Ohio legislature agrees to four extra snow days

Gongwer is reporting that a conference committee dealing with the House and Senate version of calamity days has agreed to four extra snow days and no teacher in-service requirements.

According to the report, House language was that would have required teachers to go to work for extra professional development as a condition of the extra days was eliminated.

The committee also increased the number of days from the three in the Senate version to four. Schools are still allowed to make up missed days in 30-minute increments added onto regular days.

Final votes in both bodies are expected Wednesday.

Ohio should act quickly to broadcast House hearings

My latest from Ohio Watchdog:

OHIO CHANNEL: Ohioans may soon
be able to view committee
 hearings as well as general
 House sessions if Rep.
 Dan Ramos’ bill is passed.

Rep. Dan Ramos is right. All Ohio House legislative hearings should be broadcast and made available to the public.

Ramos, D-Lorain, is sponsoring H.B. 262, which would require the Ohio government telecommunications service to broadcast all 23 standing committee meetings as they occur.

Too bad his bill doesn’t include the Senate.

So far, he has 11 co-sponsors, including two Republicans, but there should be more – from both sides of the aisle.

“Ensuring transparency in and accessibility to government is one of the primary responsibilities we have as elected officials to the taxpayers across this state,” Ramos said in announcing the bill.

He knows – as do all legislators – that not everyone can travel to Columbus to hear testimony or take part in the legislative process.

Too often, Ohioans are surprised by new bills they only hear about after they’ve been passed. Their ability to weigh in on pending legislation or communicate with their legislators about what’s been said in a hearing is virtually non-existent unless they, or someone they know, was there.

“Ohioans still deserve access to their state government,” Ramos said.

If the bill passes, residents can be more actively involved in the process, rather than getting in after the fact.

The Ohio Channel already airs full voting sessions of the House and Senate — theHouse Finance and Appropriations Committee hearings were broadcast so Ohioans could see the budget process in action.

The best part about the broadcasts is they’re streamed live online and archived, so you can watch at your convenience.

But how much will it cost?

Well, the equipment needed to air all the committee hearings was bought under H.B. 562 in 2008, but it’s been sitting mostly unused in state storage. It was, however, used for this year’s finance hearings.

Since the roughly $300,000 in equipment is paid for and the Ohio Channel infrastructure is in place, it shouldn’t cost anything more to place the cameras in the committee rooms and turn them on.

“As legislators, we shouldn’t be picking and choosing which committees are broadcast,” Ramos said.

Indeed, and others agree.

Brian Rothenberg, executive director of Progress Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group, said his group called for the committee hearings to be broadcast two sessions ago, when it was clear the equipment was available but wasn’t being used.

“Anytime the public can see government through the light of day, it’s a win for the public,” he said.

John McAvoy, a spokesman for the Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition, was equally supportive.

“If I wish to be actively involved in these proceedings, I must drive seven hours round trip to listen and participate, or wait for a summary from Gongwer (a legislative reporting service) or transcripts from the website,” he said. “This would significantly add transparency and, more importantly, knowledgeable, informed voters to the governance process.”

The bill was introduced Sept. 10 and has not yet been assigned to a committee, but the House did just return to session, so the assignment should happen shortly.

For Ohioans, it can’t be too soon.

House Study Committee to hold drug addiction hearing in Toledo

Press release:

COLUMBUS—In an effort to facilitate a constructive, public discussion on drug addiction in Ohio, the Ohio House of Representatives’ Prescription Drug Addiction and Healthcare Reform Study Committee will hold a regional hearing in Toledo on Tuesday, September 3rd. The hearing marks the third of four statewide hearings that strive to address this issue during the House’s summer recess.

“We are working side by side with Ohioans to address opioid addiction and keep our communities healthy,” said State Representative Robert Sprague (R-Findlay), who serves as chairman of the study committee. “Prescription drug abuse has been a widespread problem throughout the state and is truly a scourge that knows no ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries. The hearing in Toledo will bring this discussion to the people of northwest Ohio so they can share with the committee their experiences and expertise.”

The public hearing will be held at 1 p.m. at ProMedica Toledo Hospital’s Education Center auditorium (2142 N. Cove. Blvd.). Other members from northwest Ohio who serve on the study committee are House Majority Floor Leader Barbara Sears (R-Monclova Twp.) and Chairman of the House Health and Aging Committee Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon).

The goal of the study committee is to explore ways to address the issue of drug abuse and addiction, an issue that has become a rampant problem in Ohio. Since 2007, unintentional drug overdose death has been the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio. Two-thirds of these deaths involved a prescription opioid, more than cocaine, heroin and marijuana deaths combined.

The fight to address prescription drug abuse in Ohio was initiated by the signing of House Bill 93 into law in April 2011. Although this legislation was effective in helping to close Ohio’s pill mills, many Ohioans continue to struggle with addiction and move toward other illegal drugs, such as heroine, as accessibility of prescription opioids has decreased.

Members of the public are encouraged to testify on this important issue. Rep. Sprague requests that witness testimony be limited to five minutes or 1.5 single-spaced pages in length. Witnesses must fill out a witness form prior to testifying and should submit the witness form and written testimony to Rep. Sprague’s office 24 hours prior to the hearing, if possible. Individuals who decide to testify the day of the committee should supply 40 copies of written testimony upon arrival.

Testimony can be emailed in advance to Rep83@ohiohouse.gov. Other questions about the hearing may be directed to Rep. Sprague’s office at (614) 466-3819.

Media are strongly encouraged to attend.

-30-

Higher Education Study Committee coming to Wood County

The Ohio House of Representatives Higher Education Study Committee will be in Wood County at Penta Career Center Tuesday, Aug. 20th from 1-3 p.m.

From State Rep. Tim Brown: "The work of this committee is critical to enhancing our education system so that every child can reach their full potential. A student’s ability to develop their own skills through Ohio’s education system is critical to paving the path to college or being immediately competitive in the workforce. I welcome you or someone you may know to come out and listen, or offer testimony."

Here are the details:

Tuesday, August 20, 2013:   Penta Career Center, Perrysburg – 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

• Transitioning to Higher Education and the Workforce
• Dual enrollment programs
• Improved student preparation/reducing remediation rates
• Developmental education reform
• Higher education – high school alignment project
• Career counseling
• What parents need to know about higher education

If you want to provide testimony to this committee you can contact Daniel James in Rep. Brown's office at (614) 466-8104 or Daniel.James@ohiohouse.gov.

Written testimony must be submitted to Daniel.James@ohiohouse.gov TODAY by 5:00 p.m. Due to the limited time available for testimony, Chairman Rosenberger asks that testimony is limited to five minutes per presentation to allow adequate time for questions and conversation.

Ohio House to go digital with legislative documents, broadcast budget hearings

Congrats to the Ohio House of Representatives for their plan to increase transparency and allow greater public access to drafts of bills and other legislative documents. They also plan to broadcast budget hearings, both online and on television.

This will make it easier for citizens and watchdogs to know what is going on in Columbus - and respond accordingly before votes are cast.

Gongwer Ohio reports:

House Speaker Bill Batchelder on Monday said the House plans to broadcast online and on television hearings on the budget bill and make more legislative documents available on the Internet.

The move towards increased transparency was announced in the leader's speech during opening day ceremonies in the House. The chamber also elected its majority and minority leaders.

The speaker said the ability to make legislative information and hearings more accessible comes through rules approved by the chamber about eight years ago.

"We will be unveiling a system that will make legislative information significantly more accessible to our public and to our constituency," he told the chamber. "This new platform will revolutionize the legislative drafting process and will make documents like bill drafts and other legislative materials easily available to the public online."

The speaker said this should improve on the past process of laying out amendments on a table in his office - a process that drew little interest.

The House will also broadcast the hearings of the House Finance & Appropriations Committee over the Internet and on television throughout the budget process, "allowing people to delve into the budget process from their own homes or from their mobile device. This alone is an unprecedented step forward in terms of legislative transparency."

Some of the Finance subcommittees would likely also be broadcast during the budget cycle, he said. Other committee hearings could be broadcast depending on what legislation is being heard. He referenced the House Agriculture Committee's hearings on exotic animals last session that drew expansive public interest.

He said he plans to work with members of the Statehouse press corps to determine what its needs are.

"These initiatives are being implemented to collaborate with our partners in the Senate, in order to accomplish saving taxpayers significant amounts of money; we also, I think, will find that there are a great number of people who will be able to benefit from access to these processes of electronics," he said.

Ohio House changes email addresses

The email addresses for members and staff of the Ohio House of Representatives have changed.

The suffix used t be ohr.state.oh.us. It is now ohiohouse.gov which is much easier to remember and type.

The generic district email address has also changed from districtxx@ohr.state.oh.us to repXX@ohiohouse.gov. For example, the email for newly-elected Rep. Tim Brown would be rep03@ohiohouse.gov. Again - much easier to remember and type.

Emails sent to old address will forward to the new ones for a period of time.

Ohio House passes MBR Omnibus bill

Press Release:

Ohio House Passes House Bill 487, MBR Omnibus Legislation

Legislation aims to save taxpayer dollars, improve health and safety for all Ohioans

COLUMBUS—The Ohio House of Representatives today voted to pass House Bill 487, which is a component of the mid-biennium review that provides authorization and conditions for the operation of state programs. Goals of the bill include, among other things, streamlining state government, reducing state spending, and improving services for the mentally and physically disabled.

“House Bill 487 is an all-encompassing piece of good policy that makes adjustments to specific areas of our state government and invests in our communities,” said Chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster). “Through several weeks of constructive committee hearings in which members from both sides of the aisle engaged in thoughtful discussions, I believe we’ve passed a bill today that best serves all Ohioans.”

Major provisions passed as part of House Bill 487 include:

* Streamlining state government and saving taxpayer dollars: Maintains our commitment to consolidating state government and spending tax dollars wisely by taking the unprecedented step of reviewing all appropriation line-items in a non-budget year, leading to the consolidation, merging, renaming or repurposing of more than 135 individual appropriation line items, which rendered nearly $69 million in savings over this biennium.

*  Safeguarding the Elderly: Creates the Aging in Place Pilot Program, a pilot program for 180 households in southwest Ohio to receive health services and home repairs to attempt to allow more elderly people to stay at home longer.

*  Protecting the Environment: Creates the Healthy Lake Erie Fund and provides a $3 million appropriation to reduce algae blooms on Lake Erie.

*  Ensuring healthcare in underserved areas: Protects state funding for Federally Qualified Health Center.

*  Working to eliminate drug addiction in major affected areas: Directs the Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction services to create pilot project in Franklin and Scioto counties for the use of a non-addictive opiate treatment with the voluntary cooperation of individuals in the criminal justice system.


*  Protecting all Ohioans: Enacts the recommendations of the Criminal Sentencing Work Group that continues the reform efforts contained in HB 153 to ensure that individuals in the criminal justice system are serving their sentences in the most cost effective manner for Ohio taxpayers while maintaining public safety.


*  Improving services for the developmentally disabled: Improves the state and local developmental disabled agencies and provides more decision-making authority for disabled individuals.

“Today, the House has reaffirmed its commitment to a steady course to budget recovery as we approve a wide range of program and process improvements for the citizens of Ohio,” Chairman Amstutz said. “I would like to thank Governor Kasich and his administration for proposing these improvement measures.

House Bill 487 received bipartisan support and will now be sent to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

-30-

Ohio House passes resolution supporting religious liberty, misses key point in issue

Yesterday, the Ohio House passed a resolution to protect the rights of religiously affiliated organizations by urging the repeal of a federal mandate that all health insurance plans must cover contraceptive services.

House Continuing Resolution 35 opposes the U.S. Health and Human Services mandate that religious organization provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs at no charge to their employees. It passed by a vote of 56-38 (a listing of yeas/nays, with representatives from our area in bold, is at the bottom).

The resolution urges the "President of the United States to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to rescind the rule that would force an employer to offer health insurance coverage that violates the employer's religious beliefs or moral convictions." It also asks members of Congress to enact the "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act" (H.R. 1179 and S. 1467).

What I find amazing is that this was a mostly party-line vote with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposing it. I would think that ALL state legislators would oppose the intrusion on states rights that this mandate represents.

As I've previously written:

For years, individual states have determined what insurance companies operating within their borders must provide. Some states, like Ohio, mandate certain mental health coverage. Other states have different criteria. The differences between the state mandates means that some states have lower health insurance costs than others.

This is one of the primary reasons why so many have pushed for the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines.

...

In presenting his compromise, President Obama is now dictating coverage to the insurance companies. The federal government has not just violated the Constitution - they have usurped the authority of the states, which had exercised exclusive authority over the coverage provided within their borders.

This further erosion of the power of the states, overtaken by the power of the centralized government, is exactly what our founders warned against and set up a structure to avoid.

But, as far as I can tell, virtually no one is talking about this aspect. And I believe it is clearly the more dangerous one.

I can't help but wonder if the vote would have been different had the resolution focused on the exclusive authority of the states (or the people, per the Tenth Amendment) to determine such things, rather than the federal government.

But then again, I've seen too many state legislators across the nation (from both sides of the aisle) willingly abdicate the rights of their states in order to advance their national political agenda.

Sadly, the politics are more important to them than the Constitution and the fact that our Ohio representatives did not focus on this important infringement means that further violations of the Tenth (and other) Amendments cannot be far behind.

***Side Note: As one of my Smart Girl Politics friends commented:

The lunkheads who are promoting this bill in the Ohio legislature need to have someone explain to them that we already HAVE a religious liberty resolution. It's called the First Amendment.

Those voting in favor of H.C.R. 35:

Adams J.
Adams R.
Amstutz
Anielski
Baker
Beck
Blair
Blessing
Boose
Brenner
Bubp
Buchy
Butler
Combs
Conditt
Damschroder
DeVitis
Derickson
Dovilla
Duffey
Gardner
Gonzales
Grossman
Hackett
Hagan, C.
Hall
Hayes
Henne
Hill
Hottinger
Huffman
Kozlowski
Landis
Maag
Martin
Matheney
McClain
McGregor
Newbold
Pelanda
Peterson
Roegner
Rose
Rosenberger
Ruhl
Schuring
Sears
Slaby
Sprague
Stautberg
Stebelton
Thompson
Uecker
Wachtmann
Young
Batchelder

Those voting against:

Antonio
Ashford
Barnes
Budish
Carney
Celebrezze
Celeste
Cera
Clyde
Driehaus
Fedor
Fende
Foley
Garland
Gerberry
Goyal
Heard
Letson
Luckie
Lundy
Mallory
Milkovich
Murray
O'Brien
Okey
Patmon
Phillips
Pillich
Ramos
Reece
Slesnick
Stinziano
Sykes
Szollosi
Weddington
Williams
Winburn
Yuko

House Republicans outline priorities, initiatives for 2012

Press Release:

House Republicans Outline Priorities, Initiatives for 2012

Workforce development, beginning hearings on fixing school funding formula among top goals for legislative session

COLUMBUS—On the heels of a successful first half of the General Assembly that saw the passage of more than 90 bills that address issues from regulatory reform and the creation of JobsOhio to prescription drug abuse, Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) and members of the House Republican Caucus today unveiled their legislative priorities for 2012 at a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse.

“It was not too long ago that this state faced an $8 billion budget hole that was created when the former administration wrote short-term checks with disappearing ink,” said Speaker Batchelder. “In 2011, this caucus faced one of the greatest challenges ever put onto the plate of a legislature—deciding whether to fill an enormous deficit by either reducing state spending or by raising taxes on every family in Ohio. We defied the skeptics; we filled this deficit without raising taxes, we kept vital services intact and protected our state’s most vulnerable. The second half of the General Assembly will be focused on building upon this strong foundation that we have worked so hard for and bringing about a brighter, more prosperous Ohio in a number of ways.”

The priorities outlined by House Republicans include a close analysis, fact finding, and making recommendations for revising Ohio’s school funding formula, which in 1997 was deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. Despite the court ruling, Ohio’s school funding system has not undergone any transformative changes that have wholly fixed the root of the problem. To address this issue, House Republicans announced that they will initiate comprehensive, bipartisan hearings on both the funding formula and student achievement, which will be led by Representative Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster) throughout the duration of 2012.

“The goal of these discussions will be to figure out how we can make our schools and students more successful in a cost-efficient manner for Ohio’s taxpayers,” said Rep. Amstutz. “We want to create a new model of achievement and accountability that will benefit all of Ohio’s students and give those from disadvantaged geographic regions an equal chance to succeed. We will work diligently on legislation to incorporate the findings into practice and place Ohio’s schools back on track with an equitable and fair funding formula. The goal of any legislation implemented is to create an equitable funding formula and to develop a more accurate measure of success and achievement for our students.”

The House Republican Caucus also laid out a proposal to implement the recommendations of the JobsOhio report through the creation of the Development Services Agency. The proposal will complete the transition to a lean, streamlined public/private partnership free of the cumbersome bureaucracy that characterized Ohio’s economic efforts in the past. Additionally, the caucus discussed strategies for implementing the findings of the Ohio Workforce Development Study Committee, specifically focusing on helping career tech schools and community colleges to prepare a ready workforce, as well as training Ohioans for imminent shale and energy jobs.

“We continue to strive to get unemployment down, help Ohioans find work, and create new opportunities for Ohio well into the future,” said Speaker Batchelder. “We have maintained a focus on jobs throughout 2011—from passing several tax credits to encourage economic investment and job retention, to exploring our energy potential that could create hundreds of thousands of jobs— and Ohioans can expect that we will continue this focus into 2012 and beyond.”

The caucus has also revealed plans to reform the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, building upon existing reforms to go further in assisting injured workers while identifying other cost-saving possibilities.

Other legislative items that the House Republican Caucus intends to address include:

* The Great Lakes Compact
* Casino and gaming laws
* Healthcare exchange
* Laws pertaining to exotic animals

“We have tackled the issues that are most important to the people of this state, and we will continue to do so for as long as we have the privilege of leading this House,” said Speaker Batchelder. “There is much time and energy that we must be prepared to invest in order to revive the state of Ohio, and we are ready to do the work necessary in order to breathe new life into this state and be able to compete nationally. We’ve come a long way, but we have much, much farther to go—we are just getting started.”

-30-