COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office rejected a petition seeking to amend Article II, Section 34a of the Ohio Constitution, which sets the minimum wage rate.
On Oct. 5, the Attorney General’s Office received the written petition, “Raise the Wage Ohio,” proposing to increase the state minimum wage rate and modify existing requirements for various groups of employees.
The attorney general’s role in the petition process is to determine whether the summary is a fair and truthful representation of the proposed statute. According to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the submitted petition did not meet that requirement.
A response letter sent to the petitioners today says the summary had “numerous omissions that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the actual scope and effect of the proposed amendment to the current constitutional provision.”
The petitioners were encouraged to carefully review the summary to ensure that it accurately captures the proposed statute’s definitions, contents, and limitations before submitting another version.
The full text of the certification letter and the petition can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Petitions.
The current minimum wage in Ohio is $9.30 per hour for non-tipped employees and $4.65 per hour for tipped employees.