Gov. John Kasich signs bill blocking Cleveland's $15 minimum wage proposal [View all]

Gov. John Kasich signs bill blocking Cleveland's $15 minimum wage proposal

By Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com

on December 19, 2016 at 3:07 PM, updated December 19, 2016 at 6:31 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday signed legislation blocking next year's special election vote on whether to raise Cleveland's minimum wage to $15 per hour, according to his office.

Senate Bill 331 prohibits communities in the state from raising the minimum wage beyond the state's minimum wage rate, currently set at $8.10 per hour. State lawmakers passed the bill earlier this month at the request of Cleveland city officials and others, who sought to forestall a special election on the wage hike next May.

Raise Up Cleveland, the group sponsoring the proposal with the backing of the Service Employees International Union, had aimed to get a $15-per-hour minimum wage proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot. But Cleveland City Council held months of contentious hearings on the proposal, and the issue narrowly missed the ballot deadline, buying city officials and other opponents more time to try to quash the measure....

Read more:
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/12/gov_john_kasich_signs_bill_blo.html

Hopefully Ohioans will choose to bypass Kasich and the GOP with a ballot initiative in the next few years. A ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $10 failed to get the signatures necessary in 2016

Here is the organization and the other groups in the coalition behind the last effort to raise the mimimum wage:
http://ohorganizing.org/members-partners/

Here's the legal requirements to get an intitative on the ballot in Ohio:
http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Legal/Ballot-Initiatives/Initiative-and-Referendum-Signature-Requirements

Other states succeeded in 2016 to get a minimum wage increase passed through state ballot initiatives. Since Kasich is blocking cities from controlling their own destiny a state ballot initiative may be the best solution going forward.