COLUMBUS, Ohio — A campaign backed by organized-labor groups is seeking to amend the Ohio constitution later this year to raise the state minimum wage to $13 an hour.

The committee backing the proposed amendment filed paperwork on Friday with the state Attorney General’s Office containing the full text and summary of the amendment. The filing is the first in a multi-step process to get a constitutional amendment before voters that eventually will require gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures from registered voters across the state.

The proposal would raise Ohio minimum wage, currently $8.70 an hour for non-tipped employees, to $9.60 an hour on Jan. 1, 2021, according to the proposed amendment text. It then would raise it further each year until stopping at $13 an hour in 2025. After that, it would be tied to inflation.

The effort is backed by two of Ohio’s most progressive labor unions — the Service Employees International Union District 1199, whose members include low-paid service workers, and the Ohio Education Association, which represents teachers, according to Anthony Caldwell, an SEIU 1199 official. The group is targeting the November 2020 election, Caldwell said in an interview.

“Voters are going to have a lot of reasons to come out and vote, and we figured this was the best time to have the most people have a say in whether or not they want to raise wages for the lowest-paid workers in Ohio,” he said.

Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, now has 10 business days to examine the summary to determine if it’s a fair and truthful summary of the proposed amendment.

The group chose $13 an hour and not $15 an hour — a national goal and political buzzword — because they felt it was the best chance they had at getting something passed, Caldwell said in an interview. SEIU 1199 previously has tried and failed to raise the minimum wage locally — a Cleveland effort prompted local elected officials to ask the state legislature to block cities from setting their own wage laws.

“After doing some polling and trying to figure out what’s the greatest impact we can have for Ohio workers, we decided to go for a $13 minimum wage," he said.

Caldwell said the effort for now is backed just by the two groups, but he hopes additional organized labor and community groups will get on board as the process advances.

Asked about the resources the campaign will have, Caldwell said he thinks national support will arrive if the issue qualifies for the ballot.

“But right now, we’re just beginning the process to get this on the ballot, bring partners together and get the circulation process started,” he said.

Ohio last voted to raise its minimum wage in 2006 through a constitutional amendment campaign that, like the current one, was backed by organized labor. It was opposed by business groups. Voters approved the measure, which raised the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85, by a 57%-43% margin.

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