Democratic News

With a looming Aug. 24 deadline to apply for funds through the federal Early Head Start Expansion and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership Grants, State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) gathered with over 20 childcare experts and providers from across the state today for a news conference call to urge other Head Start providers to pursue the federal grant while the Toledo lawmaker fights for the reversal of a new Kasich Administration restriction that prohibits layering state and federal funds for early childhood education.

“I don’t want people to lose hope. Our children’s future depends on us pushing forward, collectively with one voice to say we will not back down,” said Fedor. “We will fight for our future. We will fight for our children.”

State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) today called on Gov. Kasich to put a stop to an administrative rule change effective Sept. 6 that will negatively impact Head Start/ childcare partnerships across the state by leaving them with fewer resources to provide critical enrichment opportunities to vulnerable, low-income Ohio children and their families. Lucas County Commissioners and leaders along with Lucas County, Cuyahoga County and Summit County Democratic lawmakers joined Republican state Senators Peggy Lehner, Shannon Jones and Bill Beagle in writing to Gov. Kasich to ask him to reverse the administrative rule change. 

“Just as the new school year is set to begin, the administration is changing the rules in order to cut millions of dollars in Head Start and childcare funding,” said Fedor, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee. “We must get back on track to advance our early initiatives across our state.”

State Rep. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) today called on Gov. Kasich to put a stop to an administrative rule change that would leave child care centers across the state with fewer resources to provide critical enrichment opportunities to vulnerable, low-income Ohio children and their families.

The state estimates the rule change will cut $12 million in state funding to pre-school providers throughout Ohio, not counting hundreds of millions of lost dollars in federal grants for early childhood programs. 

State Rep. Heather Bishoff  (D-Blacklick) this week joined former First Lady Dr. Frances Strickland, President of the Reynoldsburg City School Board Joe Begeny and Innovation Ohio Education Policy Fellow Stephen Dyer for a public forum to discuss the state of education in Ohio as students, teachers and parents prepare for the upcoming school year. The local community leaders discussed education funding for Ohio schools, public school oversight vs. charter school oversight and statewide testing standards.

State Reps. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) and Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) introduced legislation—House Bill 502 –today to increase Ohio’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from the current rate of $7.95 per hour. Workers who rely on tips to supplement income would see their wages rise from $3.98 to $5.05 per hour under the proposal.

The Democratic lawmakers say the increase will create a stronger Ohio by putting more money into the pockets of minimum wage workers while providing struggling families with an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.

“CEO pay has been increasing 127 times faster than employee pay over the last 30 years, and that disparity ultimately hurts our economy,” said Rep. Foley. “Ohio families just can’t get by on such paltry wages anymore. They are increasingly forced to rely on public assistance because they struggle to make ends meet even working two and three jobs.”

It is estimated that the proposed increase in Ohio wages would inject an additional $2.1 billion into the state’s economy and create close to 6,000 new jobs.

“Low-wage workers are older and more educated today than thirty years ago, and our state’s policies have yet to reflect this reality,” said Rep. Hagan. “This is money that will go directly back into our economy, not in some offshore account or overseas investment. Instead of being pushed into public assistance lines, Ohioans who play by the rules deserve a shot at making it in an economy that rewards hard work.”

Reports show that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would have positive outcomes for Ohioans from all different backgrounds; of those who would be affected:

• 56% are women;
• 86% are over the age of 20;
• 60% live in households that make less than $50,000 a year. 50% live in households  that make less than $40,000 a year;
• 23% of Ohio&r

As Ohio marks Sunshine week, GOP inaction in the state legislature means that Ohioans remain in the dark on how some of the state’s largest corporations are propping up employee benefits at taxpayers’ expense.

According to a state-issued June 2009 report, some of the largest and most profitable corporations in Ohio were also among the top ten biggest users of taxpayer-funded public assistance. For example, as Ohio’s largest private employer, Walmart has roughly 50,000 employees. Of those, between ten and fifteen thousand workers must rely on Medicaid for their healthcare. While just one example, the numbers from the top offenders are tragically routine.

Each month, some of the most profitable companies in Ohio leave it to the taxpayer to fill in the gaps left by their corporate neglect, with tens of thousands of their workers relying on Medicaid, food stamps and even cash assistance to make ends meet.

For too many years, my calls for transparency in spending taxpayer dollars have been ignored by Republicans who control state government. It seems they remain completely disinterested in helping illuminate how taxpayer dollars are being used to subsidize the health benefits of hard working Ohioans that are neglected by their employers. But, I will not stop—the public has a right to know.

This year, I again introduced legislation to shine a light on how we allocate taxpayer dollars to subsidize health benefits for employees of some of the largest corporations in Ohio.

Under House Bill 356, the director of Job and Family Services would be required to report the employers with the largest employee use of state public assistance, and provide that information to General Assembly, Director of JobsOhio, Director of Budget and Management and the Tax Credit Authority on an annual basis.

Having this information available will allow the legi

While the rest of the country celebrates open and accountable government during Sunshine Week, the forecast for government transparency in Ohio looks much gloomier. In recent months, national groups have consistently ranked Ohio at the bottom of lists measuring both government accountability and the economic strength of our state. Yet, the annual report released last week by JobsOhio demonstrates this administration’s commitment to policies that continue to hurt regular Ohioans.

While Ohio’s economy falls further and further behind, no longer can middle-class Ohioans afford an agency that has failed to create jobs and remains unaccountable to the taxpayers who fund it. Instead, we need to get our economy moving again by investing in the middle class, prioritizing our local schools and communities and restoring accountability in state government.

A November 2013 Enquirer report demonstrated how the job-development incubator actually cost more and delivered less than their open and accountable predecessor, the Ohio Department of Development.

In 2008, when the Great Recession hit Ohio and the rest of the country, it was clear the road to recovery was going to be a long one. However, in 2014, while the national economic recovery continues to move forward, Ohio’s economic recovery has come to a grinding halt. As Ohio ranks 45^th in the nation in job creation with nearly 400,000 Ohioans unemployed, clearly something in Columbus isn’t working for Ohioans.

I believe that Ohioans deserve economic policies that reflect their priorities and a government that is open and accountable about putting those policies into place. As I read this year’s JobsOhio report, it became obvious that the pro

On Wednesday, the Ohio House passed House Bill 178, sponsored by State Rep. Debbie Phillips (D-Albany). The legislation, which now heads to the Ohio Senate, would increase the number of school safety drills from one to three, with an additional session for teachers and staff. The proposed changes allow for coordination with local law enforcement.

As Ohio recognizes March 16-22 as Sunshine Week, dark shadows continue to prevent taxpayers from seeing inside the state’s controversial economic development entity, JobsOhio.

JobsOhio has attracted the scrutiny of local and national media, good government groups and the public for its use of taxpayer dollars without taxpayer transparency and accountability. Media outlets have discovered potential conflicts of interest and misappropriations of public funds, yet Gov. Kasich and Ohio’s GOP have used their absolute control of state government to pass a law—Senate Bill 67—that expressly prohibits public state audits of the entity.

My Democratic colleagues and I have introduced legislation to remedy the shortcomings Ohio has faced with transparency and accountability. We have put forth bold proposals to increase public accountability and transparency at JobsOhio, disclose the value of corporate tax credits and disclose public assistance use by corporations.

Our efforts face stiff opposition, yet we will continue to fight for Ohioans’ right to see how their government works—or doesn’t.

While Sunshine Week highlights the importance of open government, transparency and accountability cannot be achieved through symbolism. Legislative Democrats have shown that actions speak louder than words. It is time for our Republican colleagues to do the same.

-State Rep. John Patrick Carney

Since 1987, we’ve celebrated March as Women’s History Month throughout the United States. From the first six female legislators elected in 1923 to the nearly 200 women who have served in the Ohio General Assembly since, this state is certainly rich in examples of women who have leant their names to Ohio’s history with courage, leadership, and determination.

State Rep. John Patterson (D-Jefferson) announced that his commonsense proposal to update registered historical vehicle uses was recently signed into law. 

State Rep. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) recently joined more than 100 state legislators from 32 states and both major political parties to learn about emerging environmental issues at the 2016 National Issues Forum hosted by the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL). The event promoted collaboration between state legislators and provided essential educational resources regarding the pressing environmental and conservation issues currently facing the country.

StateRep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) was recently presented with the National Institute for Civil Discourse Award for Civility in State Governance yesterday evening at the National Conference of State Legislators 2016 Legislative Summit. Ted Celeste, Director of State Programs at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD), presented Rep. Howse with the award in recognition of her commitment to working in a civil, productive manner for the good of her constituents.

Today, Democratic legislators from both the House and Senate announced the introduction of legislation aimed to protect Ohio’s call center jobs. The Consumer Protection Call Center Act of 2016 would ban state grant or loan opportunities for companies that transfer or relocate call centers from Ohio to overseas for five years.

“Now more than ever, it is imperative to protect Ohio jobs that pay above the minimum wage,” said Representative Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood). “If passed by the Ohio General Assembly, this legislation would help pave a path to economic stability for working families by keeping call center jobs from being shipped overseas. The end goal of the Consumer Protection Call Center Act is to keep Ohio jobs in Ohio, with a workforce of Ohioans.”

The highest ranking Democratic member of the House Education Committee, Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), today responded to news reports that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) fails to maintain critical documentation related to students’ offline work and that Auditor of State Dave Yost failed to conduct a comprehensive audit after receiving allegations of attendance fraud at the online charter school.

The Toledo lawmaker has called on Yost in the recent past to investigate Ohio Virtual Academy, the state’s second largest online charter school, for the same attendance scrubbing allegations taking place at ECOT. Fedor again called on Yost to reopen the investigation into the data scrubbing scandal that led to the resignation of David Hansen.

State Rep. Heather Bishoff (D-Blacklick) will join former First Lady Dr. Frances Strickland and President of the Reynoldsburg City School Board Joe Begeny for a public forum to discuss the state of education in Ohio Wednesday, Aug. 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Reynoldsburg.

“In light of recent changes and controversies surrounding Ohio’s education system, including new testing and charter school oversight standards, I wanted to engage citizens in a meaningful way on the state of Ohio education before the start of the new school year,” said Bishoff, a former Gahanna-Jefferson Board of Education member. 

State Reps. Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) and Greta Johnson (D-Akron) today offered their condolences following the passing of Summit County Executive Russ Pry. Pry’s death comes just two days after announcing that he would not seek re-election due to ongoing health issues.

State Rep. John Boccieri (D-Poland) sent a letter to Governor Kasich urging him to take action and set aside $50 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund—which currently holds over $2 billion—to create a Disaster Preparedness Contingency Fund. The new disaster relief fund would be available to local counties and communities to exclusively plan, prevent and respond to mosquito-borne diseases.