[Ohio-Talk] Important Legislative Update

[Todd Elzey]

Fellow Federationists:

Good afternoon! Our Parental Rights legislation is moving through the
legislative process. I am writing today to let you know about its progress
and to ask for your help in moving the legislation along even further.

This email is going to have quite a bit of information in it regarding both
our House and Senate bills so I strongly recommend that you save this email
for later reference.

We have learned that HB 352 has been assigned to the Hous Civil Justice
Committee. This is a change from what we expected as based on previous
experience we anticipated that the bill would go through the House Health
Committee. However, we believe this change is good news for the bill as the
subject matter of HB 352 far better fits within the issues handled by the
House Civil Justice Committee than it does the subjects covered by the
House Health Committee.

So our first task is to get the House Civil Justice Committee to approve HB
352. To start, we are asking that you contact members of the House Civil
JUstice Committee to ask them to both support the bill when it comes before
the Committee for a vote, and to support the Committee calling a hearing on
HB 352 as soon as possible. It is particularly beneficial if you live in a
member of the Committee's district that you reach out to their office.
Below is a listing of the Housse Civil Justice Committee along with their
contact information. In addition, we are pleased that several members of
the House Civil Justice Committee are cosponsors of HB 352. I have
indicated those members of the Committee who have cosponsored HB 352 so
that we can thank them for supporting the legislation when we contact them
regarding getting the bill heard by the Committee.

House Civil Justice Committee:

Chair, Brett Hudson Hillyer (R), District 98, Email: Rep 98 at ohiohouse.gov,
Phone: 614-466-8035
Vice Chair, Diane V. Grendell (R), District 76, Email: Rep76 at ohiohouse.gov,
Phone 614-644-5088
Tavia Galonski (HB 352 Co-Sponsor) (D), District 35, Email:
Rep35 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone: 614-644-6037
Richard D. Brown (D), District 20, Email: Rep20 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-644-6002
Jeffrey A. Crossman (HB 352 Co-Sponsor) (D), District 15, Email:
Rep15 at ohouse.gov, Phone: 614-466-3485
Al Cutrona (R), District 59, Email: Rep59 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone: 614-466-6107
Darrell Kick (R), District 70, Email: Rep70 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-466-2994
Brian E. Lampton (R), District 75, Email: Rep75 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-644-6020
David Leland (D), District 22, Email: Rep22 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-466-2473
Derek Merrin (R), District 47, Email: Rep47 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-466-1731
Bill Seitz (HB 352 Co-Sponsor) (R), District 30, Email: Rep30 at ohiohouse.gov,
Phone: 614-466-8258
Michael J. Skindell (D), District 13, Email: Rep13 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-466-5921
Brian Stewart (R), District 78, Email: Rep78 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-466-1464
D.J. Swearingen (R), District 89,Email: Rep89 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:
614-644-6011
Andrea White (HB 352 Co-Sponsor) (R), District 41, Email:
Rep41 at ohiohouse.gov, Phone:614-644-6008

In addition to contacting the members of the Committee, were are also
always still looking for more co-sponsors of HB 352. As of Friday, July 23,
2021 the following Representatives are cosponsoring HB 352:

Erica Crawley, Primary Sponsor
Sharon A. Ray, Primary Sponsor

Juanita O. Brent
Jeffrey A. Crossman
Sarah Fowler Arther
Tavia Galonski
Stephanie D. Howse
Catherine D. Ingram
Dontavius L. Jarrells
Marilyn S. John
Brigid Kelly
Mary Lightbody
P. Scott Lipps
Beth Liston
Adam C. Miller
Joseph A. Miller, III
Craig S. Riedel
Bill Seitz
Kent Smith
Casey Weinstein
Andrea White

If your Representative is not yet co-sponsoring HB 352, please contact
there office and ask that they co-sponsor the legislation. The more
co-sponsors we have the quicker we will get this bill to a vote on the
House Floor and to the Governor's desk.

Of course this Legislative session we have also introduced a companion
Senate Parental Rights Bill, SB 202. We have learned that SB 202 has been
assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee. So to move this bill forward as
quickly as possible, we are asking that you contact the Senators on the
Senate Judiciary Committee to ask them to both support the bill when it
comes before the Committee for a vote, and to support the Committee calling
a hearing on SB 202 as soon as possible. It is particularly beneficial if
you live in a member of the Committee's district that you reach out to
their office. Below is a listing of the Senate Judiciary Committee along
with their contact information.

Senate Judiciary Committee:

Chair, Nathan H. Manning (R), District 13, Email: manning at ohiosenate.gov,
Phone: 614-644-7613
Vice-Chair Rob McColley (R), District 1, Email:  mccolley at ohiosenate.gov,
Phone: 614-466-8150
Cecil Thomas (D), District 9, Email: thomas at ohiosenate.gov, Phone:
614-466-5980
Niraj Antani (R), District 6, Email: antani at ohiosenate.gov, Phone:
614-466-4538
Teresa Fedor (D), District 11, Email: fedor at ohiosenate.gov, Phone:
614-466-5204
Theresa Gavarone (R), District 2, Email: gavarone at ohiosenate.gov, Phone:
614-466-8060
Kirk Schuring (R), District 29, Email: schurring at ohiosenate.gov, Phone:
614-466-0626

In addition, just like with HB 352, we are also looking for as many
co-sponsors for SB 202 as we can get. Having a high number of co-sponsors
will aid in getting this bill to the Senate Floor and ultimately the
Governor's desk quicker. Below is a list of the current SB 202 Co-Sponosrs:

Bob Hacket, Primary Sponsor
Nickie Antonio, Primary Sponsor

Co-sponsors:

Andrew O. Brenner
Jerry C. Cirino
Hearcel Craig
Tina Maharath
Mark Romanchuk
Kenny Yuko

If your Senator is not yet on this list of Co-Sponsors please contact there
office to ask that they support and Co-Sponsor the bill.

Finally, the NFB of Ohio will be holding an Ohio Seminar Monday, September
20, 2021 and Tuesday, September 21, 2021. On Tuesday the 21st we will be
visting as many Legislators as possible to seek their support for our
legislative agenda, including the Parental Rights legislation. To make this
even a success, we need as many of our members as possible to attend this
event. We are asking that everyone who will be attending let us know in
advance by completing the form located at:
https://nfbohio.org/2021-columbus-seminar/  Please note that this event is
so important, that the Affiliate will be offering financial assistance to
those members who require assistance to attend the event. So do not let
money keep you from attending to support our 2021 legislative proposals. If
you have any questions please see the information that is included at the
form located at:  https://nfbohio.org/2021-columbus-seminar/

The Legislative Committee thanks you for your help in this important work.
Again, we recommend that you save this email because of the vital
information that is in it. Please feel free to reach out to Committee Chair
Eric Duffy at peduffy63 at gmail.com or myself at toddelzey at gmail.com if you
have any questions regarding this information.

Todd Elzey, Legislative Committee
toddelzey at gmail.com