Right-to-work efforts spreading

The same day Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law the bill making Indiana a right-to-work state (previous coverage on this subject can be found here), Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine certified the petition submitted by The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law as “containing both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a ‘fair and truthful’ summary of the proposed amendment.” The petition seeks to amend the Ohio Constitution to prohibit any law, rule, agreement, or arrangement that requires, directly or indirectly, “any person or employer to become or remain a member of a labor organization . . . [or]as a condition of employment, any person or employer to pay or transfer any dues, fees, assessments, other charges of any kind, or anything else of value, to a labor organization, or third party in lieu of the labor organization.”

Dewine's certification is only one major step in the process for getting the ballot measure on the November 2012 ballot. The petitioning group must still overcome a various hurdles to put the constitutional amendment before the people of Ohio, including gathering over 300,000 valid signatures.