Republicans just can’t resist a game where they make up the rules as they go along. Two fine examples of this are Wisconsin where they are going to redistrict before the recall elections, even though they have not drawn up the ward maps yet. And then there is Ohio, where SB 5 is going to before a vote of the people, but Republicans want to split it into 5 separate bills to confuse the voter.

The passage of SB5 in Ohio triggered a 90-day period where opponents could gather signatures to force a referendum, a “citizen veto” of the law, in November. The law does not take effect until the results of that referendum. Labor and progressive activists immediately went to work to try to overturn the law, which would severely limit collective bargaining rights in the state, eliminate the right to strike and even hit public safety positions like police and firefighters.

Earlier this year, Republicans in Ohio pushed through SB 5, which would extremely limit public sector unions’ collective bargaining rights, effectively crippling public labor unions in the state. Ohio unions have been gathering signatures to put the law to a public referendum this November, and a recent poll by Quinnipiac shows that if they manage to get the issue on the ballot, it will likely be repealed.

The bill changed from the version that passed the Senate. Police and firefighters can still collectively bargain for safety equipment, for example. And workers who strike cannot receive jail time. But other pieces were made even stricter, particularly on decertification and a bar on nonunion employees covered by union contracts from paying fees to unions.

Any bill passed into law in Ohio can be subject to a referendum, a “citizen’s veto,” which would be placed on the next statewide ballot. Union leaders and the Democratic Party have vowed to gather signatures for a referendum on SB 5 if it passes; they’d need about 300,000 names. The bill would have to be signed into law before April 6 for a referendum to be placed on the November 2011 ballot, which would include a bunch of citywide elections in Ohio. If the bill lingers past April 6, the referendum would go on the November 2012 ballot, which would include the Presidential election.

When we last left Ohio, the state Senate had passed a bill, SB 5, that would severely restrict collective bargaining for all public employees, including police and fire. It would all impose criminal penalties for strike actions, and allow local officials to determine arbitration disputes rather than an independent third party.

At the time, there was credible speculation that the Ohio House, which has a 59-40 split for Republicans, would quickly take up and pass the same bill, moving it on to Governor John Kasich for signing. But a funny thing happened on the way to Columbus. The House Speaker, William Batchelder, announced hearings. The first occurs today, coinciding with Kasich’s State of the State Address. Labor groups have scheduled a rally at the state Capitol for later today. Thousands are expected to attend, though it may not be as large as the estimated 20,000 who protested SB 5 last week.

The Ohio Legislature has already passed a gay marriage ban, AND a referendum put a gay marriage ban in the Constitution in the Bush-Kerry year of 2004. I guess Ohio Republicans would tell you this redundancy was needed because the State Supreme Court limited the impact on parenting and custody relationships. So that necessitated this language. In an anti-union bill. I guess Ohio Republicans are really anti-union!

Senate Bill 5, which will limit most collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, bar all strikes under penalty of law, and ban binding arbitration, just passed the Ohio State Senate by one vote, 17-16. Republicans have a 23-10 hold on the State Senate, and six of them dropped off this anti-union bill. But they were just able to get enough support for passage.

In order to make it work, Ohio Republicans had to shuffle two committees to ensure they had the votes to pass the bill out.

The overhaul of collective bargaining in Ohio, much like Wisconsin, could put federal transportation money in jeopardy, costing the state much of its $171 million annual haul. So this hardly has anything to do with the budget. Instead, it’s part of a pattern of new right-wing governors taking advantage of their opportunities to force through ideological policy they have long sought.

Wisconsin remains the main battleground for the broader assault on worker’s rights. But elsewhere in the Big Ten states and across the country, these battles have moved forward. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is pushing pretty much the exact same bill as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Known as SB 5, the bill would strip collective bargaining rights from Ohio public employees. SB 5 is a piece of legislation, so Kasich isn’t trying to implement this under the cover of a budget bill. However, he has said that if he doesn’t get what he wants out of SB 5, he will put those items into the next budget bill. Alternatively, this could go to the ballot. So SB 5 won’t be the last showdown. The Governor, aping Scott Walker, claims this is a fiscal issue, but nobody can explain how much money SB 5 would sav