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Friday, June 17, 2011
Senate panel OKs leadership requirements for Air Force Institute of Technology
By Jessica Wehrman Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A Senate committee late Thursday night passed a bill that includes a provision to beef up leadership requirements for the top position at the Air Force Institute of Technology.
The provision is aimed at ensuring strong leadership for the engineering and technology school located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and earlier this year was included in the House-passed version of the Defense authorization bill. Lawmakers pushing for the provision say it will help reinforce AFIT’s reputation as an educational powerhouse for the military, as well as provide for more long-term security for the school.
Also related to Wright-Patterson, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he successfully removed a provision in the bill that would have ended flexible hiring practices at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson.
The bill passed Thursday also included increased funding for a series of initiatives, some managed by the Air Force Research Lab, aimed at researching and developing advanced materials and manufacturing technologies. The technology is used by the Air Force and much of the work is done at or near Wright-Patterson.
Finally, the bill eliminated $14 million included in the Obama budget proposal that would’ve brought the space shuttle to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. After that proposal was heavily criticized by groups in Texas and Florida, four shuttles were ultimately sent to Washington, D.C., Florida, New York and California.
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TweetOpponents of collective bargaining bill have 3 times as many signatures needed to put repeal on the ballot
The campaign to repeal Senate Bill 5 announced Friday that they have collected 714,137 signatures in two months to put the issue before voters in November.
More than 10,000 volunteers have been circulating the petitions for We Are Ohio, a coalition of labor unions and other worker groups opposed to the collective bargaining reform bill.
To qualify for the ballot, the group needs 231,149 valid signatures from registered voters. The petitions must be turned into the Ohio Secretary of State by June 30. We Are Ohio plans to continue collecting signatures over the next two weeks.
The campaigns to repeal and retain Senate Bill 5 are expected to spend more than $20 million this year trying to win over voters.
The new law, which has yet to take effect, weakens collective bargaining rights for 360,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, prison guards and other public workers in Ohio. It outlaws strikes, bans binding arbitration, requires workers to pay at least 15 percent of health care costs, and prohibits employers from picking up the worker’s share of the pension contribution. Unions may still negotiate for wages and conditions but if they reach an impasse, management has the right to impose its last offer.
Supporters of the reform package say it is needed to help government control its costs.
State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 5, said, “We expect the referendum to be on the November ballot, and, if it is, I’m confident there will be a broad, grassroots campaign in support of the reasonable reforms we’re asking of our public employees. We can get the cost of government under control and and return fairness and flexibility to middle class taxpayers, or we can continue the same failed policies that have taken Ohio in the wrong direction for far too long. That’s the choice Ohioans will be asked to make.”
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