$4.1M spent in bid to put dialysis initiative on ballot

Obtaining more than 300,000 signatures does not come cheap.

A group attempting to add a kidney dialysis amendment to Ohio’s Constitution is the latest group to learn that first hand.

Named the “Fair Pricing for Dialysis Act,” the proposal would increase regulations for kidney dialysis centers. It calls for the state to conduct annual inspections of clinics, and would limit what clinics can charge patients to 115 percent of the operational and care costs. Penalties would be imposed if clinics overcharge patients.

The campaign, backed by Ohioans for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection, spent $4.1 million in its effort to collect the required signatures to get its proposal on the November ballot, according to campaign finance reports.

Initially, the group was about 9,000 signatures short of the required amount. But Anthony Caldwell, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, said the group submitted an additional 41,000 signatures to Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office on Wednesday and expects to the ballot proposal to be approved.

The secretary of state’s office still needs to validate the signatures.

A constitutional amendment requires 305,591 valid signatures from registered voters to make the ballot. Collecting that many signatures takes a lot of money and a network of support, which is where the SEIU comes in. The SEIU contributed $2.5 million toward the campaign in Ohio.

The group also is sponsoring the California ballot initiative and represents workers in many industries as one of the nation’s largest unions of health-care workers.

Of the $4.1 million spent, $3.6 million went to a California company run by Angelo Paparella, a seasoned veteran of the signature collection business. Paparella is president and CEO of Progressive Campaigns, Inc.

That company is responsible for ballot proposals finding their way in front of voters on Election Day in several states, Ohio being the most recent.

Thousands of temporary workers hired by PCI collect millions of signatures each year. In the last few months, they descended on Ohio with clipboards and pens in hand, hunting for the John Hancock’s of registered voters wherever they can find them.

Twenty-four states, including Ohio, let voters bypass their legislatures and enact laws through ballot initiatives. A similar kidney initiative in California has secured enough signatures to appear on the November ballot.

Should the measure make the ballot, it would appear as State Issue 2. The “Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation” is already scheduled to appear on the November ballot as State Issue 1.