As astonishing news from Russia dominated the media, some unexpected opportunities to strengthen democratic institutions have opened up in the US and in Ohio. Here’s this week’s coverage:
- Weigh in NOW on Ohio Budget and policy for education, human services, and taxes
- Three Supreme Court gerrymandering rulings bring joy and relief for civil rights advocates
- Resources to help voters understand the crucial importance of Ohio’s Aug. 8 election
Weigh in NOW on Ohio Budget: With the June 30 deadline looming to pass Ohio’s next biennial budget, the House and Senate are still miles apart. The differences have huge implications for public education funding and policy, food security, affordable housing, and child care. The House is voting today (June 27) on a one-week spending extension to allow more time for the Conference Committee to work out an agreement. This week is the ideal time for you to contact the Finance Committee chairs of the two houses as well as your Ohio Senator and Representative with your hopes and concerns. I’ve organized the differences between the two budgets by topic so you can focus on those most critical for you and the people you serve.
Please read the overview below and contact your state senator and state rep, editing the sample letter at this link. Please telephone the Ohio House Finance Chair Jay Edwards (R-Athens) at 614-466-2158 and the Ohio Senate Finance Chair Matt Dolan (R-Cleveland)) at 614-466-8056.
The House budget passed in April with strong bipartisan support, while the Senate budget only won Republican votes. Only 23 of the 67 House Republicans voted to concur with the Senate budget. House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and Finance Chair Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) – both of whom represent communities in our Diocese – are standing up to the pressure to yield to the Senate’s harsher bill.
“Throughout these negotiations, I have taken my role as Chairman of the Finance Committee very seriously, fighting for the priorities of the Ohio House,” Edwards said. We were elected to represent the people of Ohio and will not hand over our responsibility to the Senate.” “But we’re not going to agree to things so they can get Democrats in the House to vote for it,” said Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima).
Here are the key differences between the Senate and House budgets:
- Public education funding and policy: The House and Senate bills have major differences affecting Ohio children and students in Ohio’s public universities:
- The Senate cuts $541 million from the House’s allocation for the Fair School Funding plan
- The Senate opens vouchers for children at all income levels, which could drain up to $1 billion from Ohio’s public school districts by 2025. The House version increases voucher eligibility to 450% of the federal poverty level.
- The Senate bill incorporates SB 83, banning mandatory diversity training, setting annual reviews of faculty for “bias,” prohibiting strikes by faculty, and prohibiting faculty from teaching a certain point of view about “controversial beliefs of policies” such as the human role in causing climate change.
- The Senate bill removes most of the authority of the State School Board – which includes elected members – over policy including curriculum, and puts these powers under the Governor’s administration.
- The Senate version eliminates the House plan to increase teacher salaries which would benefit and help retain an estimated 16,800 Ohio teachers.
- Food security, affordable housing, child care, and maternal and child health: The Senate slashes all of these at a time when inflation in food and rent is having a devastating impact on the elderly and working families, and when the cost and scarcity of child care is prohibitive for many working parents. This is despite the state being flush with cash from higher-than-projected revenues. Check this list and contact your reps and the two Finance Committee chairs with first-hand statements about the likely impact on people your church is serving:
- The Senate version eliminates the House’s $30 million increase in funding for Ohio’s foodbanks over two years, and strips $8 million from the House budget for school meals.
- The Senate cuts 80% of the House’s tax credits to incentivize affordable housing development, and eliminates the Ohio Housing Finance Agency
- The Senate eliminates child care vouchers the House proposed for families earning from 145-160% of the federal poverty level.
- The Senate cuts the House funding for health care, including school-based health centers and maternal and child health, including expanded Medicaid coverage for women and children and programs to reduce infant mortality.
- Tax cuts in both the House and the Senate budgets would also shrink state revenue into the future, further endangering the state’s ability to fund education and safety net programs after the federal COVID relief funding is gone.
- Income tax cuts: The House version would help low- to-moderate income taxpayers, but the Senate plan overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy. 86% of the Senate’s proposed income tax cut would go to the 20% of Ohio households with the highest income, according to the analysis by the non-profit think tank Policy Matters Ohio, while half of Ohio households – those making less than $62,000 – would see little or no savings on their tax bill. “In 72 of Ohio’s 88 counties – including all of Southeast Ohio – a family of three with an annual income typical of their county would not see a reduction in their income tax,” reports Policy Matters.
- Commercial Activity Tax: The Senate version would reduce by 90% the number of Ohio businesses paying CAT tax.
U.S. Supreme Court rulings rein in racial and partisan gerrymandering: To the surprise and joy of civil rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down two decisions in June that upheld the Voting Rights Act’s provision allowing citizens to contest state redistricting plans that discriminate against Black voters.
AND JUST TODAY (June 27), the Court handed down a 6-3 ruling in Moore v. Harper upholding the right of North Carolina’s Supreme Court to strike down a congressional redistricting plan as unconstitutional for partisan gerrymandering. North Carolina Republicans had argued the case on the once-fringe theory that the US Constitution made legislatures the sole authority on rules for Congressional elections. Advocates feared the Court would remove the power of citizens and state courts to serve as a check on Legislatures’ power to draw Congressional districts in any way they choose, including to preserve partisan power.
The month’s first gerrymandering decision, in the Milligan case, ordered the State of Alabama to redraw its Congressional districts to create an additional Black majority district to reflect the state’s demographics. IN the decision released this week (June 26), the Supreme Court decided not to hear the Robinson v. Ardoin case from Louisiana that they had put on hold last year, and will allow it to proceed with the possibility of creating another majority-Black district before the 2024 Congressional election. A federal judge had ordered the state’s Congressional map to be redrawn more than a year ago because it was a racial gerrymander in violation of the Voting Rights Act, but the US Supreme Court had put a hold on the case while it reviewed the Alabama case, forcing Louisiana to hold its 2022 Congressional election using the gerrymandered map.
The Justices will now decide whether to review last year’s appeal by Ohio Republican state lawmakers of Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that the Congressional maps they drew last year were unconstitutional. Stay tuned!!!
Equip your community for Ohio’s Aug. 8 Special Election: In the light of citizen drives to bring several constitutional amendments to the ballot, including reproductive rights and preventing partisan gerrymandering, Episcopalians in this diocese are working with statewide interfaith and civic groups to provide accurate information about Ohio’s new voting rules and the Special Election Aug. 8 that would make it significantly harder for Ohio citizens to amend our constitution.
Cathy Theobald of Christ Church, Glendale, created this beautiful graphic summarizing what’s at stake and how to vote. Please share it on your social media and with community partners (see graphic below or download a pdf).
Janice Urbanik of St. Anne’s West Chester has attended several webinars put on by the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition and provided us with a number of resources:
- A Pocket Guide to the Election which you can print two-sided and fold (a fun project for youth groups or Bible Study classes)
A list of Speaker Bureau Regional Leads:
- Southwest Ohio: Jean Henderson and Tony D’Ambrosio
- Central Ohio: Elizabeth Greiser
- Southeastern Ohio: Debbie Schmiedling
Advocacy briefings are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com
