The push to raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $13 an hour cleared its first hurdle when the Ohio Attorney General’s Office certified a summary of a petition to change the Ohio Constitution.
Attorney General Dave Yost’s office found that the petition contained the needed 1,000 signatures from registered voters in Ohio and that the language of the petition truthfully explained what the proposed amendment is all about.
Yost said his office would certify the petition, but that it is not taking sides as to whether the amendment should be passed or not.
If the amendment is passed in November, Ohio would raise the state’s current $8.70 an hour minimum wage to $9.60 next year and then raise it yearly until it hits $13 per hour in 2025.
Now it’s up to the Ohio Ballot Board to decide if the amendment will be one issue or separate issues. Then those in favor of the law must collect signatures in 44 or Ohio’s 88 counties equal to 5% of the of votes cast in the county in the last election for governor. Total signatures across the state must equal 10% of the vote in the last election. If they get the signatures, the amendment then goes on the ballot in November and voters will decide.