[Ohio-Talk] SB 202

[Todd Elzey]

Good evening fellow Federationists. As you may have seen earlier today via
a message from our Legislative Director Eric Duffy, today the Senate passed
SB 202, our parental rights legislation on a bipartisan unanimous 30-0
vote. I had the pleasure of attending yesterday's Senate Judiciary
Committee meeting for their 6th hearing on this legislation. It was at that
committee meeting that the Judiciary Committee voted unanimously 6-0 to
refer the bill for today's full senate vote.

This has been a long process.  SB 202 was initially introduced by Senator
Hacket on 6/22/21. And of course, laying the groundwork for the
introduction of SB 202 started long before that. That's not to mention that
while SB 202 was being worked on, we were simultaneously working on the
house version, H.B. 352. In addition, this is not the first General
Assembly in which we have tried to pass parental rights legislation.

So today's vote by the Senate to pass S.B. 202 is a momentous and very
important accomplishment for the NFB of Ohio. All we need now is for the
House to concur with the Senate's amendments and for the Governor to sign
the bill. We have never been this close to passing this important Civil
Rights legislation. This is something that we should be talking up and
letting people no about. Please share this news with your social media
followers to spread the word far and wide about this accomplishment. Below
is a sample post that I have just posted on my personal Facebook page and
on the NFB of Ohio's Facebook page.

"The National Federation of the Blind of Ohio is pleased to announce that
today the Ohio Senate approved our parental rights legislation, SB 202, on
a unanimous bipartisan vote of 30-0. SB 202, if signed by the Governor,
will prevent disability from being the basis to deny or limit custody,
parenting time, visitation, adoption, or service as a guardian or foster
caregiver, regarding a minor. In simpler terms, SB 202 will prevent
discrimination against blind and disabled parents and will allow them to
parent their children just like anyone else. The next step in the process
is for the Ohio House of Representatives to approve amendments made in the
Senate. Once the House concurs with the Senate version of the bill, then it
will go to the Governor for his consideration. Look for more news to come
on this important civil rights legislation to come in the near future."

Feel free to copy my post or craft it into something that works for you.
Perhaps you will want to include a story about why this legislation is
important to you. But regardless of how you do it, please share the message
far and wide on and off social media that SB 202 passed the Senate today on
a 30-0. This happened because of all of our hard work and we should
celebrate it.

Thanks, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Todd Elzey