Democratic News

Before state lawmakers head into conference committee to hammer out the final details of the state biennial budget, House Democratic leaders today questioned whether the legislation adequately addresses the state’s current fiscal crisis that has left Ohio families struggling to make ends meet and communities underwater.

“The Ohio GOP’s misguided tax policy has not created the economic stability, better-paying jobs or real growth that was promised. While the rest of the nation is recovering from the Great Recession, Ohio has been held back,” said House Democratic Leader Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton). “After six years of being wrong – wrong about a tax policy that favors the wealthy over the middle class, wrong about state revenue numbers for 10 out of 11 months, wrong even about how much needs to be cut to balance the budget – I have no doubt that the same failed approach based on ideology instead of facts will only do more harm to working Ohio families and send our economy deeper into a tailspin.” 

State Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus) will offer testimony during Education and Career Readiness Committee TODAY, Tuesday, June 20 at 3:00 p.m. in the Statehouse on House Bill (HB) 220, legislation to shine a light on how charter schools spend taxpayer dollars. The Columbus lawmaker’s testimony follows the Columbus Dispatch’s recent editorial reporting of nearly $200 million tax dollars that ECOT, the state’s largest online charter school, spent on management fees to companies owned by its founder.

“Just as Ohio parents want to know that their children are receiving the highest quality possible education in school, Ohio taxpayers deserve to know how their hard-earned dollars are being used,” said Leland. “Our Constitutional mandate to create a “thorough” and “efficient” public school system demands nothing less.”

WHO:              State Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus)

WHAT:            Education and Career Readiness Committee

Sponsor testimony for HB 220

WHEN:            TODAY, Tuesday, June 20 at 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:          Ohio Statehouse, Room 121

As Statehouse Republicans struggle to cut $800 million to balance Ohio’s next two-year budget, preliminary revenue estimates for this May show the state faces greater fiscal uncertainty than initially anticipated. Lawmakers will now have to contend with an additional $67 million less in spending for the current fiscal year. House Democratic Leader Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton) and the lead Democrat on the House’s state budget panel, Rep. Jack Cera (D-Bellaire), issued the following joint statement in response:

“The TV weatherman is right more than Ohio Republicans have been about Ohio’s financial future. Meanwhile, with every month that passes, taxpayers have a front row seat to see how years of deep cuts to schools and communities, tax shifting and tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires are pushing our economy further out of balance and charting a collision course of uncertainty and failure.”

Often in our day-to-day lives, we may forget the sacrifices made by our greatest public servants – the brave and selfless men and women in the Armed Services. 

We owe them a tremendous debt. The freedoms we enjoy are not free, and the price tag is often grim. We know that we can never repay that debt. We can only acknowledge it, and say, “thank you.” 

The celebration of Memorial Day reminds us of this debt we owe to our veterans and current military members, whose selflessness, sacrifice and courage helps keep our nation safe. 

House Democratic lawmakers applauded today’s U.S. district court decision in which Secretary of State Husted was ordered to set hours for the final three days of voting in all counties and reverse the illegal cuts he made in February of this year.

“While it is disappointing that our GOP-controlled state government continues to put up unconstitutional roadblocks to Ohioans’ sacred right to vote, I am pleased that the federal courts have once again sided with Ohio voters.

“The court’s order to restore the last three days of early voting will ensure access to the polls for Ohio voters at a time when precincts and polling locations have been cut and consolidated.

“I remain hopeful that a day will come when all elected officials focus on improving voter participation instead of limiting it.”—House Democratic Leader Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus)

“I applaud today’s ruling as a victory for Ohio voters. But, we should remember that this is simply a temporary solution to a permanent problem in Ohio. Ohioans deserve to have their rights enumerated in a way that is not subject to the whims of a political party’s majority in state government. I encourage Secretary Husted to take this ruling as a mandate to uphold Ohioans sacred right to vote.” –State Rep. and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati)

“As we have been telling Secretary Husted for the past two years, the legislature has not succeeded in any of its many attempts to cut off the last three days of early voting—it ends on Monday before the election. End of story. I am happy that a court has once again protected the rights of Ohio’s voters, and I urge Secretary Husted to accept this ruling and move on.” –State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent)

State Rep. and Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), State Rep. and Vice Chair Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown) and members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus today gathered with about 200 women representing nearly 30 counties from across the state to discuss and lobby for policy solutions to challenges Ohio women and families face.

“Women’s active participation in the political process is vital to ensure equal representation, especially after men dominated the polls up and down the ballot during the last election,” said OHDWC Chair Teresa Fedor. “When women in Ohio don’t have the same level of access to opportunity and prosperity, our entire state pays the price. By empowering women to engage with their elected officials and advocate for policies that advance gender equality in our state, we can help boost the quality of life for all Ohio families.” 

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) is renewing calls for the state Inspector General to open an investigation into the cozy relationship between Governor John Kasich and the oil and gas industry after new details regarding a plan to sell Ohioans on the “benefits” of fracking in state parks were revealed in Saturday’s edition of the Columbus Dispatch.

The Kasich administration indicated in February that any consideration of fracking in state parks had ended in August of 2012, but records obtained through a public records request by the Columbus Dispatch show that meetings between high-level officials in the governor’s office and ODNR to discuss the marketing plan continued for months afterward.

The original pro-fracking marketing plan from Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources uncovered in February showed the regulatory agency working closely with big oil and gas companies and Gov. Kasich to identify, stifle and discredit groups and elected officials concerned with drilling in state parks. The document listed Rep. Hagan by name along with several state environmental organizations on a list of “opposition groups,” while “allied groups” included the Governor’s office, JobsOhio and big oil and gas companies, such as Halliburton. 

Prompted in part by the revealing of the original public relations strategy, Rep. Hagan joined several other state representatives this spring in calling for an investigation into whether the Kasich administration and Ohio’s regulatory agencies exert inappropriate political pressure to the benefit of certain energy companies. So far there has been no response from the Inspector General. 

“The lack of honesty and transparency coming from the Governor’s office is alarming, and these new disclosures should raise a big red flag for the Inspector General,” Rep. Hagan said. “Ohioans deserve better than a Gover

State Rep. and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) President Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) today released the following statement mourning the loss of iconic author, poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou:

“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Dr. Maya Angelou, and yet we are able to find great joy and comfort in knowing that her indelible contributions to social justice, civil rights and positive social discourse will carry on for lifetimes to come.

“I consider meeting Dr. Angelou one of the greatest honors of my life. Her dedication to bettering the lives of others truly made our world a better place. She redefined beauty and self-esteem among African American girls and women, and she defined courage in her iconic poem ‘Still I Rise.’”

State Reps. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and John Patterson (D-Jefferson) today announced they have introduced a series of bills to bring charter schools up to public school standards.

The lawmakers, both former public school teachers, said charter schools should conduct the same teacher evaluations as public schools, and that the state’s third grade reading guarantee should be equally applied to students on state vouchers. They also want to see a state study commission in place, one that would review the effectiveness of charter school regulations and issue findings to the legislature and governor.

“To truly provide an adequate and equitable education for our children, all schools must be at the same starting line together with the same final goals in mind,” said Rep. Fedor. “These bills would move our state closer to that balance while putting common sense reviews in place to measure the effectiveness of charter school regulations.”

State Reps. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) and Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) on Wednesday discussed potentially harmful implications of Senate Bill 310, legislation to suspend Ohio’s—by most accounts, successful—advanced energy standards. If SB 310 becomes law, it would make Ohio the first state to reverse Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) by eliminating targets for advanced energy and freezing targets for renewable energy.

Ohio House and Senate Democrats on Thursday sent a letter to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted urging him to implement a checklist of positive suggestions for putting the voters first and truly making it easier to vote in Ohio. Highlights include suggestions to restore early voting, let voters search the Secretary’s website by their home address for their polling place, allow all Ohioans to use online voter registration and comply with Ohio’s laws for voter instructions and public comment on directives.

Most House Democrats today voted against House Bill 375, legislation that increases the tax rate on oil and gas drilling to largely pay for an income tax cut in Ohio.

House Republicans’ plan to alter Ohio’s severance tax to two and a-half percent and would establish Ohio as the only state in the country to require oil and gas revenue—which is predominantly generated in rural and Appalachian working-class communities—to pay for an income tax cut that disproportionately favors Ohio’s wealthiest citizens. 

A review of oil and gas taxation policies across thirty-five states that levy a tax or fee on drilling production shows that no state uses any amount of oil or gas revenue to pay for any level of income tax reduction.

Quotes from Democratic lawmakers throughout the state are below:

“Ohio Republicans will stop at nothing to pad the pockets of the wealthy and well-connected. No other state in the nation uses taxes on oil and gas to fund tax cuts for millionaires. This is a missed opportunity to do the right thing by Ohio’s local communities that are on the front line of confronting new challenges from this burgeoning industry.” --Democratic House Leader Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus)

“Oil and gas severance taxes must be devoted to funding adequate inspection and oversight, plugging orphan wells, and investing in impacted communities. This bill is woefully inadequate and strips wealth from southeast Ohio to provide tax breaks for the wealthiest Ohioans.”  --Assistant House Democratic Leader Debbie Phillips (D-Albany)

“It is a sad day when we have the chance to make a difference to an entire region of the state and fall short of that goal. I have worked with local elected officials and economic development leaders over the last few months on this issue.  All have emphasized