Budget Update
The Senate Finance Committee accepted the omnibus amendment for House Bill (HB) 33, the biennial budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Following its passage out of committee, HB 33 was sent to the Senate floor for a vote on Thursday, June 15th. The bill passed 24-7 and is now on its way back to the House. The House is scheduled to meet Wednesday, June 21, at 2 p.m., when it’s expected to vote not to concur with the Senate’s changes. A conference committee will then convene to reconcile the differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of HB 33. Click here for a comparison of the changes between the executive, House and Senate versions of the bill. Click here for a summary of the additional changes made in the Senate omnibus amendment.

We will be hosting a webinar Wednesday, June 21 at 3 p.m. to review the differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of HB 33 in anticipation of conference committee. Registration details to come.

House Activity
The House passed HB 47, sponsored by Reps. Richard D. Brown (D-Canal Winchester) and Adam C. Bird (R-New Richmond), which would require the placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in each public and chartered nonpublic school and each public recreational facility. The bill would also require the Ohio Department of Health to develop a model emergency action plan for the use of AEDs. HB 47 passed by a vote of 84-6.

The house also passed HB 76, sponsored by Reps. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township) and Andrea White (R-Kettering), which would modify state agency data storage and notification law, by a vote of 94-1.

House Primary and Secondary Education Committee
The committee passed HB 8, sponsored by Reps. D. J. Swearingen (R-Huron) and Sara P. Carruthers (R-Hamilton). The bill would enact the Parents Bill of Rights, requiring public schools to adopt a policy on parental notification regarding student health and well-being and instructional materials with sexually explicit content.

The committee amended  HB 103, sponsored by Reps. Don Jones (R-Freeport) and Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville), which would establish the Ohio Social Studies Standards Task Force to develop new social studies academic standards for use beginning with the 2024-25 school year. The amendment changes from August 15, 2023 to six months after the bill's effective date the deadline for the task force's statewide social studies academic standards report.

The committee also held a second hearing on HB 71, sponsored by Rep. Nick Santucci (R-Howland Township), which would require ODE to establish the community connectors workforce program to connect students to jobs and internships in their communities. The bill would also require ESCs to administer the program to the school districts they serve. OSBA, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) provided proponent testimony. Click here to read the testimony.

The committee heard sponsor testimony on HB 137, sponsored by Reps. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon) and Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), which requires the Department of Education to study the feasibility of implementing a program similar to the Kentucky Bluegrass Challenge Academy.

Senate Government Oversight
The committee accepted a substitute version of SB 91, sponsored by Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster), which would make changes to laws regarding fraud, waste and abuse of public funds. The substitute bill allows the Office of Internal Audit to confer with the Ohio Auditor of State (AOS) about any written report which is received under current law regarding violation or misuse - whistleblower protection; and which establishes that such reports are not public record; and share the report with AOS.

House State and Local Government Committee
The committee held a third hearing on HB 74, sponsored by Reps. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township) and Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville), which would establish a cybersecurity and fraud advisory board and a plan to migrate the state’s information technology systems to the state’s computer center and cloud environment.

The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 153, sponsored by Rep. Brett Hudson Hillyer (R- Uhrichsville), which would limit which abandoned land may be subject to certain expedited foreclosure proceedings.

House Ways and Means Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 187, sponsored by Reps. Thomas Hall (R-Middletown) and Adam Bird (R-Cincinnati), which modifies the procedures used by the Tax Commissioner to conduct property tax sales-assessment ratio studies.

House Public Health Policy Committee
The committee amended and passed HB 68, sponsored by Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), which would prohibit certain procedures to alter a minor child’s sex; and would designate this act as the Ohio Saving Adolescents from Experimentation Act. The bill was amended to include HB 6, which would enact the Save Women's Sports Act to require schools, state institutions of higher education, and private colleges to designate separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex.

House Pension
The committee amended and held a third hearing on HB 78, sponsored by Reps. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) and Joseph A. Miller, III (D-Amherst), which would change the State Teachers Retirement Board membership to allow retirees who are reemployed to seek election as a contributing or retired member of the board. The bill would also change the requirements of a contributing board member who retires or leaves employment and later seeks election as a retired board member. The amendment makes the following change:

  • Removes a reemployed superannuate's option under the bill to seek election as a contributing member of the State Teachers Retirement Board, thus making a reemployed superannuate eligible to seek election to the Board only as a retired teacher member.

House Criminal Justice
The committee held a second hearing on HB 139 sponsored by Reps. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Joseph A. Miller, III (D-Amherst), which would increase the penalties for assault if the victim is acting as a sports official or the assault is committed in retaliation for the victim's actions as a sports official.

House Economic and Workforce Development Committee
The committee held a fifth hearing on HB 3, sponsored by Reps. Gail Pavliga (R-Atwater) and Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown), which would authorize a nonrefundable tax credit for the construction or rehabilitation of certain federally subsidized rental housing and authorize a uniform method for the tax valuation of most such housing, and introduced a substitute version of the bill. The substitute version of HB 3 makes changes to the proposed formula for appraising federally subsidized residential rental properties, including expanding the look back in operating income to be reported from owners from one or two years to three years. Click here for the comparison document between the original version of the bill and the substitute version. Some additional changes:

  • Set the minimum value for a federally subsidized residential rental property at the greater of either 150% of unimproved land value or $5,000 for each unit;
  • Extend the reporting deadline for owners to April 1 compared to the earlier version's Jan. 31 and require the report be based on pro forma figures. Reporting requirements would now be triggered when the property reaches 90% occupancy rather than upon commencing operations;
  • Enable county auditors not to apply the formula to a property if the owner was not timely in reporting;
  • Require reported information to be audited by an independent or certified public accountant or auditor and prohibits submitted information from being disclosed except as necessary to administer the formula;
  • Apply the formula to Low Income Historic Tax Credit properties during federal 15-year extended use periods and other similarly restrict periods instead of the initial 15-year federal compliance period in the earlier version;
  • Establish that LIHTC records are not public records but must be turned over to the tax commissioner to administer the program.

House Agriculture
The committee held sponsor testimony on HB 193, sponsored by Reps. Kevin D. Miller (R-Newark) and Brian Lampton (R-Fairborn), which establishes procedures and requirements governing biosolid lagoons and biodigestion facilities, including granting county and township zoning authority over those lagoons and facilities, and modifies the CAUV eligibility requirements for certain land used to produce biofuels.

State Board of Education
The State Board passed a resolution that increases the third grade English Language Arts (ELA) cut score from 685 to 690 for the 2023-24 school year. This is the cut score that is used to determine promotion to the fourth grade.

New Bill Introduced:

  • HB 211, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), which would require a public body to permit members of the public to comment or testify about matters of public concern before the public body at its public meeting; and name this act the Free to Speak Act;
  • HB 214, sponsored by Rep. Adam Holmes (R-Nashport), which would require each public school to adopt a policy regarding certain expectations related to the performance of staff member professional duties.

Federal Update
Please click here to read the weekly Federal Advocacy Education Report which includes education related information.

Posted by Scott Palider on 6/16/2023