Title and summary certified for proposed ‘Prohibition of Construction of a Data Center’ Constitutional amendment

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has certified the petition title and summary for a proposed constitutional amendment titled “Prohibition of Construction of a Data Center,” which seeks to add Section 36a to Article II of the Ohio Constitution.

“The title and summary are fair and truthful statements of the proposed initiated constitutional amendment,” the response letter sent to the petitioners said. This certification “should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the proposed amendment.”

As the next step in the process, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office will file a verified copy of the constitutional amendment and its certification with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office. 

The petitioners must then collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 10% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Those signatures must come from voters in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and for each of those counties the number must equal at least 5% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.

If sufficient signatures are verified by the Secretary of State’s Office at least 65 days before the election, the full text of the proposed amendment will be placed on the ballot in the next regular or general election that occurs subsequent to 125 days after the filing of the petition.