SB 83 is almost assuredly dead this General Assembly.

While the Ohio legislature is currently in its “lame duck” session and will be meeting through next week, it does not appear that there will be any last-minute attempts to push Senate Bill 83 over the finish line. In fact, House Speaker Jason Stephens told media before Thanksgiving that he would not bring it to the floor for a vote.

Take a moment to celebrate this victory!

We could not have done this without our strong State Conference that is fueled by a robust and active membership. Your testimonies, phone calls, and emails all made a difference in pushing back against “The Higher Education Destruction Act.” THANK YOU! We also could not have done this without our many education and union allies within the Honesty for Ohio Education and We Are Ohio coalitions. These relationships have been built over many years, and it goes to show that when we stick together, we win.

As a reminder, SB 83 is a far-reaching bill, which would severely undermine academic freedom, job protections for faculty, union rights, shared governance, student success programs, and institutional autonomy over a plethora of subjects. It faced bipartisan legislative opposition, and was opposed by organizations and individuals across the political spectrum. There were more than 600 opponent testimonies submitted to the General Assembly. In addition, more than 100 unions across the state signed a letter opposing the bill. There were also hundreds of thousands of anti-SB 83 emails sent to Senators and Representatives.

On numerous occasions, we reached out to the bill’s sponsor and other lawmakers integrally involved in the process to see if we could find common ground. They didn’t acknowledge our invitations, let alone meet with us, which made it clear that this bill is about playing culture war politics, and not about working with stakeholders for the good of Ohio higher education. SB 83 was a “copy and paste” bill based on model legislation from several right-wing “think tanks.” Legislation derived by groups that openly seek to diminish higher education should have no place in Ohio.

Despite this fact, we remain open to meeting with any legislators to discuss higher education issues. Ensuring that our public colleges and universities are well-funded, sustainable, and student-centered should not be adversarial or partisan. Attacking faculty and the fundamentals that make American higher education the best in the world is not what will attract qualified students and faculty to Ohio institutions. We are extremely grateful to the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who recognized this and stopped the bill.

What’s next?

We wish we could tell you that this is the end of the ill-conceived ideas within SB 83; but unfortunately, we anticipate that a new, perhaps even more expansive, version of SB 83 will be introduced in the 136th General Assembly. Current Senate President Matt Huffman, a strong proponent of SB 83, will be the next Speaker of the House. Huffman has made it clear that “higher education reform” is one of his top priorities, and it is rumored that SB 83 likely will become the next General Assembly’s House Bill 1. We expect that the bill will be introduced in January. That means we have to start preparing now for what’s ahead.

Let’s be clear: whatever might be in this next bill was on the horizon anyway. Throughout the SB 83 process, the bill’s sponsor threatened to introduce a worse version later if it didn’t pass, but the reality is that there is a cadre of legislators who want to continue to chip away at higher education’s autonomy and will continue to do so unless we stand up to them. Nevertheless, we must be perfectly honest with you: we face a much steeper uphill battle next General Assembly, not to mention what might be on the horizon from the second Trump administration.

The next SB 83 will be happening alongside of the state budget process, placing higher education stakeholders in an undesirable position of pushing back on a priority bill of the majority party while seeking greater resources for public colleges and universities.

What you can do to help.

There are a number of ways that you can help us advocate next year:

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

OCAAUP is a small organization with one staff member that has kept dues as low as possible for our chapters and members. The upcoming challenges we will face are going to require more resources, and 100% of the money donated to this fund will be used to fight political attacks. 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. 

2) Talk to 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 whatever version of SB 83 is coming next session will still harm higher education and its economic impact in Ohio. Visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/ to find your legislators. Be advised that there will be some new lawmakers in the new year, so who represents you now may not be the same come January.

3) Dust off your SB 83 testimony and/or op-ed.

We can’t be sure whether there will be any, let alone substantive, opportunities to testify to legislative committees on the next version of SB 83, but please have your testimony ready to update and submit. If you didn’t write testimony on SB 83, we will need even more voices this time, so please consider starting to draft testimony. We will send more information about testimony submissions when the time comes.

If you wrote an op-ed previously, consider updating that and submitting again to point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from the public.

4) Keep an eye out for updates and be ready to act.

Again, we are expecting the new bill to be introduced in January. Given that it’s a legislative priority for the next Speaker, the process could unfold quickly. In addition to the items above, we ask that you respond to legislative alerts, come to the Statehouse for hearings when your schedule permits, and participate in other actions and forums. The legislative process can be unpredictable, but we will keep you posted every step of the way.

We know that, for the many activists who vigorously fought SB 83, the thought of going through this all over again isn’t a welcome one. We hope that everyone takes the holiday season to relax and recharge. Be proud of the work that we did over the last two years against the odds. We must continue to be advocates and defend higher education. Onward!