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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Rep. McGregor unveils bill to protect gay rights in housing, employment
State Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, Tuesday joined forces with Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, to introduce legislation that would ban discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation and gender identify.
House Bill 335 is identical to legislation the House, then controlled by Democrats, approved in the last General Assembly, House Bill 176.
That bill died in the Senate, controlled then as now by the Republicans.
“I did it because it was the right thing to do,” McGregor said before a press conference outside the Statehouse. He also said the legislation would spur economic development by showing Ohio is open to talented workers of all background.
Antonio and McGregor are joint sponsors of the bill.
It bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The House is now controlled by Republicans and most Republicans opposed the bill the last time. McGregor said getting the bill passed would not be a “walk in the park” but that it wasn’t the last time.
House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, said he had not reviewed the bill.
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TweetLawmakers tighten rules on minors getting abortions
Pregnant Ohio girls who are seeking an abortion without their parents’ consent will have to demonstrate to a local county judge that they understand the potential complications and that nobody coached them in how to respond to questions posed by the court, according to legislation pending in the General Assembly.
The Ohio Senate voted 23-8 on Tuesday in favor of a House bill that calls on courts to assess the minor’s understanding of potential complications and how she would handle them, whether anyone coached her on how to answer the judge’s questions and make a determination of whether the minor is mature enough and informed enough to make an abortion decision. The bill also requires the minor to petition a court in her home or a surrounding county.
State Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, said bypassing parental consent by going to court should not be a rubber stamp and the changes make the process more thorough and meaningful.
Gary Dougherty of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio said limiting a pregnant teen to only seeking court petition in her home town or nearby could put her anonymity and privacy at risk, particularly in rural counties. He also said attorneys should be allowed to walk their clients through what they should expect in court, without being accused of coaching their answers.
The bill returns to the House for consideration of Senate amendments.
In 2009, there were 28,721 abortions, including 190 among girls under the age of 15 and 4,743 among females ages 15 to 19, according to the Ohio Department of Health statistics.
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TweetDemocrats asking voters to block GOP actions
Out numbered in the General Assembly and statewide offices, Democrats are asking to voters to overturn key reforms pushed by the GOP.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said that this week Democrats will file petitions with more than 300,000 signatures from voters who want a referendum on a GOP-sponsored election reform package and the state Democratic party will appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court for the right to seek a voter referendum on new congressional maps that Republicans put in place.
Led by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the campaign to repeal House Bill 194 faces a Sept. 29 deadline to turn in petition signatures. The campaign will have another 10 days after Sept.29 to continue collecting signatures to make sure it hits the required 231,154 valid signatures.
House Bill 194 shortens the window for early voting, makes it more difficult for local boards of elections to promote early voting, and restricts poll workers from assisting voters find the right polling place or fill out forms.
Redfern said the state party will file paperwork this week with the Ohio Supreme Court to try to seek a referendum on the new law that draws the state’s new congressional districts.
The new map creates 12 Republican-leaning districts and four leaning toward Democrats and it puts U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, into the same district which sets up a possible primary between the two.
Ohio’s delegation to the U.S. House will shrink from 18 to 16 because of the state’s slow population growth relative to other states.
Republicans attached a $2.75 million appropriation to the map law, noting that budget laws are exempt from referendum votes. However, in 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Strickland administration’s plan to put video lottery terminals at racetracks was subject to a referendum even though it was part of an appropriations law.
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TweetPoll numbers inch up for Kasich, pro-SB5 camp
Gov. John Kasich and Senate Bill 5 aren’t as unpopular as they once were but the governor’s approval rating is still under water and a majority of Ohio voters want to repeal the collective bargaining reform law in November, according to a new poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University.
Forty percent of Ohio voters approve of the job Kasich is doing while 49 percent disapprove, the poll found. That’s an improvement over the negative 35-50 approval rating that Quinnipiac found in July.
Meanwhile, one of Kasich’s signature issues - Senate Bill 5 - is also unpopular with voters. The poll found 51 percent of Ohio voters support repealing it while 38 percent support keeping it. The poll in July found 56 percent wanted to repeal it while 32 percent wanted to keep it.
The law is up for a statewide referendum vote on Nov. 8 and will appear on the ballot as Issue 2.
More Republicans are saying keep the law: 65 percent, up from 56 percent in July.
“Ohio voters seem to be warming a little toward Gov. John Kasich, although he is still under water when it comes to public opinion,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “The governor still has more than three years left until he faces the voters again and his numbers are moving in the right direction. But SB 5 is another story. Support for repealing the bill in the November referendum has dropped from a 24-point to a 13-point margin. Backers of SB 5 have only six weeks to make up the difference, although public opinion appears to be moving in their direction.”
Senate Bill 5 would outlaw strikes by public employees, require government workers to pay at least 15 percent of their health care premiums and all their share of the pension contribution, replace raises based on seniority with a merit pay system, and allow management to impose its last offer as a three year contract if the two sides reach impasse. The bill impacts 360,000 unionized public employees and another 328,000 non-union workers who are employed by state and local governments as well as school districts.
Some parts have voters’ support while others do not. The poll found that Ohio voters: Oppose 58 - 36 percent banning public employees from striking; Support 60 - 31 percent replacing automatic pay increases based on seniority with increases based on merit; Oppose 53 - 41 percent eliminating seniority rights as the sole factor in layoffs; Support 59 - 35 percent requiring public employees to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance costs; Support 56 - 33 percent requiring public employees to pay 10 percent of their wages toward their pensions; Oppose 54 - 39 percent banning public employees from bargaining over health insurance.
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