There are questions about whether Ohio voters will see an issue on the ballot this fall that, if passed, would put restrictions on clinics that provide kidney dialysis. First, the group backing the referendum effort fell short of signatures and now, supporters of the measure are facing a lawsuit.
The Service Employees International Union is backing a proposed constitutional amendment to require more oversight of dialysis clinics and limit how much they can charge patients. The union’s Anthony Caldwell says the petition was rejected because it was about ten thousand signatures short of the nearly 306,000 valid signatures needed to put the issue on the ballot. But he says they have a few days left to get those.
“Ten thousand signatures in ten days is doable and we look forward to getting those signatures so we can put this issue before voters," Caldwell says.
But even if the group gets the necessary signatures on time, it will also face a court fight too. Gene Pierce speaks for the Ohio Renal Association, a group that has filed a lawsuit over the proposed amendment saying the union group violated the petition process.
“They’ve paid very little attention to the laws that govern this that insure ballot integrity," Pierce says.
The union group calls the legal challenge “frivolous."
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