Ohio protester / Plunderbund
Ohio Republicans have found themselves in a surprisingly serious bind in their attempt to strip collective bargaining rights for state workers. The bill to strip collective bargaining rights, SB 5, still isn't law and probably never will be. Here's a quick rundown of the situation:
- On March 2nd, the Ohio state Senate passed SB 5, which among many other heinous provisions strips state workers' of their right to collective bargain with their employer. pulled an opponent of the bill off the relevant committee at the last minute.
- In order to be signed into law by Ohio Governor John Kasich, the bill has to pass the Ohio House. However, to put it mildly, the Republican-controlled House doesn't seem eager to pass the Senate bill. For the past three weeks, they have been holding hearings on the bill, and still can't come to an agreement that would generate enough votes for it to pass.
- Unpopularity is likely one of the reasons why the SB 5 has stalled. A recent poll by PPP shows that Ohio voters oppose it by overwhelming margins. If SB 5 was signed into law by John Kaisch and then there was a "citizen's veto" (see below) to overturn it, only 31% would vote to uphold while 54% would vote to overturn. Even though it sometimes seems like Republicans don't care about public opinion when it comes to public policy, at least at the federal level it's actually pretty rare for legislators to pass unpopular bills. And when they do pass unpopular bills, they always seem to face drastic electoral repercussions.
- Finally, even if Republicans do come to an agreement to pass the extremely unpopular SB 5, it still seems unlikely that the bill will ever become law. While Ohio lacks recall provisions for elected officials beyond the local level, they do have a a statewide citizen's veto which allows them to block and overturn unpopular laws. If, within 90 days of Kasich signing the bill, local unions can gather petition signatures from registered voters in Ohio equaling 6% of the vote in the last statewide election, then they can delay the bill from becoming law and force a statewide vote on it in the next general election. Given that the 6% threshold is not a heavy lift, and given how unpopular the bill is, it's hard to see how this bill ever becomes law whether or not Ohio Republicans figure out a way to reconcile their differences.
So, what have Ohio Republicans accomplished with SB 5? Not much, other than making John Kasich, and likely themselves, extremely unpopular. And looking at the national picture, there isn't a worse state for a political party to nuke it's own popularity than Ohio.