Rightwing Bills Dead In Ohio

No, this is not about Buffalo's football team.

Golly, it's been a rough week for terrible rightwing legislation in the lame-duck Ohio Legislature, which means it's a pretty good week for Ohioans who like liberal luxuries like voting, abortion rights, public schools, and freedom to be you and me. Let's take a quick look at the awful bills that have failed — even as we keep in mind that, like the bad guy in a slasher movie, terrible legislation can always come back for an even schlockier sequel -- and in Ohio, Republicans still control the state Lege and the governorship.

Democracy Safe For Now

The Ohio House abandoned an attempt to make it more difficult to amend the state constitution, but may bring it back in the next session. Currently, constitutional amendments must be approved with a 50 percent vote in referendums. The proposal would have raised that bar to 60 percent of the vote, a far more difficult hurdle to clear. The official spin on the plan was that it was needed to prevent "special interests" from "hijacking the amendment process," but that's just code for preventing the passage of changes the Right doesn't like — like Michigan's vote this year to protect abortion rights.

The plan was supported by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who insisted it was about "good government," and explained,

If you don't think that your idea is broadly popular enough to muster 60% vote of the people then, then maybe you should not consider bringing it to the ballot.

Mmm-hmm. Mind you, Republican state Rep. Brian Stewart kind of gave away the proposal's real purpose in a letter to fellow House Republicans in which he warned that without the change, "the Left" would undermine all the hard work Republicans had put into banning abortion and gerrymandering the state's legislative district maps.

People will need to keep an eye on this one: Stewart is also urging the Republican caucus to bring the bill back before February so it can be put on the state ballot in a primary in May 2023, which might have far lower turnout and hence a better chance of passing — with just 50 percent of the vote, because what even is "hypocrisy"? Hilariously, the proposal was also attacked by far-right antivaxxer groups who want to amend the state constitution to eliminate school vaccination requirements.

[ Democracy Docket / Columbus Dispatch / Ohio Capital Journal ]

Trans Kids, Public Schools Also Safe — For Now

In another blow to the rightwing agenda, SB 178, a big education bill that would have banned trans students from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, failed to get enough votes in the state House, although it had earlier passed in the Senate. The bill also contained other terrible ideas, like stripping the Ohio State Board of Education of most of its power and handing it to the governor, and another provision that would have banned "discrimination" against people who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The attempt to ban trans girls — and let's be clear, it really was aimed at girls — made national headlines in June because it originally included a provision requiring that any student athlete be subjected to a genital examination by a physician as well as genetic testing if literally anyone suspected the kid might be transgender. That "take down your genes" provision was later removed from the bill and replaced with a requirement that student athletes provide a copy of their birth certificate if challenged. Even that was dropped as Republicans tried to find enough votes to at least punish trans kids somehow, as was another provision that would have applied the trans ban to college athletes as well. And yes, Ohio, like many states, allows trans people to change their birth certificates anyway, the result of a 2021 federal court order.

Another part of the Senate bill, a 2,144-page amendment tossed into the bill at the last minute, would have removed most of the authority of the State Board of Education, which we guess was too full of people who don't understand how important it is to exercise partisan control over schools, giving it instead to a new department to be called the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW), which would be run by a designated member of the governor's cabinet. As Cleveland.com explains, 

The Ohio State Board of Education, which oversees details about the state’s learning standards, graduation requirements and school district report cards, among other responsibilities, would have lost most of that power to the governor and DEW director.

In the Ohio Constitution, the state school board is charged with appointing the state superintendent of public instruction. That would have continued under SB 178, although the superintendent would have been an advisor to the DEW director, and a secretary to the board.

But the state board would still have control over teacher licensing and discipline, so how dare anyone say the bill would have gutted it. Supporters of the bill claimed the Board had to be cured of "dysfunction," although a number of critics pointed out that voters had elected three Democrats to the board in the midterm election, before the absolutely necessary "reform" was introduced.

And then there was the no-discrimination-against-the-unvaccinated provision, which sucked as well.

The whole mess failed in a 46 to 41 House vote yesterday, falling short of the 50-vote majority needed to pass, although Crom knows parts of it will probably come back in the 2023 session. It's not clear whether Gov. Mike DeWine would have signed it even if it had passed, since he had publicly opposed a similar trans sports ban in 2021. Then again, he also has said he favors putting education under his control. [ Cleveland.com ]

In conclusion, WHEW, that was close, although we're sad to say that a bill proposed by elementary school kids to name the sugar cookie as Ohio's state cookie also failed.

[Image: Boston Public Library Tichnor Brothers collection #72852 , public domain]

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