Governor activity
Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud signed an addendum to the second amended order that provides mandatory requirements for youth, collegiate, amateur, club and professional sports and extracurricular activities. Click here for a link to the signed order.

Ohio General Assembly activity
The General Assembly sent House Bill (HB) 67 to Gov. Mike DeWine. The bill would make the following changes for the 2020-21 school year:

  • exempts schools from the requirement to administer the American history end-of-course exam;
  • provides flexibility on the administration of state assessments by lengthening the testing windows;
  • extends the use of final course grades in lieu of end-of-course exams for juniors and seniors;
  • provides local flexibility to grant a high school diploma to any student on track to graduate and for whom the principal, in consultation with teachers and counselors, determines successful completion of the high school curriculum or an individualized education program;
  • permits a student to qualify for a high school diploma by both successfully completing the curriculum requirements and earning the OhioMeansJobs Readiness Seal;
  • requires the Ohio Department of Education to seek a federal waiver from accountability requirements;
  • includes an emergency clause.

House activity
The House passed HB 133 by a vote of 97-0. The bill would provide a reduced property valuation for tax years 2020, 2021 and 2022 for eligible individuals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other changes. The bill was amended in committee to ensure that valuation and the millage stay in alignment to protect school districts from losing local levy dollars. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee
The committee amended Senate Bill (SB) 1, which would require students who enter the ninth grade for the first time on or after July 1, 2021, to complete at least one-half unit of instruction in the study of financial literacy. The amendment removed the duplication between current law on financial literacy instruction and the proposed language in the bill. The amendment delineates that schools have the flexibility to provide financial literacy instruction in a current course or a stand-alone course so long as the student earns the half-credit for graduation.

House Primary and Secondary Education Committee
The committee passed HB 170, sponsored by Reps. Adam C. Bird (R-New Richmond) and Tracy M. Richardson (R-Marysville), which would provide state appropriation authority for schools to receive the funding provided by Congress through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. OSBA, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) provided proponent testimony. Click here to read the testimony. Additional proponent testimony was provided by Dr. Erik Roush, supervisor of policy and government affairs, Columbus City.

The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 200, sponsored by Reps. Don Jones (R-Freeport) and Phillip M. Robinson, Jr. (D-Solon), which revises the state report card and school accountability systems.

Senate Finance Committee
The committee held a second hearing on SB 111, sponsored by Sens. Louis W. Blessing, III (R-Colerain Township) and Andrew O. Brenner (R-Powell), which would provide state appropriation authority for schools to receive the funding provided by Congress through ESSER in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. OSBA, OASBO and BASA provided proponent testimony. Click here to read the testimony. Additional proponent testimony was provided by Dr. Erik Roush, supervisor of policy and government affairs, Columbus City.

The committee held sponsor testimony on SB 67, sponsored by Sen. Sandra R. Williams (D-Cleveland), which would establish a committee to study the progress and challenges of African Americans in Ohio regarding education, among other policy areas.

House Ways and Means Committee
The committee amended SB 57, sponsored by Sens. Bob D. Hackett (R-London) and Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood), which would exempt from property taxation qualifying housing provided by a charitable organization to individuals diagnosed with mental illness or a substance use disorder. The amendment allows a commercial or industrial tenant who pays 100% of the property tax to be eligible to file a property tax valuation complaint or counter-complaint with the Board of Revision. Additionally, the bill was amended in regard to tax increment financing agreements with a local government.

The committee held a second hearing on SB 19, sponsored by Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster), which would establish a property tax exemption for certain property used for wetland mitigation projects.

The committee amended SB 18, which expressly incorporates changes in the Internal Revenue Code into Ohio law as it relates to changes in federal adjusted gross income that impact school districts that levy income taxes. The amendments pertain to withholding for pass-through entities and state income tax withholding for unemployment benefits.

The committee held a third hearing on HB 157, that would repeal a provision of law that modifies municipal income tax employer withholding rules for COVID-19-related work-from-home employees.

Senate Financial Institutions and Technology Committee
The committee held a second hearing on SB 62, sponsored by Hackett, which would provide a reduced property valuation for tax years 2020, 2021 and 2022 for eligible individuals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other changes.

The committee held a third hearing on HB 2, which would establish the residential broadband expansion program.

House Criminal Justice Committee
The committee held a second hearing on HB 99, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township), which expressly exempts the requirement that peace officer basic training be obtained by certain employees whom a board of education authorizes to be armed in a school safety zone and requires that the employee meets or exceeds the training requirements for concealed handgun licensees to be eligible.

House Health Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 176, sponsored by Reps. Rick Carfagna (R-Genoa Township) and Hall, that would revise the law governing the practice of athletic training by requiring an athletic trainer to practice under a collaboration agreement with a physician or podiatrist.

Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 6, sponsored by Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), that would modify the laws governing school nurses who have a bachelor's degree and pharmacy technician trainees who are enrolled in an approved career-technical school program.

House Technology and Innovation Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 177, sponsored by Reps. Carfagna and Mark Fraizer (R-Newark), that would permit school districts, among others, to use blockchain technology.

House State and Local Government Committee
The committee accepted a substitute version of HB 103, sponsored by Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Township), that would reduce the duration of an emergency administrative rule from 120 days to 30 days. The bill would also eliminate the governor’s authority to extend an emergency rule if the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) orders an adopting agency to revise the emergency rule’s replacement. The substitute version of the bill changed the duration from 10 days to 30 days and modies rules for JCARR to extend or invalidate an emergency order.

Posted by Nicole Piscitani on 3/19/2021