The group fighting Ohio's nuclear plant bailout law has argued in federal court they should get an extension of their petition drive to put a repeal on the ballot.
The group says Ohio law restricts their constitutional rights to hold a referendum. But state attorneys say the referendum effort is full of bad business decisions. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports.
It was revealed in a U.S. District Court hearing that Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts fell about 40,000 signatures short of the number it needed to hit in order to pause the nuclear bailout law.
But the group's Attorney Chris Finney argues that a state law that requires petition language to be approved by the attorney general unfairly delays the process granted by the Ohio constitution.
Finney: "That combined with an extraordinarily funded opposition effort made it so the right of the people -- to be deprived of these petitions -- access to the ballot has been deprived."
The state's attorneys argued that officials were simply following state law and that the referendum effort should have accounted for that.
