On August 13, 2015,
Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, rejected
three proposed county charter petitions from the Boards of Elections in Athens,
Fulton, and Medina counties. The Secretary of State determined these charter
proposals to be invalid in part because of a violation of the Ohio
Constitution. Therefore, they were removed from the November 2015 election
ballots in these three counties.
The three counties’
charter petitions attempted to give more control to the counties by including a
ban on oil and gas development within the counties’ limits. In a letter to the
County Boards of Elections, the Secretary of State ruled that local governments
do not have power to supersede state regulations and declared “that is exactly
what the restrictive "fracking-related" provisions of these charter petitions propose
to do.”
Previously in February
2015, the Ohio Supreme Court held that the Home Rule Amendment to the Ohio
Constitution does not grant local government the power to regulate oil and gas
development within their boundaries, State
of Ohio ex rel. v. Beck Energy Corporation. Also on July 1, 2015, the
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas dismissed
a suit against the state of Ohio concerning the preemption of local drilling
regulations, Mothers against drilling in
our neighborhoods, Inc. v. State of Ohio.
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
08/07/2015
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