Ohio Short-Term Lending Initiative (2019)

Ohio Short-Term Lending Initiative
Election date November 5, 2019
Topic Banking
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens

The Ohio Short-Term Lending Initiative was not on the ballot in Ohio as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 5, 2019.

The measure would have capped interest rates on short-term loans, including payday loans, to 28 percent per year and limit fees to $20 per month. The measure would have also required that payday loan lenders be licensed by the state.

Text of measure

Constitutional changes

See also: Article XV, Ohio Constitution

The measure would have added a new Section 14 to Article XV of the Ohio Constitution. The full text of the measure is available here.

Background

Referendum 5 (2008)

In 2008, voters approved Referendum 5, upholding a bill to cap interests rates on short-term loans to 28 percent per year. Lenders were able to register under a different law, according to Jackie Borchardt of Cleveland.com, and thereby go around Referendum 5. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, Ohio had the highest average annual interest rates on payday loans in 2016. The average rate was 591 percent.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Ohio

In Ohio, the number of signatures required to get an initiated constitutional amendment placed on the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Ohio also requires initiative sponsors to submit 1,000 signatures with the initial petition application. Ohio has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to a minimum of half the total required percentage of the gubernatorial vote in each of the 44 counties. Petitions are allowed to circulate for an indefinite period of time. Signatures are due 125 days prior to the general election that proponents want the initiative on.

Proponents of the initiative filed an application, along with 2,001 signatures, with the attorney general's office on February 28, 2018. On March 10, 2018, the attorney general determined that the petition language for the initiative was not truthful because it lacked or contradicted the initiative's full text. Nate Coffman, a proponent of the initiative, responded to the petition's rejection, saying, "We realize this sometimes happens with ballot proposals, and we can easily comply with the change needed. We will keep moving forward and are unwavering in our commitment to reform Ohio’s most-expensive-in-the-nation status for payday loans."

A new version of the initiative was filed on May 11, 2018, along with 1,603 signatures, on May 11, 2018. The attorney general determined that the petition language for the initiative was truthful on May 21, 2018.

Proponents ended the campaign for the ballot initiative after the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation addressing payday loans. The Ohio CDC Association, which proposed the initiative, said, "We would like to offer many thanks to all of the members and stakeholders that reached out to their state legislators, testified in committee, and helped gather signatures for the ballot issue. With Sub HB 123 becoming law, the ballot issue will not be moving forward."

See also

2019 measures

• 2019 ballot measures
• Banking on the ballot
• Business regulation on the ballot

Ohio

• Ohio ballot measures
• Ohio ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Initiative Petition