by Nicole Piscitani • Sept. 21, 2029
The Ohio Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 96, the biennial budget, and sent it to Gov. Mike DeWine on June 27. He signed it on June 30 and issued 67 line-item vetoes. Legislators in both the Ohio House and Senate left Columbus for their traditional summer legislative break that follows the finalization of a budget every two years. Traditionally, they return to the Statehouse mid-September.
While legislators are back in their legislative districts, they still work with legislative staff and the Legislative Service Commission to write new bills that can be introduced while the House and Senate are not in session. Since June 30, several education-related bills have been introduced. The chairs of the committees where the bills have been referred may start holding hearings. To ensure that school board members are up to date, the following is a list of the bills introduced since June 30.
- HB 391, introduced by Reps. Jack K. Daniels (R-New Franklin) and Heidi Workman (R-Rootstown), would require tax rates to be expressed as a percentage of true value on tax bills and ballot language in addition to the already required mills. The Ohio Constitution requires that levies and tax bills be expressed in “mills”. One mill is one-tenth of a percent or .001. The bill would simply require a percent to be included on ballot language and tax bills.
- HB 413, introduced by Reps. Tom Young (R-Washington Twp.) and Bob Peterson (R-Sabrina), would create the Ohio Local Government Expenditure Database. Additionally, it would require political subdivision participation and state retirement systems participation in the Ohio State Government Expenditure Database. Lastly, the bill makes an appropriation to establish the program.
- HB 415, introduced by Reps. Juanita O. Brent (D-Cleveland) and Jamie Callender (R-Concord), would enact the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act and would prohibit discrimination by a public school against an individual based on hair texture and protective hair styles. A similar bill was introduced in the previous Geneal Assembly and was close to passing out of the Statehouse before it ran out of time.
- HB 420, introduced by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Bernie Willis (R-Springfield), would disallow and, by 2030, eliminate property taxes levied for a continuing period of time. This would be named The Taxpayers Freedom Trilogy – Act One: Discontinuing the Continuum. HB 420, HB 421 and HB 422 are part of a group instead of having all portions included in one bill.
- HB 421, introduced by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and David Thomas (R-Jefferson), would be named The Taxpayers Freedom Trilogy – Act Two: Arresting Inside Millage and allow electors to reduce unvoted property taxes by initiative.
- HB 422, introduced by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Johnathan Newman (R-Troy), would be named The Taxpayers Freedom Trilogy – Act Three: The Triumph of the Taxpayer and would increase the approval threshold required for passage of certain property taxes.
- HB 431, introduced by Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), would revise human trafficking screening in public schools and would make an appropriation.
- HB 437, introduced by Reps. Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood) and Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland), would revise cardiac monitoring for youth and name the amendments and enactments by this act the Healthy Cardiac Monitoring Act.
- Senate Bill (SB) 250, introduced by Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), would authorize a nonrefundable, transferable tax credit for charitable organizations that construct owner-occupied housing and name this act the Promised Land Act.
- SB 255, introduced by Sens. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus) and Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), would provide grants to qualifying applicants for mortgage, property tax and utility bill assistance.
- SB 257, introduced by Sen. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), would establish the Support Children's Overall Psychological and Emotional Health (SCOPE) Pilot Program and make an appropriation.
- SB 258, introduced by Sens. George Lang (R-West Chester) and Mark Romanchuk (R-Ontario), would modify the laws governing the practice of advanced practice registered nurses and name this act the Better Access to Health Care Act.
While many of these bills will receive a hearing this fall, it is important to note that all bills introduced in the first year of a general assembly receive at least a first hearing. The Ohio General Assembly will also be busy working on property taxes and redistricting during the next couple of months.