Women's Public Policy Network

Ohio

Stay engaged, involved, and up-to-date: 12/04/2017 Week in Review

Monday, December 11th, 2017

Stay engaged, involved, and up-to-date: In the weekly reviews from the Women’s Public Policy Network, we look back on last week’s highlights from the WPPN, share updates on bills affecting women that are moving at the Statehouse, showcase weekly news clips, and provide calls to action on bills pending in the Legislature. Sign up for our emails to receive these updates in your inbox every week!

Since 2011, there have been a total of 19 bills signed into law in Ohio that restrict access to abortion and reproductive health care. In this current 132nd General Assembly, legislators have continued to advance a number of new restrictions to access.
As we head into the last week that legislation can be moved out of the Statehouse and sent to Governor Kasich to be signed before the holiday recess and end of the year, many of those bills are up for hearings or votes in the House and Senate. Read the full blog and learn how to take action here. 
 
WHAT’S NEW IN THE NEWS FROM THIS WEEK
LOOKING AHEAD: PARTNER EVENTS THIS UPCOMING WEEK  

Thursday, December 14
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
The Ohio Statehouse
1 Capitol Square, Columbus, OH 43215
When reproductive rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back! We have crafted some gorgeous banners detailing all NINETEEN of Governor Kasich’s abortion bans and we need reproductive rights warriors showing up IN FORCE at the Statehouse in Columbus, on December 14 to display them. Find out more here.
 
Friday, December 15
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Two Dollar Radio Headquarters
1124 Parsons Ave., Columbus, OH 43206
Please join us for our monthly Women’s Coffee Meet Up. Here you can plan to be surrounded by progressive, active, possibly angry, amazing, fellow female community members. We have no set actions to take at these meet ups, but feel free to bring one of your own to encourage others to take part in. The Meet Up was created to be safe space for women to connect, destress, build one another up, and encourage each other to continue fighting. Find out more here. 
Visit our Partner Events Calendar for more details on future events hosted by our coalition partners across the state.
#OHLEG ALERT
We are tracking the progress of any state bills affecting women in the Ohio Legislature for the 132nd General Assembly. Here’s a quick overview of some key highlights from this past week and looking ahead to this upcoming week:
  • HB 1 (Sykes, Manning) – Dating Protection Orders: Modernizes Ohio’s domestic violence laws by extending victims of dating violence access to DV protections, such as civil protection orders. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a fourth hearing with all testimony and a vote on the bill this upcoming Tuesday, December 12. The Committee will meet at 9:00 AM in the North Hearing Room.
  • HB 56 (Dever, Gavarone) – Human Trafficking: Expands the expungement law for human trafficking survivors to include criminal records. Many women forced into human trafficking are charged with other offenses during that time, such as theft and drug possession. Current law only allows for the expungement of their records for prostitution and related charges, but does not apply to other offenses committed during the time that they were trafficked. Too often, these other charges hold back women from finding housing or employment. The Criminal Justice Committee will hold a third hearing this upcoming Tuesday, December 12 for all testimony with a possible substitute bill and vote. The Committee will meet at 1:30 PM in Statehouse Room 114.
  • HB 214 (LaTourette, Merrin) – Down Syndrome Abortion Ban: This bill would charge a doctor with a fourth degree felony if they performed an abortion procedure for a woman if the reason for seeking to terminate the pregnancy is in part due to a Down syndrome diagnosis. There is an identical Senate bill moving through the legislature right now, as well. The Senate Health, Human Services & Medicaid Committee will hold a first hearing on the bill with all testimony and possible vote this upcoming Tuesday, December 12. The Committee will meet at 3:15 PM in the South Hearing Room.

  • HB 258 (Hagan, Hood) – Six-week Abortion Ban: Outlaws abortion at the earliest detection of a fetal heartbeat, which is as early as six weeks – at a time before many women even know that they are pregnant. The House Health Committee held a third hearing for opponent testimony on Wednesday, December 6. You can find all testimony here, including testimony from many of our partner organizations (look under Hearings for documents from December 6). The bill will have a fourth hearing in the House Health Committee with possible vote this upcoming Wednesday, December 13. The Committee will meet at 9:00 AM in Statehouse Room 121.
  • HB 298 (Merrin) – Sick Days: This legislation would decrease the number of sick days provided to public employees (city, county, school, and college employees) in Ohio. The House State & Local Government Committee will hold a first hearing for sponsor testimony this upcoming Tuesday, December 12. The Committee will meet at 2:30 PM in Statehouse Room 17.
  • HB 302 (Boggs, Antonio) – Pregnant Minors: Allows for a pregnant minor to have consent to her own health care decisions during her pregnancy, such as receiving an epidural during delivery. A substitute version of the bill was accepted by the Committee, which excludes consent for abortion care. The House Health Committee held a first hearing on the bill for sponsor testimony on Wednesday, December 6. You can find testimony here(look under Hearings for documents from December 6).
  • HB 365 (Hughes, Boggs) – The Reagan Tokes Act: Requires released violent offenders wearing GPS monitors to have set geographic boundaries and would give law enforcement the ability to access the GPS data without a subpoena. The House Criminal Justice Committee will hold a fourth hearing on the bill this upcoming Tuesday, December 12 with all testimony. The Committee will meet at 1:30 PM in Statehouse Room 114.

  • HB 383 (Carfagna) – Child-care: Requires that child-care centers provide parental notice of any serious risks to health or safety of children while under their care. The Community & Family Advancement Committee held a second hearing on the bill for proponent testimony on Wednesday, December 6. You can find all testimony here (look under Hearings for documents from December 6)
  • HB 385 (West) – Wage Information: Prohibits a state agency from preventing employees from discussing their own wages or another employee’s wages and prohibits retaliation against an employee who has discussed wages. It also prohibits a state agency from seeking the wage or salary history of a job candidate. Many of these issues the bill addresses are the reason for gender pay discrimination and the gender wage gap. The House Economic Development, Commerce & Labor Committee held a first hearing for sponsor testimony this past Tuesday, December 5. You can find testimony here (look under Hearings for documents from December 5).

  • HB 426 (Hagan) – Sexual Conduct: Prohibits an employee of a school or higher education institution who are not in a position of authority from engaging in conduct with certain students. The House Criminal Justice Committee held a first hearing for sponsor testimony on Tuesday, December 5. You can find testimony here (look under Hearings for documents from December 5).
  • SB 4 (Kunze, Oelslager) – Human Trafficking: Identical legislation to HB56, this bill would expand the expungement law for human trafficking survivors to include criminal records. The bill has already passed out of the Senate and will receive a third hearing in the House Criminal Justice Committee this upcoming Tuesday, December 12 for all testimony and a possible substitute bill and vote. The Committee will meet at 1:30 PM in Statehouse Room 114.

  • SB 28 (Uecker) – Abortion: Would require fetal remains from a surgical abortion at an abortion facility to be disposed of by cremation or burial. The Senate Government & Oversight Committee will hold a second hearing for proponent testimony on Tuesday, December 12. The Committee will meet at 3:00 PM in the Finance Hearing Room.
  • SB 101 (Skindell) – Employment Practices: Known as “fair scheduling” legislation, this bill would regulate certain employment practices of retail and food services employers, such as prohibiting an employee from being scheduled for two different shifts without adequate time between shifts. The Senate Transportation, Commerce & Workforce Committee will hold a first hearing for sponsor testimony this upcoming Wednesday, December 13. The Committee will meet at 10:15 AM in the South Hearing Room.

  • SB 164 (LaRose) – Down Syndrome Abortion Ban: This bill would charge a doctor with a fourth degree felony if they performed an abortion procedure for a woman if the reason for seeking to terminate the pregnancy is in part due to a Down syndrome diagnosis. The bill was passed out of the Senate by a 20-12 vote and is now moving through the House. The House Health Committee will held a first hearing for all testimony this past Wednesday, December 6. The bill was passed out of Committee by a 12-6 vote along party lines, and will have a possible vote in House Session this upcoming Wednesday afternoon (the last step before being sent to Gov. Kasich).

  • SB 214 (Terhar, Lehner) – Genital Mutilation: This bill would prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM) for girls under 18, even without the defense of “cultural or ritual necessity” or consent from the girl or her parents. Ohio is still one of two dozen states that does not ban FGM. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a first hearing for sponsor testimony on the bill this upcoming Tuesday, December 12. The Committee will meet at 10:15 AM in the North Hearing Room.
We will keep tracking any new updates and will be sharing timely legislative updates on these and other women-centric legislation on Twitter using the #OHLeg hashtag. Follow us to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at the Statehouse.
RAISE YOUR VOICE TO STOP THE TAX BILL

 
The U.S. House and Senate have both passed their versions of the GOP tax bill. Now, the bills will move to conference to resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill.
These bills are a bad deal for women and their families. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to vote NO on a tax bill that:
  • Includes massive tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations paid for largely by shifting away resources to low- and moderate-income individuals through cuts to critical programs and services helping women and their families;
  • Dismantles a key component of the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual mandate. Analyses show that this cause the price of premiums to increase and result in 13 million fewer people having health care coverage over the next decade;
  • Adds at least $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit; 
  • Repeals the student loan interest deduction, which would increase the financial burden of student loan debt for college students.
  • Has a poorly crafted paid leave provision offering companies a small tax credit for providing employees with as little as two weeks of paid family and medical leave; and
  • Includes a Child Tax Credit (CTC) provisions that fall short of providing real relief for low- and moderate-income families. The childcare provisions in both the Senate and House plans would take the refundable portion of the CTC away from low-income children with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs).