Maria Elena Scott
PB CLE organizers collected more than 10,000 signatures to put Issue 38 on the November ballot.
Senate Bill 158, which aimed to ban participatory budgeting before Issue 38 goes up for a vote in Cleveland on November 7, will not pass in the House before the election, according to Republican State House Speaker Jason Stephens. On Tuesday, Stephens said the bill is not on Wednesday’s agenda and won’t go up for a vote in the House before the election.
The bill, introduced by Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino in the Senate last month, would prohibit residents from voting on how public funds are allocated or appropriated. After passing in the Senate, S.B. 158 was introduced in the House and referred to the Government Oversight Committee.
Cirino said he hoped to pass the emergency bill before Clevelanders vote whether to amend the city’s charter on Issue 38.
“Timely passage of this legislation will specifically safeguard the city of Cleveland’s financial stability as they are facing an initiative on the ballot to deprive the city of at least two percent of its annual operating budget,” Cirino said in last week’s Government Oversight Committee meeting.
It met with opposition from some local officials, including Mayor Justin Bibb, who said that despite the fact he opposes Issue 38, the proposed bill would be a direct assault on home rule.
If passed, the People’s Budget Cleveland (PB CLE) would allow residents 13 years and older to nominate and vote on how to spend a portion of Cleveland's budget. In full effect, PB CLE would give Clevelanders control over an amount equal to two percent of the previous year's General Fund–roughly $14 million.
“S.B. 158 is not about Cleveland’s charter amendment or its relative merits and weaknesses,” said PB CLE organizer Evan O’Reilly in Tuesday’s committee meeting. “It’s about denying Clevelanders the right to consider the amendment at all and denying all Ohioans the right to explore participatory budgeting as an option in any capacity.”
The bill doesn't seem likely to pass after the election, either. According to Stephens, the bill has “constitutional issues with home rule,” which reserves powers of local self-government, ownership and operation of public utilities and some police powers for municipal corporations in Ohio’s State Constitution.
With a path forward clear of state-level interference, PB CLE's chances of passage in November’s election remain uncertain. Cleveland City Council, Mayor Justin Bibb and many prominent unions publicly oppose Issue 38, often citing concerns of cuts to funding.
State legislators have also highlighted concerns with oversight of PB CLE contracts. Under the charter amendment’s language, contracts of winning projects would be exempt from council or mayoral approval because residents have approved the spending.
But organizers insist that PB CLE is not without oversight in its current form.
“There are the same checks and balances in the People’s Budget process as there are through regular spending and, specifically, I’m referring to the Board of Control, which has the same role for projects that get selected through the People’s Budget process as it does for a project that is going through the normal legislative channels,” said PB CLE petition committee member Jonathan Welle in Tuesday’s committee meeting.
“So all the standard procurement, specs, bidding, the only difference is who’s making the decision. In our ideal version of Issue 38, residents get to make those decisions and then the projects actually flow through the city procurement process.”
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