What is the status of SB 1?

As we shared in our last email update, SB 1 passed the Ohio Senate on February 12, despite bipartisan opposition. The bill was officially introduced in the Ohio House on February 18, and was referred to the House Workforce and Higher Education Committee on February 26.

What is the timeline in the House?

The House of Representatives is still primarily focused on HB 96, the state operating budget bill. In fact, OCAAUP submitted testimony on HB 96 this week.

SB 1 is slated to be taken up as budget subcommittee deliberations conclude. We are anticipating that the first hearing on the bill (for sponsor testimony and possibly also for proponent testimony) could occur as early as next week.

We will send another message when we know the hearing schedule. There ended up being 999 opponent testimonies in the Senate, and we need to have a strong showing in the House, too.

Once hearings begin on SB 1 in the House, we believe it will be another expedited process, and that the House could pass it within a one or two-week time frame. This is why it is so critical to take actions over the next week. We need a lot of calls and emails into House members’ offices to express opposition.

Visit our SB 1 toolkit for links to our Action Network pages, as well as a list of State Representatives to target with phone calls and social media action.

What happens if the bill passes the Ohio House?

If SB 1 passes the Ohio House with no changes, the bill will head straight to the governor to be signed or vetoed. However, if there are any amendments adopted in the House, the Senate will have to concur on the changes or the bill will be sent to a conference committee so that the chambers can reach an agreement on the final version. Then the bill would be sent to the governor.

Unfortunately, the political realities we are facing suggest that SB 1 will pass the legislature in some form. This is why we have been encouraging messages to Gov. DeWine to ask him to veto the bill (link also available in our toolkit).

OCAAUP has continued to be active by having conversations with State Representatives and pushing specific amendments to the bill. We are exhausting all efforts to ameliorate the worst parts of the bill, but it is an uphill battle. Unfortunately, this is a bill driven by culture war politics instead of good policy.

Advocacy & Defense Fund

As you may have noticed in previous email messages, we have established a new fund to which AAUP members and anyone else who supports our efforts can donate. All of the money collected in this fund will be used to fight political attacks and fund potential legal challenges to SB 1.

You can make a secure donation online. Thank you for the generous contributions that have already been made! Please note: the Ohio Conference AAUP is a 501(c)(6) organization; as a result, donations are not tax deductible.