Stay engaged, involved, and up-to-date: Week of 06/05/17 Updates

Monday, June 12th, 2017

In our weekly updates from the Women’s Public Policy Network, we highlight some of the work our partners have been up to this week, share updates on bills affecting women that are moving at the Statehouse, and provide a call to action on proactive bills pending in the Legislature. Sign up for our email list to receive these updates in your inbox every week!

REDISTRICTING REFORM IS A WOMEN’S ISSUE

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio – one of our coalition and grant partners – hosted a forum last night with the League of Women Voters Columbus Metropolitan Chapter and the National Council for Jewish Women Columbus that discussed how redistricting reform is absolutely a women’s issue.

As Representative Kristin Boggs stated during the event, if the majority party in control does not prioritize issues affecting women, then those issues will not be addressed or moved forward. Visit our events calendar for more information on events that our partners are hosting in the community.

DEJA VU AT THE OHIO STATEHOUSE

This week, legislators re-introduced the six-week abortion ban for the fourth consecutive year. Ohio House Bill 258 would outlaw any 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.

These restrictions not only threaten access to health care, but have a direct impact on the economic security of women and families. Read our latest blog post for more information, and how you can take action to protect abortion access.

#OHLEG ALERTS:

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 week and a look ahead to next week:

HB 1 (Sykes, Manning) – Modernize Ohio’s domestic violence laws by extending victims of dating violence access to DV protections, such as civil protection orders. The bill is scheduled for a third hearing with all testimony next week on Tuesday, June 13th in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB 77 (Retherford) – Provides licensure of sick-child care centers, allowing for privately-funded centers to care for children with short-term illnesses or other medical conditions during school hours on a temporary basis. The House Economic Development, Commerce & Labor Committee held a third hearing on the bill this week.

HB 149 (Patmon, Conditt) – Expands the crime and increases the penalty for abortion trafficking, despite there being no evidence that any wrongdoing or mishandling of fetal tissue occurs by abortion providers. During a previous hearing, the term “abortionist” was removed from the bill language, but it still remains a stigmatizing and unnecessary bill. The bill was scheduled for a hearing this week in the House Health Committee, but was later removed from the schedule.

HB 160 (Antonio) – Known as the Ohio Fairness Act of 2017, this bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. The House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee held a first hearing on this bill this week.

SB 4 (Kunze, Oelslager) – Expands the expungement law for human trafficking survivors. Current law only allows for the expungement of records for prostitution and related charges, but does not apply to certain other offenses committed during the time that they were trafficked, such as theft or drug possession. Too often, these other charges hold back women from finding housing or employment. The bill was scheduled for a hearing this week in the House Criminal Justice Committee, but was later removed from the schedule.

SB 145 (Huffman, Wilson) – Bans the most common procedure for abortions in the second trimester. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a first hearing on the bill on Tuesday, June 13th.

We are also 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.

ACTION ALERT: OHIO SENATE BILL 4

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.

SB 4 seeks to remedy this issue by expanding the expungement law for human trafficking survivors. The bill passed out of the Senate in early May with a unanimous vote, and was assigned to the House Criminal Justice Committee. The Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on SB4 earlier this week, but the bill was later removed from the committee schedule.

TAKE ACTION: Contact the Chair of the House Criminal Justice Committee, Representative Nathan Manning, and urge him to hold hearings on SB 4 before the summer recess. Tell him that this bill would help protect survivors of human trafficking from discrimination in housing and employment they currently face.