What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
IO in the News: State Issue 3 — sloppy, costly and way off-target
IO’s president Janetta King recently had an Op-Ed featured in the Akron Beacon Journal on the dangerous consequences of Issue 3.” Since the fate of the ACA’s individual mandate will be decided in the federal courts — and since Article VI of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that federal law takes precedence over state law — it is tempting to conclude that whatever happens with Issue 3 will be meaningless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because while the authors of Issue 3 may have been aiming at “Obamacare,” their amendment is so ambiguous, broadly worded and sloppily written that it could ban, freeze in place and prohibit any future changes to dozens of already existing Ohio laws, rules and reporting requirements on which Ohioans depend to keep us safe and healthy. Moreover, the ambiguous language of Issue 3 would virtually ensure an avalanche of litigation. While this might be welcome news to legions of lawyers, the rest of us would be saddled with millions of dollars in unnecessary legal expenses.”Read the full Op-Ed here.