ResponsibleOhio has revised its marijuana legalization ballot initiative and resubmitted it to the Ohio Attorney General for approval. The AG must determine that a summary of the proposed constitutional amendment is “fair and truthful” before ResponsibleOhio’s initiative is passed onto the Ohio Ballot Board for additional review. Each step gets the initiative closer to the statewide ballot this November, although the main hurdle remains—collecting over 300,000 signatures by July. This collection process cannot begin until these steps are completed.

The AG rejected ResponsibleOhio’s last submission because the summary was not fair and truthful. The AG has until March 13, 2015 to assess this latest submission. ResponsibleOhio has reportedly made changes to address the AG’s last decision, as well as adding provisions to:

• Allow adults to grow up to four marijuana plants at home
• Lower the retail tax rate from 15% to 5%
• Change a Moraine growing site to one in Delaware County

For a more detailed look at the submission, check out the most recent submission here.

Ohio employers are concerned about maintaining drug-free workplaces in light of potential marijuana legalization.  Thus, the details of ResponsibleOhio’s plan are relatively inconsequential.  If marijuana is legalized and employers still want to test for it as part of their hiring procedures, they may face even more scarcity when it comes to suitable job seekers.

 

Update 3/13/15: The Attorney General certified that ResponsibleOhio’s summary of its proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana is fair and truthful. However, the road to the ballot remains long. Check out our Pro-Biz Politics blog to see just what it takes to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.