Here's What State Sen. Jerry Cirino's Proposed Participatory Budgeting Preemption Bill Says

PB CLE coalition organizers and members gathered at City Hall to submit the signatures. Credit: Maria Elena Scott

A new bill proposed by Republican State Senator Jerry Cirino would prohibit residents from voting on the appropriation of public funds. The measure would effectively ban the participatory budgeting ballot initiative that will go before Cleveland voters in November.

Cirino intends to rush Senate Bill 158, which was introduced this week and is in the Senate General Government Committee, to a vote.

“This act is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety,” the bill says. “The reason for such necessity is to prevent municipal corporations from circumventing current appropriations law, ensuring the responsible stewardship of treasury funds and preventing the interruption of local peace, health, and safety services.”

If passed, the bill would go into effect immediately, altering the Ohio Revised Code’s existing section on limitations of appropriations. Any legislation not in accordance with the bill would be, “void and [have] no legal effect.”

Specifically, the legislation bans municipal corporations from, “requiring or allowing the legislative authority to appropriate, allocate, or draw money from the treasury for the funds to instead be distributed or otherwise disbursed by a vote of residents,” in charters or ordinances.

“I think this is a situation where the Statehouse needs to step in, lest other cities think they can do this as well,” Cirino, whose district doesn’t include the city of Cleveland, told Cleveland.com. “So it’s not just about Cleveland. If this were to happen in Cleveland, I think it’s such a bad idea, I wouldn’t want to see it come up anywhere else.”

The move at the Statehouse comes as local unions and city council continue their campaign against PB Cle.

Last weekend Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin sponsored legislation to authorize using public funds to, “provide the public information about, and to support or oppose passage of, proposed tax levies, bond issues, and other ballot issues.”

The ordinance was quickly pulled from consideration and a representative for Council said the legislation was recommended by the City Law Department, while a Bibb spokesperson said that the department reviewed the text but the administration did not recommend it.

Cleveland officials have decried state preemption laws — for example, ones prohibiting tougher local gun measures — but have also relied on them to squash citizen-led efforts to circumvent council and City Hall power, such as in 2016 when a state law was passed killing a ballot initiative in Cleveland to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Representatives for PB CLE and Council will debate the charter amendment Tuesday, September 26 at 6 p.m. in the Public Theater though, if Cirino’s bill passes, Cleveland’s vote would be moot.

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