Democratic News

State Rep. Michael Ashford (D-Toledo) today announced the release of $1,827,843 in state funds to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS) for upgrades to five of the state’s mental health facilities. Among MHAS facilities selected to receive a portion of the Network Switch & Cabling Upgrade funds is the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital (NOPH) in Lucas County.

State Rep. Sean O’Brien (D-Bazetta) today announced the approval of a $500,000 state loan to Ohio Utilities Protection Service (OUPS) for the construction of a new corporate office in North Jackson, Mahoning County. Expected to open in August 2017, the new state-of-the-art 16,524 sq. ft. corporate office will be built in the Youngstown Commerce Park and allow the not-for-profit public safety organization to create nine new jobs and retain 66 existing jobs. Once the new building is complete, the headquarters will house all 75 of the nonprofit’s employees. 

Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President and state Rep. Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) responded to today’s 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning the district court and ordering Secretary of State Jon Husted to stop purging voters for inactivity:

“Thankfully, today’s court decision effectively halts Ohio’s unlawful voter registration cancellations and will hopefully lead to the end of this arbitrary silencing of voters’ voices.” 

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) issued a challenge to Ohio College Democratic chapters each to register 50 students during National Voter Registration Day activities on Tuesday, Sept. 27. This marks the second year Clyde has issued the challenge. Last year’s challenge saw student groups register hundreds during campus registration drives.

“Young voters, students and low-income voters oftentimes have the most trouble staying on the rolls,” said Rep. Clyde. “This challenge is a way to engage young people, register voters and alert Ohioans of the current voter registration requirements so they are not left behind come Election Day.”

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) issued the following response to Ohio Secretary of State John Husted’s mischaracterization of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which found Husted’s voter registration purging to be illegal and ordered him to stop purging voters for not voting:

“I refuse to let this secretary of state mischaracterize yet another win for Ohio voters. Jon Husted’s suggestion that we want ineligible or dead voters on the rolls is nothing but inflammatory partisan politics. This decision validates the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of people who never should have been purged in the first place – people who simply moved within the state or didn’t vote in every election. I look forward to seeing the hundreds of thousands of purged Ohioans who are still eligible to vote restored to the rolls.”

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement in response to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning the district court and ordering Secretary Husted to stop purging voters for not voting:

“Today’s decision is a victory for voters, voting rights and common sense. Husted must stop illegally purging eligible and registered voters. Now, Ohioans who are registered and show up to vote can be confident that their ballots will be counted instead of thrown out.

State Reps. John Boccieri (D-Poland) and Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown) sent a letter to state Rep. Andrew Brenner (R-Powell), Chair of the House Education and Career Readiness Committee, requesting an investigation into the effectiveness of the Youngstown Plan, which was created in House Bill (HB) 70 in 2015. Under the plan, the state assumed control of the Youngstown City School District, eliminated the school board and appointed a CEO to oversee all operations of the district. The letter comes amid the resignation of three Academic Distress Commission members and the potential departure of Youngstown City School District CEO, Krish Mohip.

“The rushed legislation that instituted the Youngstown Plan under HB 70 in the last biennium now causes a need for an investigation,” the Mahoning Valley lawmakers wrote.

Boccieri and Lepore-Hagan are scheduled to meet with Brenner and a member of the Academic Distress Commission in Youngstown on Monday, April 16.

*Editor’s note: A copy of the letter is attached

In the wake of Ohio Republican lawmaker Niraj Antani’s public comments suggesting students should arm themselves in high schools across the state, state Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) today issued the following statement:

“To suggest students should carry guns at school is to turn our backs on our constitutional oath to further a free society where students have an equal opportunity to succeed. Arming students in the 21st century violates every shred of commonsense, responsible lawmaking, and is better saved for oppressive regimes in foreign lands – not America.

“We should be deeply troubled and angered by politicians who suggest arming students is an appropriate response to the national discussion on commonsense ways to reduce gun violence in our nation. Too many politicians have robbed our students of a childhood by failing to keep them safe, which has pushed them out of our schools and into the streets to fight for accountability from their elected officials. It’s clear some politicians still aren’t listening.”

State Rep. Jack Cera (D-Bellaire) today encouraged local education leaders and parents to avoid reading too much into new state report cards for local school districts. School districts across the state Thursday received report cards under a new testing system.

“Schools once again are forced to adjust to the ever-changing education policies that come out of Columbus,” said Cera. “Just as teachers, administrators, students and parents figure out the last round of standards, Columbus is putting a new system in place, and it is frustrating to say the least. But, we cannot be discouraged by a new state website with flawed letter grades. In many classrooms throughout our community, we know our kids and teachers are making progress, much of which can’t be measured by bureaucrats in Columbus or a test vendor in Washington.”

Over the past three years, the state has changed testing vendors and methods three times, leaving local districts with a constantly changing evaluation system for student achievement.

Following the state’s release of so-called school “report cards” today, state Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), the House Democratic Caucus education lead – is releasing the open letter below to all statewide news editors and education reporters:

“The floggings will continue until morale improves.” This famous line attributed to Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty has also been used to summarize the state of contemporary education policy. Now that the federal government has recognized the flaws inherent in trying to promote learning through punishment and set a new course with the more flexible Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Ohio could also right our course. Instead, Republicans and the Ohio Department of Education are more than doubling-down on the punishment strategy by delivering six letter grades in a gimmick known as the state school report card.

State Reps. Kent Smith (D-Euclid), Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and state Sen. Mike Skindell (D-Lakewood) joined local advocates and elected officials today in South Euclid, Ohio to highlight pending legislation that calls for amending the U.S. Constitution and eliminate First Amendment protections for corporate personhood, abolishing the notion that money is equated to speech. The lawmakers are introducing a statewide resolution in the Ohio legislature to support the proposed federal amendment.

“It goes without saying that when the founding fathers wrote the First Amendment they were concerned with the rights of John Doe the individual, not John Doe’s private investment company,” said Smith. “When money is considered speech, those who have the most money have the most speech. This contradicts the basic cornerstone philosophy of American democracy of one person, one vote.”

On the heels of the first state Oil and Gas Commission meeting Thursday, state Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus) today introduced legislation that would protect Ohio’s parks and nature preserves from the impacts of fracking. The proposed bill will ensure adequate protections for Ohio’s state and local parks by refusing any new well permits for lands typically enjoyed by families and people who enjoy the outdoors. 

“It is my hope that we can all share a vision for our state that includes meeting our energy needs without ever having to sacrifice our beautiful state and local parks, forests, nature preserves, and wildlife areas,” said Leland. “Conserving Ohio’s public lands ensures they will be around for future generations to utilize and enjoy.”

This year’s state-budget-veto showdown between Gov. Kasich and Ohio House Republicans resulted in the appointment of members to the vacant Oil and Gas Commission, which is responsible for issuing drilling licenses for state lands. The commission held its first meeting Thursday in Columbus.

The footprint and disruption of fracking, or horizontal drilling, is much larger than conventional oil and gas wells, raising additional concerns over habitat fragmentation and wetland destruction. Fracking also typically costs Ohio’s communities much more in added cleanup, greater wear and tear on roads, and significant emergency response needs.

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement in response to the decision by a panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals:

“The Court found that Husted has been illegally tossing out the ballots of eligible and registered voters. He must stop. Husted’s job is to let the people vote, not to break down our democratic system.

Ohio House Democratic lawmakers today sent a letter to Ohio Department of Medicaid Director Barbara Sears, during the agency’s public comment period, calling on the agency to rethink controversial and partisan Medicaid restrictions. The new restrictions would deny some qualifying Medicaid recipients their healthcare without notice if they cannot work a specified number of hours in a given month.

Ohio Democratic state lawmakers, workers and advocates today announced a bill to address Ohio’s bad economic growth and low wages with new legislation to increase Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. House Assistant Democratic Whip Brigid Kelly (D-Cincinnati), Senate Assistant Democratic Whip Cecil Thomas (D-Cincinnati) and state Senator Joe Schiavoni (D-Boardman) called for the legislation, which would give a raise to 1.8 million Ohioans.

Today State Reps. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Michael Sheehy (D-Oregon) introduced a resolution urging the Director of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to add Lake Erie’s Western Basin to the list of impaired waters.  The move follows a State of the State address that left the two Toledo-area representatives disappointed with the lack of urgency surrounding the continued water quality crisis in Northwest Ohio.

“To seriously address harmful algal blooms in our state requires a firm commitment to reform and to exploring all avenues for action,” said Rep. Fedor. “I was hopeful that Ohio and federal governments would treat the ongoing crisis with more resolve and that last week’s State of the State address would outline some real policy initiatives. It is past time to put Lake Erie and the lives we have built here first.”

This resolution recognizes that Lake Erie’s Western Basin is facing a water quality crisis, plagued by pollution, algal blooms, and fish kills. Both Rep. Fedor and Rep. Sheehy were serving Toledo in the Ohio House of Representatives in 2014 when an algal bloom left 500,000 Toledoans without safe drinking water. Lake Erie’s Western Basin still requires massive doses of chlorine to be considered safefor consumption, continually impacting much of the region.

“The algae problem is far too critical to continue the weak actions taken by the current state and federal administrations,” said Rep. Sheehy. “If swift and decisive action is not taken now, Ohioans along the coast will continue to lose income, wildlife, and many more resources from Lake Erie.”

Unlike Ohio, Michigan did include the open waters in its jurisdiction on its list of impaired waters that it submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which approved that list. The United States EPA already has declared Michigan’sportion of Lake Erie impair