COLUMBUS, Ohio — Investors have raised at least $36 million to fund ResponsibleOhio’s plan to legalize marijuana and purchase the commercial growing sites promised to investor groups.

Investors contributed $4 million to each of nine limited liability corporations tied to ResponsibleOhio last year, according to securities offering filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ResponsibleOhio officials have said they expect to spend more than $20 million to get their constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot and passed by a majority of voters in November.

ResponsibleOhio’s proposed constitutional amendment would establish a legal marijuana industry fueled solely by marijuana grown at 10 sites, which would be owned and operated by investor groups. The organization has revealed a dozen investors including basketball all-star Oscar Robertson, former Browns player Frostee Rucker and fashion designer Nanette Lepore, a Youngstown native, and has promised to reveal more in the coming months.

Ten state-registered limited liability corporations had contributed $1.7 million to ResponsibleOhio’s political action committee before the end of January, according to a campaign finance filing with the Ohio secretary of state. The group had spent $1.3 million at that point, mostly on political consulting from The Strategy Network, run by ResponsibleOhio Executive Director Ian James, and attorneys. [Read more at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer]