The countdown continues! This issue of Facts in a Flash outlines the progress made by the General Assembly this week on priority legislation. Just one more week remains to get their top issues across the finish line. 

Governor’s Activity 

On Monday, Governor DeWine signed HB 432. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Don Jones (R-Freeport) and will make changes regarding alternate credentialing pathways for career-technical educators and add harmonizing amendments to the already enacted SB 29, SB 168 and STEM Program of Excellence. The House and Senate voted to include an emergency clause in the bill, meaning it is effective law as of Monday.  

Senate Activity 

The Senate passed HB 74 with a 24-7 vote. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township) and would create a plan to migrate the state’s information technology systems to the state’s computer center and cloud environment and establish a cybersecurity and fraud advisory board. Earlier in the week, the bill was amended in committee to include changes to election law. The bill now goes to the House for a concurrence vote. 

House Activity  

The House held multiple sessions this week. On Tuesday, the chamber passed HB 125 with a vote of 86 – 0. HB 125 is sponsored by Reps. Nick Santucci (R-Howland Township) and Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon) and would modify the income tax deductions for contributions to 529 plans and ABLE accounts. This bill will now be sent to the Senate.  

The chamber also passed HB 274 with a vote of 78-10. HB 274, sponsored by Reps. Adam Matthews (R-Lebanon) and Richard Dell’Aquila (D-Seven Hills), would authorize an enhanced property tax homestead exemption of $50,000 for long-term homeowners who meet certain eligibility requirements. This bill will now be sent to the Senate.  

On Wednesday, the House passed SB 44 with a vote of 61-11. This bill is sponsored by Sen. Andrew O. Brenner (R-Delaware) and would require a state occupational licensing agency to accept electronic license applications. No witnesses were present to testify on the bill in the House State and Local Government Committee earlier in the week, when the committee accepted three amendments before passing the bill. The bill will now be sent to the Senate for a concurrence vote. 

The chamber also passed SB 163 with a vote of 85-0. This bill began as legislation to create the Dublin City Schools license plate but became a “license plate omnibus bill” in the substitute version passed by the House Homeland Security Committee earlier that day. This omnibus bill now includes the following public school license plates:    

  • Dublin City Schools,  
  • Norton Music Boosters (HB 515),  
  • Hillard Davidson Wildcats (SB 179),  
  • Blanchester Wildcats (HB 542),  
  • Jackson Local Schools (HB 223).  

The bill now goes to the Senate for a concurrence vote.  

Finally, the House passed SB 208 with a vote of 90-0. SB 208 was sponsored by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) and would require school districts to include an exception for children of active duty military personnel in their open enrollment policies. The bill was favorably passed out of the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee earlier that day, after the committee accepted a substitute bill that: 

  • Permits a student enrolled under a district's open enrollment policy exception for children of military personnel to continue to attend that district and receive transportation services for the remainder of the school year if the student's parent is no longer on active duty;  
  • Requires the board of education of a school district and the governing board of an educational service center to seek to meet the "varying and unique needs of students and teachers" when purchasing technological office equipment and computer hardware and software; and requires the board to consider the long-term cost of ownership, flexibility for innovation and any anticipated residual or salvage value at the end of the target life cycle; 
  • Permits educational aides or assistants and instructional assistants to provide services under the Autism and Jon Peterson Special Needs scholarships virtually; 
  • Permits, rather than requires, public schools to have law enforcement officers or prosecutors with relevant experience provide employee in-service training on child sexual abuse; and specifies those officers and prosecutors may provide the training at their own discretion so long as they have relevant experience; 
  • Eliminates provisions of law that required the following: (1) The Department of Education and Workforce to adopt a model curriculum for high school students on proper interactions with peace officers during traffic stops and other encounters; (2) School districts and other public schools to use the Department's model curriculum in at least one course required for high school graduation; (3) The Director of Public Safety to adapt the Department's model curriculum for use in driver training programs and new driver instructional materials; 
  • Establishes the Prenatal-to-Five Early Childhood to Post Secondary Regional Partnerships Program to support early childhood to post-secondary regional partnerships throughout Ohio; 
  • Defines a home education learning pod as a voluntary association of parents who direct their children's education through home education that meets specified requirements and exempts home education learning pods from childcare regulations; 
  • Permits a pre-service teacher permit to be one year in duration, in addition to three years as under continuing law.  

SB 208 will be sent back to the Senate for a concurrence vote.  

Senate Education Committee  

The Senate Education Committee also held multiple sessions this week. On Tuesday, the committee held its first hearing on HB 206 with Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana) providing sponsor testimony. This bill would make changes regarding the expulsion of a student from a public school for actions that endanger the health and safety of other students or school employees. The committee heard proponent testimony from Laura Bryant, director of teaching and learning for Tiffin City Schools. 

The committee held its third hearing on SB 295, sponsored by Sen. Andrew O. Brenner (R-Delaware). This bill would require schools in the bottom five percent of the performance index and bottom ten percent of the progress measure for three consecutive years to choose to either close or implement an alternative to closure. A substitute version of the bill was accepted that requires a school that continues to meet closure criteria three years after they implemented alternatives to close. 

The committee held its fifth hearing on HB 8, sponsored by Reps. D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) and Sara P. Carruthers (R-Hamilton). This bill would enact the "Parents' Bill of Rights" to require public schools to adopt a policy on parental notification on student health and well-being and instructional materials with sexually explicit content. The committee heard proponent and opponent testimony on the bill. The committee passed a substitute version of the bill that: 

  • Requires districts to adopt policies allowing for release time religious instruction and defines core curriculum as “reading and English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and health education”; 
  • Requires that the policy governing health services must provide parents the option to opt in and that the policy will only require annual notice; 
  • Clarifies that disclosure requirements should not conflict with HIPAA, FERPA or Marsy's Law; 
  • Modifies the structure for parental written complaints to first be held with the principal or assistant principal with appeal to the superintendent; if the matter is not settled after a decision by the superintendent, the parent may appeal to the school board; 
  • Clarifies that nothing prevents a parent from contacting a member of their board of education regarding a concern with the operation of a school. 

On Wednesday, the committee held a sixth hearing on HB 8, accepting an amendment to the bill. This amendment: 

  • Creates exceptions for the bill’s disclosure requirements when they would conflict with federal law; 
  • Clarifies nothing within the bill prohibits existing mandatory reporting requirements in state law; and  
  • Clarifies that the bill does not prohibit career, academic and counseling opportunities between students and teachers. 

No further testimony on the bill was heard.  

The committee held its second hearing on HB 206, which would make changes regarding the expulsion of a student from a public school for actions that endanger the health and safety of other students or school employees. The committee heard opponent and interested party testimony on the bill.  

Senate Select Committee on Housing  

The committee accepted a substitute version of SB 245, sponsored by Sens. Michelle Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) and Hearcel F. Craig (D-Columbus). This bill would revise the law governing eviction, real estate representation agreements, residential building code enforcement and real property transfers. The substitute bill made several changes to eviction laws and eligibility requirements.  

Senate Finance Committee  

The committee heard sponsor testimony on SB 309 from Sen. Steve Wilson (R-Maineville). The bill would allow community foundations to be trustees of endowments and other charitable funds received by public schools. Some of the funds held by community foundation trustees would be classified as institutional funds. 

The committee also held a first hearing on SB 313 and heard sponsor testimony from Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester). This bill would enact Alyssa's Law and require public and private schools to implement a wearable panic alert system. The bill would make a $25 million appropriation to support the purchase of such alarm systems.  

Senate Government Oversight Committee  

The committee amended and passed HB 257, sponsored by Rep. James A. Hoops (R-Napoleon). This bill would authorize certain public bodies to meet virtually. The amendment makes the following changes: 

  • Permits certain public bodies to hold virtual meetings unless the members of the body are compensated for or elected to their position, or the meeting or hearing is held to vote on a significant nonroutine expenditure, significant hiring decision, or tax-related matter; and  
  • Permits otherwise ineligible public bodies to hold and attend a virtual meeting if the meeting's participants include the members of at least one other public body, unless the meeting is held to vote on a significant nonroutine expenditure, significant hiring decision, or tax-related matter. 

Senate Ways and Means Committee  

The committee held its fourth hearing on HB 496, sponsored by Rep. Hoops (R-Napoleon). This bill would revise the law governing property taxes and county auditors. The committee adopted a handful of amendments to the bill, which now:  

  • Clarifies that deadlines for the appeals process to property values must be based on postmarked dates of appeal paperwork; 
  • Addresses current delinquent lodging taxes in Hamilton County; and  
  • Inserts a “clean version” of SB 186, without the amendments added by the House earlier that day (see House Ways and Means Committee below for more detail).  

Chairman Blessing clarified this is the version of the legislation the Senate wishes to pursue in the remaining days of lame duck. The committee favorably reported the bill.  

Senate Veterans and Public Safety  

The committee held its third hearing on SB 329, sponsored by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green). This “School Bus Safety Act” would authorize a civil penalty system directed toward drivers who illegally pass a school bus but cannot be identified and designate the month of August as "School Bus Safety Awareness Month”. The committee heard opponent and interested party testimony on the bill.  

House Agriculture Committee  

The committee heard sponsor testimony on HB 661 from Reps. Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) and Jack K. Daniels (R- New Franklin). This bill would require the Department of Education and Workforce and each school district, community school, STEM school, college-preparatory boarding school and state institution of higher education to adopt a policy to prevent the purchase of “cultivated-protein food” products or food “misbranded as a meat or egg product”.  

House Finance Committee  

The committee held a second hearing on HB 279, sponsored by Reps. Bernard Willis (R-Springfield) and Richard D. Brown (D-Canal Winchester). This bill would appropriate $25 million to create a School Bus Safety Grant Fund at the Department of Education and Workforce to assist districts with the cost of installing safety features on new and existing school buses. The bill would also increase the penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus and designate August as “School Bus Safety Month”. There were no witnesses present to testify. The committee favorably reported the bill.  

House Government Oversight Committee 

The committee held its fourth hearing on HB 499 sponsored by Reps. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) and Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon). This legislation would create grant programs for housing developments near megaprojects and for townships and municipalities that adopt pro-housing policies. HB 499 would also modify the community reinvestment area law relating to residential property and limit the ten percent nonbusiness property tax credit. The committee heard proponent testimony on the bill. The committee passed a substitute version of the bill with changes that: 

  • Exclude from the grant program housing projects located in municipal corporations that have a population of more than 100,000; 
  • Provide that no township or municipal corporation may receive more than 15% of the total funds available, regardless of the number of applicants;  
  • List as a qualifying factor having a process in place to reduce the time it takes to review and grant permits for housing developments by at least 20%, or that reduces the time it takes to review and grant permits to six months or less; 
  • Permit a township or municipal corporation to use grant funds for providing long-term housing for difficult to house populations; 
  • Annually transfer money from the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund, which is used to provide funding for an annual sales tax holiday for most types of tangible personal property, to fund the bill’s housing grant programs up to $100 million per year. 

House Ways and Means Committee 

The committee amended SB 186, sponsored by Sens. Louis W. Blessing III (R-Colerain Township) and Catherine D. Ingram (D-Cincinnati). The bill would require payment of property taxes and assessments when a lot is split or transferred and generally prohibit tax-delinquent property owners from purchasing tax-foreclosed property. The amendments: 

  • Remove a provision that would have created a requirement to pay property taxes and assessments when a parcel is split or transferred; 
  • Allow counties, municipalities, townships, convention facility authorities and lake facility authorities to enforce payment of delinquent lodging taxes by placing a property tax lien on the delinquent hotel; 
  • Require a taxing authority proposing to submit a property tax levy to voters to request the county budget commission (CBC) of each county in which the taxing authority has territory to hold a public hearing on the proposed levy and submit proof to the county board of elections that meeting was held before the levy may be submitted to voters; 
  • Require the tax commissioner to recommend, in a report to the General Assembly prepared in consultation with county auditors, and implement one-year extensions  for tax years 2030 to 2035 to some counties' property tax revaluation years (which normally occur every three years) with the goal of equalizing assessment cycles and having approximately the same number of parcels assessed each year; 
  • Require county auditors to separately include, in their annually published property tax schedule, the rates of all unvoted taxes, organized by subdivision and purpose, and a description of each tax and its legal basis; 
  • Modify the process for conducting the sales-assessment ratio studies that the Department of Taxation uses to adjust, or "equalize," county auditors' proposed property values. Currently, the department determines which property sales are included in such studies. The amendment requires that the department use a property sales sample provided by the county auditor. The amendment allows the department to file an appeal with the Board of Tax Appeals challenging the property sales included or excluded from an auditor's sample. Under continuing law, auditors can also appeal the Ohio Department of Taxation’s ultimate decision to adjust property values; 
  • Codifying current practice for commercial activity tax purposes, situses in Ohio receipts from the sale or lease of a motor vehicle by a motor vehicle dealer only if a certificate of title with an Ohio address is issued for that vehicle, a modification which applies retrospectively and prospectively to all tax periods. 

House Civil Justice Committee 

The committee held its second hearing on HB 518, sponsored by Rep. Jon Cross (R-Kenton). The committee received written proponent testimony on the bill from Dr. Paul Imhoff with the Buckeye Association of School Administrators.  
 
House Public Health Policy Committee

The committee held a third hearing on HB 617, sponsored by Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster). This bill would prohibit individuals from being required to wear a mask or other facial covering in a place of public accommodation, a facility owned or operated by a political subdivision or state agency or a court. The bill would also allow an individual who believes a violation of the bill’s provisions has occurred to petition a court for injunctive relief or a declaratory judgment or bring a private civil action for money damages. 

The committee also held a third hearing on SB 234, sponsored by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green). The bill would designate May as “Food Allergy Awareness Month”. The committee adopted multiple amendments to the bill, including the language from HB 571, requiring schools and higher education institutions to include the national suicide and crisis lifeline telephone number on student identification cards, student planners and electronic portals. 

Recently Introduced Bills 

  • SB341 – Sponsored by Sen. Louis Blessing (R – Colerain Township) and Sen. Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati), this bill would make an appropriation to provide funds to the Mount Healthy City School District to repay a solvency assistance loan. 
  • HB701 – Sponsored by Rep. Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison), this companion bill would make an appropriation to provide funds to the Mount Healthy City School District to repay a solvency assistance loan. 

Rules Activity  

The Department of Education and Workforce has no rules open for public comment at this time. 

The State Board of Education has the following rule open for public comment at this time:  

  • Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) Rule 3302-24-05 – Licensure 

Click here to view the SBOE rules open for public comment. 

Federal Update 

Please click here to read the most recent Federal Advocacy Report from COSSBA, which includes up-to-date information on federal education efforts.  

Posted by Malania Birney on 12/13/2024