ResponsibleOhio Exceeds County Minimum, but Falls Short on Signatures for Ballot Initiative Proposal

Update 7/20/15 3:52 p.m EST: According to a press release issued by ResponsibleOhio, the Ohio Secretary of State's Office has announced that RO has qualified in 73 of Ohio's 88 counties, exceeding the 44-county minimum requirement. However, the organization "did not reach the statewide threshold of 305,591 [signatures]," ResponsibleOhio Spokesperson Faith Oltman told Cannabis Business Times. "We still need to collect about 30,000 valid signatures to reach that mark."

RO has 10 days to secure the additional signatures required.

By Noelle Skodzinski

At the end of June, political action committee ResponsibleOhio submitted the required number of signatures to get a marijuana-legalization initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot. The group turned in 695,273 signatures; it was required to collect the equivalent of "5 percent of the total vote cast for governor last year, or nearly 306,000," reported the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Thursday, however, the Franklin County Board of Elections found more than half of the submitted signatures submitted for that county to be invalid, according to various media reports. "According to the Franklin County Board of Elections, ResponsibleOhio had 42,773 valid signatures on petitions circulated in Franklin County, with 63,581 not valid," reports WCMH-TV Columbus. Central Ohio NPR News and Music reported the same figures from the Franklin County BOE.

The signature validation process is not yet complete, however, and ResponsibleOhio has not yet been notified of the overall results. The group is required to have enough valid signatures from registered voters in at least half of Ohio's 88 counties.

"We are still waiting to hear back from the Ohio Secretary of State about whether or not we have turned in enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot," ResponsibleOhio Spokesperson Faith Oltman told Cannabis Business Times. "Tomorrow is the deadline," she noted.

In addition to the shortfall in Franklin County, the group "is bracing for the possibility that not enough valid signatures were submitted from registered voters in Hamilton County and Lucas County," according to the Courier.

If the group finds out that it does not have a sufficient number of valid signatures, it will have 10 days to obtain the required number of valid signatures, according to Ohio law, explained by Ballotpedia.org. Once the second batch of signatures are submitted, "county elections offices must verify the relevant part-petitions within eight days, and the Ohio secretary of state must certify or reject the petition by 65 days before the election. If a petition is rejected as insufficient after the secondary submission of signatures, the same petition cannot be resubmitted by petitioners."

ResponsibleOhio's proposed amendment "would add a new section 12 to Article XV of the Ohio Constitution to provide for the legalization of the use of medical marijuana by patients with debilitating medical conditions if a medical marijuana certification has been provided by the patient’s treating physician and the use of marijuana and marijuana-infused products for personal use in amounts of one ounce or less by individuals 21 years of age or older, by providing, among other provisions."

The amendment also calls for the establishment of an Ohio Marijuana Control Commission, to be comprised of Ohio residents appointed by the Governor, "to regulate the acquisition, growth, cultivation, extraction, production, processing, manufacture, testing, distribution, retail sales, licensing, and taxation of medical marijuana, marijuana and marijuana-infused products and the operations of marijuana establishments, and the growth and cultivation of homegrown marijuana, as defined in the Amendment."

It would establish Commission-licensed "retail marijuana stores ('RMS') to sell marijuana and marijuana-infused products to individuals 21 years of age or older for personal use and that marijuana and marijuana-infused products for personal use may be sold only by such state licensed and regulated stores. The Commission would determine the number of RMSs that may be within any political subdivision. However, the total number of stores statewide would be limited by the ratio of one to ten thousand based on the state’s population ...."

The amendment calls for a "special flat tax of 15% on all gross revenue of each MGCE facility and MPM facility, and 5% on all gross revenue of each retail marijuana store, without any deduction for expenses or distribution of any profit. Such tax would be collected and distributed by the state as follows:

- 55% to a Municipal and Township Government Stabilization Fund to be distributed to all municipalities and townships on a per capita basis to be used for public safety and health, including police, fire and emergency medical services, road and bridge repair, and other infrastructure improvements;

- 30% to a Strong County Fund to be distributed to all counties on a per capita basis to be used for public safety and health, including police, fire and emergency medical services, road and bridge repair, and other infrastructure improvements; and

- 15% to a Marijuana Control Commission Fund to be distributed in the following order for:

- the reasonable and necessary costs of operating the Commission;

- funding for the marijuana innovation and business incubator established under the Amendment;

- to the extent the Commission so elects, the reasonable and necessary operating costs of the not-for-profit medical

marijuana dispensaries established under the Amendment;

- mental health and addiction prevention and treatment programs and services; and

- to the extent that the Commission so elects, a program to provide low-cost medical marijuana to qualifying

patients who are unable to afford the full cost."

Also, "in addition to the special flat tax, each MGCE facility, MPM facility and RMS would be required to pay the state commercial activities tax and all other taxes, assessments, fees and charges as are required to be paid by businesses in general and would be prohibited from receiving any credit, deduction or abatement that is unavailable to other businesses."

The establishment of "Medical Marijuana Not-For-Profit Dispensaries" is also called for in the amendment.

One point of contention among opponents to the amendment is regarding its specification of "10 site-specific locations for Commission licensed Marijuana Growth, Cultivation and Extraction ('MGCE') facilities. ... Providing that marijuana and medical marijuana may be grown, cultivated and extracted for sale and medical use only at these state regulated and licensed facilities. One of each of the ten specified sites is in the following counties: Butler, Clermont, Franklin, Hamilton, Licking, Lorain, Lucas, Delaware, Stark, and Summit."

In addition, the amendment provides "for Commission licensed Marijuana Product Manufacturing (“MPM”) facilities to produce marijuana- infused and medical marijuana-infused products and that such products may be produced only at these state regulated and licensed facilities."

Unlike other legalization measures that open the market up to applications for licenses from hopeful cultivators and dispensaries once the legalization passes, the actual cultivation sites are laid out in the ResponsibleOhio amendment:

"Subject to the exceptions set forth herein, there shall be only ten MGCE facilities, which shall operate on the following real properties:

(1) Being an approximate 40.44 acre area in Butler County, Ohio, identified by the Butler County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel numbers Q6542084000008 and Q6542084000041;

(2) Being an approximate 13.434 acre area in Clermont County, Ohio, identified by the Clermont County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel numbers 413103B284 and 373103E301;

(3) Being an approximate 19.117 acre area in Franklin County, Ohio, being a portion of a larger parent parcel which is identified by the Franklin County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 040-004959-00. The approximate 19.117 area is described as follows: all of the real property being described as Franklin County, Ohio, tax parcel number 040-004959-00, less and except the portion of such tax parcel lying south of the centerline of the stream known as Grant Run Tributary No. 3;

(4) Being an approximate 24.466 acre area in Hamilton County, Ohio, identified by the Hamilton County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 500-0081-0004;

(5) Being an approximate 35.031 acre area in Licking County, Ohio, identified by the Licking County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 063-140952-00.000;

(6) Being an approximate 76.83 acre area in Lorain County, Ohio, being a portion of two larger parent parcels which are identified by the Lorain County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel numbers 03-00-053-108-013 and 03-00-054-102-008. The approximate 76.83 acre area is described as follows: all of the real property being described as Lorain County, Ohio tax parcel numbers 03-00-053-108-013 and 03-00-054-102-008, less and except the portions of such tax parcels lying northerly of a line located 2,100 feet southerly of and parallel with Colorado Avenue (also known as State Route 611);

(7) Being an approximate 28.459 acre area in Lucas County, Ohio, identified by the Lucas County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 22-74697;

(8) Being an approximate 24.948 acre area in Delaware County, Ohio, identified by the Delaware County Auditor, as of February 13, 2015, as tax parcel number 419-230-01-035-000;

(9) Being an approximate 27.18 acre area in Stark County, Ohio, identified by the Stark County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 7701271; and

(10) Being an approximate 29.0052 acre area in Summit County, Ohio, identified by the Summit County Auditor, as of February 2, 2015, as tax parcel number 3009928."

Adding to the concern of a cannabis-market monopoly is the plan that those 10 sites will be owned by campaign investors. "ResponsibleOhio's proposed constitutional amendment would establish a legal marijuana industry fueled solely by marijuana grown at 10 sites, which would be owned and operated by investor groups. The organization has revealed a dozen investors including basketball all-star Oscar Robertson, former Browns player Frostee Rucker and fashion designer Nanette Lepore, a Youngstown native, and has promised to reveal more in the coming months," reported Cleveland.com.

"Ten state-registered limited liability corporations had contributed $1.7 million to ResponsibleOhio's political action committee before the end of January, according to a campaign finance filing with the Ohio secretary of state. The group had spent $1.3 million at that point, mostly on political consulting from The Strategy Network, run by ResponsibleOhio Executive Director Ian James, and attorneys," the article continued. "Funneling campaign contributions through LLCs isn't illegal, but it adds another layer of mystery to a plan criticized for its secrecy."

In the article, Jon Allison of the Drug Free Action Alliance, "The almost complete lack of transparency that we've seen from this group makes it hard to comment intelligently on whatever they're trying to accomplish here. When they could come out and explain to the public exactly what they intend to do with these proposed sites and who's going to be involved, they choose instead not to do that."

Cleveland.com notes, "Nine of those 10 LLCs filed securities offerings with the SEC in November, each listing $4 million investments for a total of $36 million. The filings list James, public policy consultant Chris Stock and investor James Gould as promoters."

You can read ResponsibleOhio's Amendment proposal summary and full text here, as well as register to sign the petition.