State and Local Government Law | Open Access Articles

Ohio's Home-Rule Amendment: Why Ohio's General Assembly Creating Regional Governments Would Combat The Regional Race To The Bottom Under Current Home-Rule Principles, Jonathon Angarola

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that Ohio’s home-rule principles foster a regional “race to the bottom and proposes that the Ohio General Assembly pass legislation creating regional governments to combat the absence of coordination among regional localities".

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Supplemental Pay Or Supplemental Power?: Why The Ohio General Assembly's Compensation Structure Unconstitutionally Centralizes Power In The General Assembly Leadership, Frank Camardo

Cleveland State Law Review

In the Ohio House and Senate, committee chairpersons and other select members of legislative committees receive a supplemental salary, in addition to their base legislator pay, for their service on the committee. The Ohio Constitution, however, mandates that legislator pay be fixed by law (hereinafter “Fixed Compensation Provision”) and that no changes to compensation take place during the term (hereinafter “No Change Provision”). Because the Speaker of the House and the Senate President have the power to discretionarily appoint and remove committee chairpersons during the term, compensation necessarily changes during the term of a removed chairperson. Such in-term changes violate …

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Kicking Ohio Medicaid Recipients When They Are Down: How Ohio's Third Party Liability Medicaid Statute Violates Federal Law As Interpreted By Ahlborn, Kelly Voyles

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that Ohio’s Medicaid third party liability statute must either be invalidated by the Ohio Supreme Court or repealed by the Ohio General Assembly. This Note then goes on to argue that the Ohio General Assembly must amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require settlement allocation before ODJFS can recover the medical payments it made on behalf of Ohio Medicaid recipients. Finally, this Note argues that Ohio should also amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require that the parties come to an allocation agreement themselves or, if that proves impossible, to require a judicial …

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State Constitutional Prohibitions On Special Laws , Justin R. Long

Cleveland State Law Review

Since the nineteenth century, most states have had constitutional clauses prohibiting “special laws.” These clauses were ratified to protect the people of each state from domination by narrow economic elites, who would use their economic power to win grants of privilege from the state legislatures. To fight the corrupt favors garnered by private interests in this way, state constitutional drafters wrote clauses requiring their legislatures to pass only “general laws” that would apply equally to all members of the regulated class. For a brief period, these clauses were enforced in the courts—but more to protect economic elites than the democratic …

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The Ohio Supreme Court's Perverse Stance On Development Impact Fees And What To Do About It, Alan C. Weinstein

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio is among the twenty-two states that have no enabling legislation for development impact fees. But in a 2000 ruling, Homebuilders Association of Dayton and the Miami Valley v. City of Beavercreek, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could lawfully enact impact fees under their police and “home rule” powers, provided that the fees could pass constitutional muster under a “dual rational nexus test.” On May 31, 2012, however, the court ruled in Drees Company v. Hamilton Township, that a development impact fee enacted by an Ohio township with “limited home rule” powers was an unconstitutional tax. The …

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The Mystery Of Life In The Laboratory Of Democracy: Personal Autonomy In State Law, Adam J. Macleod

Cleveland State Law Review

This article attempts to carve a path between the two sides in this autonomy war. It begins by bringing into dialogue with each other four of the most influential legal philosophers of our day: Joseph Raz, Ronald Dworkin, John Finnis, and Robert George. Each of these four scholars makes bold and instructive claims about the value and limits of personal autonomy. The article then examines several different areas of state law where one might expect a principle of autonomy to be implicated, and articulates six important lessons that one can glean from state law about the relationship between personal autonomy …

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The Unconstitutionality Of Oklahoma's Sq 755 And Other Provisions Like It That Bar State Courts From Considering International Law, Penny M. Venetis

Cleveland State Law Review

This paper will discuss SQ 755's many legal deficiencies, focusing primarily on its constitutional infirmities. First, SQ 755 is a clear violation of the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. The prohibition on looking to international law requires that Oklahoma courts disregard U.S. treaty obligations, and the law of nations (also known as customary international law), which are all binding on American courts. Second, SQ 755 unconstitutionally limits a state's duty to give full faith and credit to the judicial decisions of other states. The law is clear that no state has the authority to condition its …

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Municipal Predatory Lending Regulation In Ohio: The Disproportionate Impact Of Preemption In Ohio's Cities, Brett Altier

Cleveland State Law Review

Whether in the case of predatory lending or other issues that will differ from location to location, municipalities should continue to protect their cities by exercising their power under the Home Rule Amendment to enforce regulations not in direct conflict with Ohio law. Even though the Framers of the Home Rule Amendment intended to protect municipal power by ensuring that only those ordinances in actual conflict would be voided, Ohio courts have denied municipalities their Home Rule police power by applying a conflict by implication test, contributing to the housing crisis still plaguing Ohio's cities. While Ohio courts have made …

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Qualified Immunity Dissonance In The Sixth Circuit: Why We Must Return To Reasonableness, Matt Chiricosta

Cleveland State Law Review

The Sixth Circuit's inconsistent jurisprudence threatens the delicate balance that the defense aims to strike between protecting citizens from having their constitutional rights violated on the one hand and protecting government officials from undue interference with their official duties on the other. This Note critiques the medical emergency-law enforcement response capacity the Sixth Circuit has set forth to help adjudicate qualified immunity claims and suggests improvements the court can make to its qualified immunity jurisprudence.In Part II, I briefly trace the Supreme Court's development of the doctrine and outline the doctrine's policy goals. In Part III, I develop my thesis …

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Intended And Unintended Consequences: The 2006 Fair Minimum Wage Amendment Of The Ohio Constitution , Jason R. Bristol, Ashley A. Weaver, Thomas A. Downie

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article first provides a brief overview of federal and Ohio minimum wage law. The Article then examines the text of the 2006 Amendment. The third section delves into the provisions of HB 690 and the differences between HB 690 and the Amendment. The final section explores litigation issues arising from these differences.

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Ohio's Ban On Municipal Residency Requirements: Can The Employee Welfare Provisions Of The Ohio Constitution Protect The Ban From Home Rule Challenges, Brenda A. Sweet

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that the Ohio Revised Code prohibition of residency requirements does not qualify as legislation for the "comfort, health, safety and welfare of all employees" since the law improperly attempts to control conditions for employment, rather than conditions of employment, and that the Supreme Court of Ohio has previously, improperly interpreted the employee welfare provision and should more narrowly construe, if not reverse, its holding in Rocky River IV. Part II addresses residency requirements in the city of Cleveland and describes the current litigation in which the city is involved. Part III provides a background of the four …

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Speeding Towards Disaster: How Cleveland's Traffic Cameras Violate The Ohio Constitution, Kevin P. Shannon

Cleveland State Law Review

Part II of this paper describes the history and development of traffic cameras. It includes a discussion of how the two systems used by Cleveland (red-light and speeding cameras) operate. It also gives a general background of the relationship between cities and camera vendors. Part III provides the legal background of traffic cameras. It begins by examining the various arguments that have been leveled against cameras and then examines the litigation to date challenging traffic cameras. Next, this Note discusses the scholarly literature on the subject and explains how this argument situates itself in the debate. Part IV gives traffic …

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Ohio's New Modified Joint And Several Liability Laws: A Fair Compromise For Competing Parties And Public Policy Interests, Clare Elizabeth Krumlauf

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note contends that if Ohio insists on retaining some form of joint and several liability, the recently adopted modified version is a desirable alternative to returning to the pure form. As compared to the pure form, the modified version promotes a more balanced tort system and represents a fair compromise to the competing interests of both plaintiffs and defendants. Part II of this Note reviews the history of joint and several liability and examines Ohio's application of this legal doctrine. Part III looks at prior constitutional challenges to various tort reform measures, and analyzes these challenges in light of …

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Ohio Charter Schools And Educational Privatization: Undermining The Legacy Of The State Constitution's Common School Approach, Nathaniel J. Mcdonald

Cleveland State Law Review

Part II of this Note briefly discusses the current state of public education in Ohio and outlines the DeRolph litigation and its implications. Part III focuses on the “thorough and efficient” education clause in the Ohio Constitution and analyzes its meaning from an historical perspective. Part IV addresses the theory behind the privatization of education in general, briefly discusses the history of privatization, and introduces different types of educational privatization in Ohio. Part V compares the ideology behind the education clause in the Ohio Constitution with privatization ideology and concludes that the two ideologies are in conflict. Part VI discusses …

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The Failure Of Ohio's Drug Treatment Initiative, Tamara Karel

Cleveland State Law Review

In the summer of 2002, proponents of Issue 1 "The Ohio Drug Treatment Initiative," (hereafter referred to as the Initiative) succeeded in getting the proposal on the November ballot. The Initiative proposed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have required courts to approve requests for treatment when made by eligible nonviolent drug offenders. The Amendment sought to (1) allocate a fixed amount of the state's General Revenue Fund to pay for the opening and operating of new treatment centers, (2) limit prison sentences for users and possessors to ninety days, and (3) provide for the sealing and expungement …

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Ohio's Constitutions: An Historical Perspective, Barbara A. Terzian

Cleveland State Law Review

This article takes us from 1802 to the present, through two state constitutions and four constitutional conventions. The author shows how the crucible of history shaped and reshaped the Ohio Constitution - from early struggles, on the very threshold of statehood, between Jeffersonian Republicans and Federalists; to the pressures exerted in their respective eras by Abolitionists, Progressives, and Prohibitionists; to the quests for suffrage by blacks and women; to the economic impact of the Civil War and the growing industrialization of subsequent decades. Terzian performs this survey with careful attention to the political dynamics at each of Ohio's constitutional conventions …

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An Ohio Dilemma: Race, Equal Protection, And The Unfulfilled Promise Of A State Bill Of Rights, Jonathan L. Entin

Cleveland State Law Review

Race was a central issue in Ohio from the very beginning. The original state constitution of 1802 and the successor constitution of 1851 explicitly limited suffrage to whites even as both documents forbade slavery. Moreover, the legislature imposed various legal disabilities and restrictions on African Americans. For much of the Nineteenth Century, however, the Ohio Supreme Court tried to narrow the scope of those restrictions by developing a distinctive jurisprudence that was in some respects more progressive, and in general less obnoxious, than that developed in other states and by the U.S. Supreme Court. Before the end of the century, …

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Ohio Joins The New Judicial Federalism Movement: A Little To-Ing And A Little Fro-Ing , Marianna Brown Bettman

Cleveland State Law Review

Bettman analyzes Ohio Supreme Court decisions construing the Speech, Press, Search and Seizure, Free Exercise, and Establishment Clause analogues of the Ohio Constitution. Here in Ohio, she concludes, New Judicial Federalism remains in its infancy. The Ohio Supreme Court is still struggling with the fundamentals of state constitutional interpretation. It remains heavily dependant on federal methodology when construing analogous provisions of the state constitution. Bettman gives us the unique perspective of a law professor who previously served as an Ohio appellate court judge. This perspective sensitizes her to the current political make-up of the Ohio Supreme Court. Today's court, she …

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Recalibrating Justiciability In Ohio Courts, Michael E. Solimine

Cleveland State Law Review

The term "separation of powers" does not appear in either the United States or Ohio Constitutions, but the concept has important implications for the adjudication of rights under both documents. In federal courts, litigants must possess certain characteristics, summarized under the rubric of "standing," to pursue such cases. To have standing, litigants traditionally must have suffered a concrete and ripe injury that was the result of the allegedly unlawful conduct. And even when those criteria are satisfied, cases that call for "political questions" to be resolved can be dismissed by federal judges. These limits to federal court authority are drawn …

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State Constitutional Law, New Judicial Federalism, And The Rehnquist Court , Shirley S. Abrahamson

Cleveland State Law Review

Today, I believe, we find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. Over the past few decades, under the banner of new judicial federalism, many state courts have asserted a role for state constitutions in the protection of individual liberties and the resolution of legal disputes. This outburst of state constitutional fervor, however, has been met with great criticism from different camps, all believing that the uniformity provided by our federal constitution as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court should guide state court decisions and especially state constitutional interpretation. At the same time, the very ability of state courts to decide state …

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The New Judicial Federalism In Ohio: The First Decade , Robert F. Williams

Cleveland State Law Review

There are a number of tentative conclusions that may be reached based on this selective analysis of the Ohio Supreme Court's first decade of experience with the New Judicial Federalism. First, the court is to be commended for taking the first steps toward recognizing the Ohio Constitution as a document of independent political and legal force. The Arnold decision, together with the others discussed in this article, serve to alert the lower bench, the bar, the media, and students and professors to the potential contained within state constitutions. Next, to the extent that there is inconsistency to be detected in …

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Turn Down The Volume: The Constitutionality Of Ohio's Municipal Ordinances Regulating Sound From Car Stereo Systems, Stuart A. Laven

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will examine municipal ordinances criminalizing the emission of sound from car stereo systems in excess of proscribed limits, including the methods adopted to measure offending sound and the penalties imposed for violations, the Ohio (and certain non-Ohio) cases which have challenged the constitutionality of such ordinances, and certain constitutional aspects of such ordinances and their enforcement which have yet to be addressed.

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The Ohio Constitution On The Occasion Of Its Bicentennial, Kevin Francis O'Neill

Cleveland State Law Review

This symposium issue of the Cleveland State Law Review publishes the papers that were presented at a conference marking the bicentennial of the Ohio Constitution. That conference, held here at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in April 2003, examined the history and assessed the vitality of-our state constitution. The conference was conceived and its planning was supervised by our Dean, Steven H. Steinglass, who has devoted significant scholarly attention to the Ohio Constitution. In light of my own endeavors in state constitutional law, both as a lawyer and as a scholar, I gladly assisted Dean Steinglass in organizing the conference. In …

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Separation Of Powers In Ohio: A Critical Analysis, Curtis Rodebush

Cleveland State Law Review

The goal of this Article is to provide a basic framework from which to begin a separation of powers analysis under the Ohio Constitution. In addition, this Article offers some insights into how a separation of powers controversy should be dissected and suggests some directions that Ohio courts should take in the future. Part I of this Article presents useful background information on the separation of powers doctrine, including its origin, its treatment in the Ohio Constitution, predominant theories of analysis, and relevant Ohio cases. Part II (A) hypothesizes a general approach with which to begin a separation of powers …

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Of Disunity And Logrolling: Ohio's One-Subject Rule And The Very Evils It Was Designed To Prevent, Stephanie Hoffer, Travis Mcdade

Cleveland State Law Review

This article looks at the one-subject rule's history and significant jurisprudence with particular note of any rules that can be determined. Next, we address the court's use of the rule in the controversial case of State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward. Finally, we look at Amended Substitute Senate Bill No. 281-recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly-to determine if it will pass one-subject muster under recent jurisprudence.

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Constitutional Common School, Molly O'Brien, Amanda Woodrum

Cleveland State Law Review

In this paper we turn to historical evidence as a beginning point for understanding the constitutional vision and values of the "thorough and efficient system of common schools" mandated by Article VI, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution. In Part II, we consider the early development of public schooling in America and the complex relationship between public education and religion. The inclusion of the educational provisions in the Constitution of 1851 represented a victory for the advocates of a non-sectarian, state operated system of schools that would encourage civic participation and avoid religious indoctrination In Part II, we address efforts …

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Writing Checks Or Righting Wrongs: Election Funding And The Tort Decisions Of The Ohio Supreme Court, James T. O'Reilly

Cleveland State Law Review

This paper will try to address the court's present and future course in tort law, with particular focus on products liability, malpractice, and employer tort liability. These are the most intriguing segments of modern tort law in Ohio. The paper concludes that stare decisis and the precedential accretion of the common law no longer seem to matter to the Ohio Supreme Court. Instead, the cacophony of a fractured court has imperiled predictability and imperiled the court's national reputation. Instead, the topic of a prospective justice's view of the tort system is unfortunately an early and frequent conversation in recruitment, selection, …

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Ohio Constitutional Interpretation, Richard B. Saphire

Cleveland State Law Review

Saphire provides a detailed review and critique of the Ohio Supreme Court's interpretive methodology since 1984. This examination, superb in itself, is rendered all the more valuable by Saphire's inclusion of two other discussions - one placing the Ohio experience in a larger historical context, the other probing the legitimacy and limits of New Judicial Federalism. Saphire concludes that the Ohio Supreme Court's commitment to state constitutional independence has been marked by inconsistency and ambivalence. This trend will continue, he suggests, until the court develops and articulates a theory of Ohio constitutional interpretation - something that it has so far …

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Civil Rights For Gays And Lesbians And Domestic Partner Benefits: How Far Could An Ohio Municipality Go , Mark A. Tumeo

Cleveland State Law Review

It can be seen from the analyses in this Article that ordinances which grant domestic partnership benefits and/or civil rights to gays and lesbians will probably face a complex gambit of legal challenges under state law, federal law, and both State and U.S. Constitutions. Current law and current common practice in the State, however, indicates that municipalities probably have almost unfettered power to pass ordinances that either grant protection or deny protection to gays and lesbians in the area of employment and housing discrimination within the municipalities jurisdiction. The situation is not as clear when it comes to domestic partnership …

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The Symbiotic Circle Of Community: A Comparative Investigation Of Deviance Control In Intentional Communities, Zachary Rothenberg

Cleveland State Law Review

With each community considered, I will try to paint a picture of the many collectivizing factors at work: (1) the history or tradition of the community; (2) its underlying ideology, belief and value systems, and/or common interests or goals; (3) the nature of its communalism; (4)the nature of its isolation from the outside world; and (5) its decision-making and governance structure. Finally, I will look to its "gate-keeping" or circumference-drawing functions-how the community controls deviance and maintains unity within, while distinguishing itself from the chaos without. In Section I, I will consider two extreme examples of community (the Oneida Community …

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Full-Text Articles in State and Local Government Law

Ohio's Home-Rule Amendment: Why Ohio's General Assembly Creating Regional Governments Would Combat The Regional Race To The Bottom Under Current Home-Rule Principles, Jonathon Angarola

Cleveland State Law Review

Supplemental Pay Or Supplemental Power?: Why The Ohio General Assembly's Compensation Structure Unconstitutionally Centralizes Power In The General Assembly Leadership, Frank Camardo

Cleveland State Law Review

Kicking Ohio Medicaid Recipients When They Are Down: How Ohio's Third Party Liability Medicaid Statute Violates Federal Law As Interpreted By Ahlborn, Kelly Voyles

Cleveland State Law Review

State Constitutional Prohibitions On Special Laws , Justin R. Long

Cleveland State Law Review

The Ohio Supreme Court's Perverse Stance On Development Impact Fees And What To Do About It, Alan C. Weinstein

Cleveland State Law Review

The Mystery Of Life In The Laboratory Of Democracy: Personal Autonomy In State Law, Adam J. Macleod

Cleveland State Law Review

The Unconstitutionality Of Oklahoma's Sq 755 And Other Provisions Like It That Bar State Courts From Considering International Law, Penny M. Venetis

Cleveland State Law Review

Municipal Predatory Lending Regulation In Ohio: The Disproportionate Impact Of Preemption In Ohio's Cities, Brett Altier

Cleveland State Law Review

Qualified Immunity Dissonance In The Sixth Circuit: Why We Must Return To Reasonableness, Matt Chiricosta

Cleveland State Law Review

Intended And Unintended Consequences: The 2006 Fair Minimum Wage Amendment Of The Ohio Constitution , Jason R. Bristol, Ashley A. Weaver, Thomas A. Downie

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio's Ban On Municipal Residency Requirements: Can The Employee Welfare Provisions Of The Ohio Constitution Protect The Ban From Home Rule Challenges, Brenda A. Sweet

Cleveland State Law Review

Speeding Towards Disaster: How Cleveland's Traffic Cameras Violate The Ohio Constitution, Kevin P. Shannon

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio's New Modified Joint And Several Liability Laws: A Fair Compromise For Competing Parties And Public Policy Interests, Clare Elizabeth Krumlauf

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio Charter Schools And Educational Privatization: Undermining The Legacy Of The State Constitution's Common School Approach, Nathaniel J. Mcdonald

Cleveland State Law Review

The Failure Of Ohio's Drug Treatment Initiative, Tamara Karel

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio's Constitutions: An Historical Perspective, Barbara A. Terzian

Cleveland State Law Review

An Ohio Dilemma: Race, Equal Protection, And The Unfulfilled Promise Of A State Bill Of Rights, Jonathan L. Entin

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio Joins The New Judicial Federalism Movement: A Little To-Ing And A Little Fro-Ing , Marianna Brown Bettman

Cleveland State Law Review

Recalibrating Justiciability In Ohio Courts, Michael E. Solimine

Cleveland State Law Review

State Constitutional Law, New Judicial Federalism, And The Rehnquist Court , Shirley S. Abrahamson

Cleveland State Law Review

The New Judicial Federalism In Ohio: The First Decade , Robert F. Williams

Cleveland State Law Review

Turn Down The Volume: The Constitutionality Of Ohio's Municipal Ordinances Regulating Sound From Car Stereo Systems, Stuart A. Laven

Cleveland State Law Review

The Ohio Constitution On The Occasion Of Its Bicentennial, Kevin Francis O'Neill

Cleveland State Law Review

Separation Of Powers In Ohio: A Critical Analysis, Curtis Rodebush

Cleveland State Law Review

Of Disunity And Logrolling: Ohio's One-Subject Rule And The Very Evils It Was Designed To Prevent, Stephanie Hoffer, Travis Mcdade

Cleveland State Law Review

Constitutional Common School, Molly O'Brien, Amanda Woodrum

Cleveland State Law Review

Writing Checks Or Righting Wrongs: Election Funding And The Tort Decisions Of The Ohio Supreme Court, James T. O'Reilly

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio Constitutional Interpretation, Richard B. Saphire

Cleveland State Law Review

Civil Rights For Gays And Lesbians And Domestic Partner Benefits: How Far Could An Ohio Municipality Go , Mark A. Tumeo

Cleveland State Law Review

The Symbiotic Circle Of Community: A Comparative Investigation Of Deviance Control In Intentional Communities, Zachary Rothenberg

Cleveland State Law Review