This week:
- June 14: Supporting trans youth at hearing on HB 68 prohibiting health care
- June 24: Volunteer at Amnesty hate crime prevention booth at Cincinnati Pride Festival
- More battles over gun safety regulation in Ohio Legislature
- Ohio Senate plans to release its version of state budget this week
- Supreme Court allows reproductive rights amendment language, and what it says
- June 22: Agrivoltaics in Ohio Webinar: combining solar generation with farming
- Ohio’s entire Congressional delegation – except Senator Vance – votes for debt ceiling bill
Call for Help with August 8 Special Election: I’ll keep you posted on the court battles over whether the special election on the Legislature’s proposal to make it harder for citizens to amend Ohio’s constitution is even legal, or if the ballot language (which does not include the key fact that the issue would raise the threshold from a simple majority to a 60% vote) is misleading. In the meantime, if you are already working – or would like to help – to educate voters on Ohio’s new voting rules and the deadlines for registration and early voting, please contact me so I can try to connect people in the same community.
People of faith urged to attend June 14 hearing on HB 68 prohibiting identity-affirming health care for trans youth. This bill is being debated in the House Public Health Policy Committee, chaired by Rep. Scott Lipps. 237 people, including many representing children’s hospitals and other health and mental health providers, have already submitted opponent testimony. Only 19 proponents testified – including the sponsor – but the bill is likely to pass.
The Rev. Nick Bates, Executive Director of the Hunger Network in Ohio (HNO), is calling for people of faith to speak on behalf of the safety and mental health of trans youth at a time when three bills attacking them are moving through our legislature: HB 6, HB 117, and HB 68. “This is a moment the Church must show up,” he wrote on June 2. I encourage clergy to wear a collar or stole, but also make sure you have a button, pin, t-shirt, etc. that clearly identifies yourself as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. (Sadly, too many religious leaders are doing the harm and we need to intentionally proclaim that they are not the voice of our faith!)
“We will need people of faith to submit testimony, be involved in prayer circles, offer comfort to families, and possibly even just sit in a chair to make sure we have friendly faces in the room for those who do testify. (Legislative testimony is like preaching, the energy in the room helps those who are speaking!).” If you can help, please email Nick.
Please call Rep. Lipps’ office at 614-644-6023 to request the email address and witness form to submit testimony. It must reach his office by June 13 at 9 am to be included in the public record. Here is the Ohio Legislative Services Commission’s summary of HB 68.
Stand up against hate: volunteer for Amnesty International’s booth at the Cincinnati Pride Festival June 24: (Sawyer Point). To volunteer, email Laura Osborn-Coffey, AI USA Group 86 Coordinator. June 16 marks the 7th anniversary of the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub. Alyson Gerwe of St. Andrew’s, Cincinnati shared these resources on the interaction of guns and hate crimes against LGDTQ+ people. To learn more about St. Andrew’s mission to prevent gun violence in Evanston, email Alyson.
- Disarm Hate (documentary, 1hr 24min)
- The Intersection of Hate Crimes and Gun Violence (Everytown for Gun Safety) “Guns and hate are a fatal combination. In an average year, more than 10,300 hate crimes in the United States involve a firearm—more than 28 each day. In most of the US, some people convicted of hate crimes can still legally buy and have guns.”
- Hate, Violence, and Stigma against the LGBTQ+ Community (Everytown for Gun Safety).
More battles over gun safety: Gun violence was a top concern of the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Columbus June 2-5, but the Ohio Legislature has preempted local governments from passing stricter gun safety policies than the state. Meanwhile the legislature has enormously weakened rules on gun ownership – for example, removing the requirement for training and a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Our state legislature continues advancing bills that would undercut both federal and local attempts to regulate gun ownership. One current bill would prohibit cities from requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance.
Ohio Senate aims to pass its version of the next state budget by June 15: The draft is scheduled to be released this week. We’re watching line items for emergency food funding, K-12 public schools, vouchers, and income tax cuts. Stay tuned for an update next week and how to contact the conference committee that will work to reconcile differences between the House and Senate by June 30.
Ohio Supreme Court allows ballot language of reproductive rights amendment: On June 1, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold the language of the reproductive rights amendment that supporters are striving to place before voters in the November election. The justices denied a March suit by two members of Cincinnati Right to Life stating that the citizen petition includes more than one purpose, and thus would have to be split into more than one amendment. If the Court had not denied this suit, supporters of reproductive rights would have to collect at least twice as many signatures to get more than one proposed amendment onto the ballot. Supporters continue their quest to collect over 400,000 valid signatures by a July 5 deadline.
If you support the reproductive rights amendment, visit the website of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a statewide coalition, for updates. This link gives the locations and dates for signature collection events and dropping off petition books. June 18 is the last day to return petition books.
Because of the tremendous volume of political ads on this issue and misinformation about what it would do, here is the text of the proposed amendment as certified by the Attorney General.
- Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.
- The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either an individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or a person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.
- However, abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.
- As used in this Section, “Fetal viability” means “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis”; and “State” includes any governmental entity and political subdivision.
June 22: Agrivoltaics in Ohio: Green Energy Ohio webinar noon -1 pm: This Zoom webinar will describe opportunities for combining solar electric power generation with farming. Register here. “Agrivoltaics is the use of land for both agriculture and solar energy generation – a mutually beneficial coexistence,” writes GEO. “The variety of crops that flourish in the environment under solar panels might be surprising – grapes, strawberries, eggplants, mushrooms, and broccoli, to name a few. The panels shield plants from overheating and protect them from heavy downpours or hail. The shade provided by the panels reduces irrigation-water use and water consumption – a critical factor in an era of increasing drought conditions.”
This webinar is especially timely given the growing controversy in rural Ohio over large renewable energy projects, even though they would generate significant and predictable annual income for farmers and county property taxes for schools and other key services. Ohio’s legislature passed SB 52 in 2021 allowing county commissions to block large scale renewable energy projects even if they have been approved by the Ohio Power Siting board. As of last summer, ten counties had already done so. A diocesan staffer overheard a Madison County resident expressing terror at the dangers she feared from solar installations on farmland.
The speakers are Dan French, founder and producer of the Solar Farm Summit, North America’s Agrivoltaics Expo, and Sarah Moser, Director of Farm Operations and Agrivolatics for Savion in Ohio. An Ohio farmer, developer, and U.S. Air Force veteran, she played a key role in a $1.8 million Department of Energy-funded research project at The Ohio State University to develop solutions for the logistics and operations of agrivoltaics in the U.S.
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
