News & Blog

02.05.25

Legislative Updates: SB 1, State Budget, and More

SB 1 Updates and Opponent Hearing

Last Week’s SB 1 Hearing
Last week, there was a Senate Bill 1 hearing for sponsor and proponent testimonies. Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), SB 1’s sponsor, delivered his testimony in defense of the bill. There were 14 proponent testimonies submitted, although not all of the proponents showed up in person. Nearly all of the proponents focused their testimonies in support of the total DEI ban, and hardly any referenced other portions of the legislation. Some of the witnesses were from out of state, and not a single student from a public university in Ohio testified in support of the bill.

Click here to view the testimonies. You can also watch a recording of the hearing by clicking here.

SB 1 Opponent Hearing
We know that many of you are eager to submit testimony and make your plans to be at the Statehouse in Columbus for the opponent hearing. Unfortunately, we still do not have confirmation of when the opponent hearing will be. We will send another message as soon as we have confirmation.

What we do know is that the Senate Higher Education Committee announced that their standing committee time will be Wednesdays at 9:00 am. Given that the Ohio Senate is in session next week, there is a good chance the hearing will be Wednesday, February 12 at 9:00 am, but we won’t know for sure until the chair’s office issues the meeting notice, which may not be until this Friday.

In the meantime, here are resources to help prepare your testimony:

SB 1 Text
SB 1 LSC Analysis
SB 1 OCAAUP Synopsis
Testimony Template (this is a view-only doc; copy/paste into your own doc)
Senate Higher Education Committee Witness Form

Whether you’re testifying in-person or submitting written testimony only, you must fill out the witness form. In order to be included in the official record, your witness form and testimony must be emailed at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing to Chair Kristina Roegner’s office. We will provide that email address in our follow-up message.

Based on the first hearing for SB 1, witnesses who will be testifying in person likely will have only three (3) minutes to deliver oral testimony. We encourage you to make your testimony as brief and to the point as possible.

Other ways to take action.
There are a number of ways that you can help us fight the legislation:

1) E-mail Senate and House members.

You can use our easy online form above, which will send messages to all state legislators asking them to vote no on the bills. We believe we have to contact all legislators right away given the quick timeline that is expected. More than 30,000 emails have been sent already. Let’s keep up the pressure!

2) E-mail Gov. DeWine

Due to the anticipated fast-track nature of the bills, we have to start asking the governor now to veto the bill. Gov. DeWine has been less inclined than other Republicans to buy into culture war politics, and we believe he understands the importance of a higher education system that maintains integrity.

3) Talk to your state legislators.

Talk to state legislators you know, and get to know the lawmakers who represent you, if you don’t already. Regardless of party affiliation, they need to hear from their constituents that SB 1/HB 6 will harm higher education and its economic impact on Ohio. Visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/ to find your legislators.

4) Write an op-ed.

Consider writing an op-ed to your local newspaper about the ways that this bill will hurt your institutions. You can also point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from stakeholder groups and the broader public.

Today, The Columbus Dispatch published this op-ed from the president of our Ohio State chapter.

5) Donate to our new “Advocacy & Defense Fund.”

THANK YOU to our generous members who already have made critical donations! OCAAUP is a small organization with one staff member that has kept dues as low as possible for our chapters and members. The challenges we face are going to require more resources, and 100% of the money donated to this fund will be used to fight political attacks and/or future legal challenges. ANY size donation is welcome and appreciated. Please note: the Ohio Conference AAUP is a 501(c)(6) organization; as a result, donations are not tax deductible. 

Thank you for your engagements on SB 1/HB 6. We will follow up soon with more information.

State Budget & Other Legislation

DeWine Unveils Executive Budget
On Monday, Gov. DeWine put forward his executive proposal for the state’s biennial operating budget. Eventually, we will have a bill number when the chair of the House Finance Committee formally puts the proposal into legislation, but for now we have the governor’s “blue book.”

As expected, largely on account of the budget request submitted by the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) to the governor, the executive budget proposes flat funding to State Share of Instruction (SSI), which is the main funding stream of state support to public colleges and universities. SSI would receive a 0.1% “increase” in Fiscal Year 2026 and maintain that funding level in Fiscal Year 2027. Considering inflation, flat funding amounts to a budget cut to our institutions, and at a time when the legislature is also proposing new mandates that could cost colleges and universities millions.

The governor stated that Ohio will “continue to invest in the nation’s most aggressive outcomes-based higher education funding formula, ensuring that colleges and universities stay laser-focused on student success and postgraduation employment outcomes.” In other words, the governor would like to see a portion of SSI predicated on employment outcomes for graduates. We have yet to see the specific parameters and metrics for this proposal.

On a more positive front, the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), which benefits low-income students and can be used at any Ohio institution–public or private–will receive an 11.8% increase in FY 26; however, that increased amount gets scaled back by 6% in FY 27. We do not know why the proposed amount is decreased in the second year, but it could be based on an enrollment decline assumption.

The five “civics centers” that were proposed under SB 117 in the last legislative session, and ultimately were approved in HB 33 (the last state operating budget bill) are slated to receive a total of $35 million over the biennium. The centers are being established at Cleveland State University, Miami University, Ohio State University, University of Toledo, and Wright State University. OCAAUP had provided interested party testimony on SB 117 due to the nature of how the centers were to be established–outside of academic norms and void of shared governance. There also are concerns about duplication with existing academic programs that already teach the kinds of courses offered by these centers.

This is just the beginning of the budget process, and we will keep you apprised as this moves through the legislature.

Senate Bill 8
Senate Bill 8 is the new iteration of SB 47 that was introduced during the previous legislative session. SB 47 only received sponsor testimony and no further legislative action. However, we believe that SB 8 might have more traction in the current General Assembly.

In short, the bill would prohibit employers from agreeing to paid release time in collective bargaining agreements for public employees who engage in political and/or lobbying activities. It does not appear to preclude union leaders and members from being afforded release time to conduct union business.

We will monitor the bill and provide updates as necessary.

Other News

AAUP Blog

SB 1 clears Senate, but the fight isn’t over

AAUP Blog

SB 1 Activity This Week & What You Can Do

AAUP Blog

SB 1 Opponent Hearing