayor Aftab Pureval was also required to create and sign a code of conduct, which he signed and released after the council vote.

It is nearly identical to the council version except the provisions regarding the city’s economic development.

The Office of City Solicitor chose Chris Liu, Chief Hearing Examiner, to be the city’s first head of the new Ethics and Good Government Division.

Two staff members have also been hired for the division, which is working to implement a new hotline for reporting ethics and fraud violations and to expand online resources for viewing campaign contributions.

In a 4-3 decision issued on January 12, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the state House and Senate district maps drawn by Ohio Redistricting Commission are unconstitutional gerrymandering, giving Republicans a 62-37 advantage in the House and 23-10 advantage in the Senate.

The court ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which is dominated by Republicans, to draw new maps in compliance with Article XI, Section 6 of the Ohio Constitution.

The new plan must be adopted within 10 days and the Ohio Supreme Court retains its authority to review any rewrites.

The decision was based in part on the fact that Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved changes to the state constitution to limit partisan line-drawing in 2015.

Emilia Sykes, Minority Leader in the Ohio House, announced she will resign her leadership position at the end of December.

Sykes stated she is considering any and all options to continue to serve her community and will announce a decision in the near future.

Sykes was the first Black female lawmaker in the Ohio Legislature under the age of 30 when she was elected in 2014.

She was elected House Minority Leader by her fellow Democrats in 2019.

Mike Carey is projected to succeed former Rep. Steve Stivers and fill the vacant seat in U.S. House District 15.

Carey, a coal lobbyist backed by former President Donald Trump, is projected to defeat Democrat Allison Russo by 16 percentage points.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio Council Rep. Shontel Brown will succeed former Rep. Marcia Fudge and fill the vacant seat in U.S. House District 11.

Brown, a Democrat, soundly defeated Republican Laverne Gore by over 57 percentage points.

Aftab Pureval defeated City Councilman David Mann to become the first Asian Pacific mayor in Cincinnati’s city history and the only one in the Midwest.

Pureval, a former refugee from New Delhi, is currently the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

Justin Bibb, a nonprofit executive, will be the next mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.

Bibb defeated Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley by 26 percentage points to become the city’s second-youngest mayor.

Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve two ordinances addressing corruption in city government.

Ordinance 0415-2021 prohibits City Council members from soliciting campaign contributions from developers who have an interest in any ordinance before the council.

The ordinance will be effective when council appropriates funding to establish the administrative staffing and enforcement needs imposed by the ordinance.

Emergency Ordinance 0413-2021 is effective immediately and establishes a new position of ethics and good government counselor within the Department of Law to support ethics, election, and campaign finance transparency.

The ordinance transferred $375,000 from the general reserve for weather-related events to fund the position and to buy software to implement a program to make campaign finance disclosures more transparent.