Clean Energy Amendment first to be tested under new anti-monopoly amendment

Less than one week after Ohioans approved state Issue 2 — the so-called anti-monopoly amendment that prohibits economic interests from being written into the state constitution — the Ohio Ballot Board will take its first look a citizen-proposed measure that might run afoul of the new law.

Issue 2, sponsored by the legislature, prohibits specifying a tax rate or conferring a commercial interest, right, or license that’s not available to similarly situated entities.

That last part could affect the Ohio Clean Energy Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that calls for more than $14 billion in spending on alternative energy research and infrastructure projects and directs $65 million a year back to the group proposing the measure.

The Ohio Clean Energy Amendment would require the state to spend $1.3 billion each year for 11 years on infrastructure, research and site development for solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative energy sources.  The money would come from state-backed general obligation bonds.

The money would be divvied up by the Ohio Energy Initiative Commission — a limited liability company registered in the state of Delaware that has made none of its investors publicly known.

The commission would receive $65 million annually for “operational funds,” and state lawmakers could not influence or intervene in the commission’s process for awarding clean energy grants.

Rep. Mike Curtin, the Columbus-area Democrat who jointly sponsored Issue 2, said the clean energy plan was exactly what he and state lawmakers wanted to keep out of the constitution. The clean energy group has submitted similar amendments since 2012, but none have qualified for the statewide ballot.

Curtin said lawmakers had been talking for years about how to prevent economic interests from amending the constitution to their benefit, and the marijuana legalization amendment proposed by political action committee ResponsibleOhio pushed them to act in June. The marijuana amendment, Issue 3, failed in last week’s election.

Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental Council said his group is focused on ensuring Ohio continues with its renewable energy standards program and he doesn’t know who is behind the clean energy amendment.

“It’s got zero support. There are five petitioners of unknown pedigree. It’s hard to take this seriously,” Shaner said.

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