State Issue No. 1
OHIO — On Nov. 6, Ohio voters will see one state issue on the General Election ballot.
Issue No. 1 is a referendum on Substitute Senate Bill (SB) No. 16, which made certain changes to state law that regulates the operation of sexually oriented businesses and adult entertainment establishments.
However, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said that upon recent review of county certifications, the updated count of valid petition signatures submitted by the Vote No on Issue 1 campaign fell short of the required 241,366. While signatures from 46 counties were found to meet the necessary threshold of 3 percent of the ballots cast in the 2006 General Election, the overall total fell short at 181,808. Therefore, Issue No. 1 did not qualify for the November election.
However, according to Brunner’s office, because the updated count wasn’t completed in time to remove the issue from the ballot, voters will still have the opportunity to vote on the issue, although the result will be moot.
Substitute SB No. 16, known as the Community Defense Act (CDA), requires the state to compensate local governments who enforce local laws regulating adult entertainment establishments, preempts local laws that are found by a court to be in conflict with the proposed state law regulating adult entertainment establishments, prohibits sexually oriented businesses from being open for business between midnight and 6 a.m., prohibits customers and employees of sexually oriented businesses who are not immediate family members from touching each other while on the premises and creates misdemeanor criminal offenses relating to hours of operation and for customers and employees who violate the no-touch provisions of the law.
The Buckeye Association of Club Executives, which sponsored the referendum effort, said the proposed law is unconstitutional and the sex industry is being targeted by those who want to impose their morality on others. The organization claims $250 million a year could be lost to the state’s economy as a result of the law’s passage.
The major proponent of the CDA is Citizens for Community Values (CCV), a public-policy organization that embraces Judeo-Christian values. The organization, which sponsored the initiative petition that brought the law before the General Assembly, alleges that in some cases, adult-oriented businesses have become conduits for sex trafficking. The group states the law should remain in place because it protects communities afflicted by criminal activity, which they said frequently springs up around adult-themed businesses.
— By Mike D’Agruma
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