Matt Huffman

Senate President

What do Ohioans Get for Electing SUPER-SUPER

"REPUBLICAN" MAJORITIES?

Derek Merrin

House Speaker

Before the August Primary I wrote a scathing email indicting Ohio's "Republican" Super-Majorities in the House and Senate for doing NOTHING in the last session compared to the real Republican Legislature in Florida and I provided the PROOF which you will see again below. On November 8th, YOU and I elected SUPER-SUPER Majorities in BOTH the Ohio Senate and Ohio House by INCREASING "our" majorities from 25 out of 33 in the Senate to 26-7, and from 64 out of 99 to 68-31!!

So what do we the voters of Ohio get for electing SUPER-SUPER Majorities? What do we want? What did your Senator and House Representative promise YOU in running for office and getting your vote?

We want our Liberty protected from the outrageous government overreach we saw at the state and local level during Covid. We want our children to be protected from being taught to hate America (CRT) and from being forcibly indoctrinated into deviant sexual behavior starting in grade school. We want boys out of girls' sports. We want our medical freedom and religious freedom protected from unconstitutional attacks from the left. We want pro-family legislation that promotes traditional families and defends parental rights to decide what happens to their children. We want YOU to repeal all changes to our voting laws that were implemented for Covid (drop boxes) now that Covid is over. We want YOU to DEFUND the leftists who use our tax dollars to attack capitalism, to attack our history, to indoctrinate our children, to destroy our institutions! DEFUND THEM!

In case that is too vague for Ohio elected officials, let's make it REAL SIMPLE. Take the lists of Bills below passed in Florida, get a copy, then change Florida to Ohio in each bill, and PASS THEM ALL! This isn't a radical idea. As the article below by Daniel Horiwitz asks, with Republicans in control of the Legislatures in 24 states, "Why don't we have 24 Florida's?" I ask our SUPER-SUPER Majority Ohio Legislatures "When are you going to keep your promises and deliver the conservative legislation we voted for instead of just representing your donors' demands?" Specifically, I call on Matt Huffman and Derek Merrin, who was just elected Speaker of the Ohio House, to stop playing politics, stop deferring to Democrat DeWine, the Republican Establishment, and their donors, and provide the LEADERSHIP to PASS EVERY BILL on the Florida list in 2023.

Tom Zawistowski

President

We the People Convention

*The summary of Florida Legislation Passed was provided by The James Madison Institute and we thank them for their assistance.

Florida Republican Legislative Bills Passed 2019 - 2022

Education

SB 7070 – Family Empowerment Scholarship (2019) – created new private school scholarship program funded from general revenues, with eligibility criteria matching that of the existing Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) Scholarship program; initially creates slots for 18,000 students.

HB 7045 – Family Empowerment Scholarship (2021) – expands school choice scholarship eligibility so that any family of four with annual income below $100k qualifies; also creates 51,000 new slots, making this the largest expansion of a school choice scholarship program in U.S. history  

HB 1557 – Parents Rights in Education (2022) – restricted grades pre-K to third grade from classroom discussions on gender identity or sexual orientation, provided parents with mechanisms to review and protest materials

HB 7 – Stop WOKE Act (2022) – restricted both educational and employment trainings from including mandatory sessions that include anything promoting Critical Race Theory or ideologies that present one race as an oppressor or oppressed.

HB 233 – Campus Intellectual Freedom (2021) – mandates DOE conduct a survey of faculty and students on all public higher education campuses to gauge academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and levels of speech protection.

SB 1028 – Fairness in Women’s Sports Act (2021) – requires high school athletes in public schools to participate in competitive sports according to their biological gender.

HB 1767 – School Boards (2022) – 12-year term limits for all school board members

HB 1115 – Financial Literacy (2022) – requires HS students to pass a half-credit course on financial literacy for graduation.

Healthcare

HB 21 – Certificate of Need Repeal (2019) – repealed almost all of Florida’s certificate of need regs governing healthcare facilities and services. Only ones remaining are hospice/nursing homes and ambulance services.

HB 607 – Nurse Scope of Practice Expansion (2020) – allows independent practice for Advance Practice Registered Nurses

HB 389 – Pharmacist Test and Treat (2020) – allowed pharmacists to test and treat for flu, strep, and several other common ailments.

HB 23 – Telehealth Expansion (2019) – comprehensive telehealth legislation for video-enabled telehealth

HB 59 – Automated Prescription Dispensing Machines (2020) – enabling legislation for large “ATM-style” dispensing machines for roughly 200 of the most common medications dispensed (no controlled substances).

HB 37 – Direct Primary Care Agreements (2019) – enabling legislation to allow DPC subscriptions to operate independently of all insurance regulations within the state.

Technology

HB 273 – Money Transmission (2022) – deregulation of cryptocurrency in Florida, clarifies that only intermediaries, such as a platform that enables cryptocurrency transactions, requires a money transmitter license, individuals seeking to sell cryptocurrency are not subject to licensure requirements.

HB 1391 – FinTech Regulatory Sandbox (2020) – enables financial technology innovators to test new products and services within the consumer finance, payment instruments sellers, and money transmitter programs. 

HB 1239 – Broadband Internet Infrastructure (2021) – first steps in creating proper market conditions for broadband deployment to hard-to-reach areas (mainly pole lease attachment regs).

Elections

SB 90 – Election Reform (2021) – restricted use of drop boxes, required voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, banned third-party non-profit donations to elections’ offices.

SB 524 – Election Reform (2022) – built upon prior year’s legislation, created a statewide election fraud and security office, tightened controls on ballot drop boxes, greater accountability on voter roll clean up at county election offices, made ballot harvesting/trafficking a third-degree felony.

Regulatory Reform

HB 1193 – Occupational Licensing Reform (2020) – comprehensive deregulation of occupational licensing categories in several industries. Removed/reduced requirements across more than 30 categories.

HB 735 – Preemption of Local Occupational Licensing (2021) – preempts local governments from requiring a local license for any person whose job scope does not substantially correspond to that of a contractor or journeyman type licensed by the Construction Industry Licensing Board, within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

SB 72 – Covid Liability Protection (2021) – shielded businesses and healthcare workers from frivolous litigation, provided they were making a good faith effort to adhere to CDC guidelines.

SB 7014 – Covid Liability Protection Healthcare Workers (2022) – extended liability protection window for healthcare workers for an additional 14 months.

HB 403 – Home-Based Business Protection (2021) – allows home-based businesses to operate and preempts local governments from restricting beyond standard zoning laws.

SB 280 – Mother of All Preemptions (2022) – requires local governments to obtain business impact statement for any local rule/regulation that could negatively affect businesses, provides avenue for local businesses to sue and injunct any local regulation with a negative business impact of 15 percent or more. (Vetoed by DeSantis)

HB 741 – Net Metering Reform (2022) – glide path off net metering rules for new solar installations in the state (from retail to wholesale rate for excess generation). (Vetoed by DeSantis)

HB 1B/2B – Covid Mandate Bans (2021 special session) - prohibits vaccination mandates for employees in government and public education and protects parental choice on masks, vaccines, and quarantine, private-sector employers can require vaccinations, but must offer the following five exemptions:

• Medical reasons, as determined by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) or physician assistant (PA). Medical reasons include pregnancy or expectation of pregnancy.
• Religious reasons, based on a sincerely held belief
• Immunity based on prior COVID-19 infection, as documented by a lab test
• Periodic testing, agreeing to comply with regular testing at no cost to the employee
• Personal protective equipment (PPE), agreeing to comply with use of employer-provided PPE

Immigration

SB 1808 – Immigration Reform (2022) – restricts common carrier companies engaged in the Biden administration’s immigrant transport program from getting any contract with a state or local government agency in Florida.

Other

HB 5 – Abortion Restriction (2022) – no abortions after 15 weeks, except for cases in which life of mother is in direct jeopardy (no rape/incest exception).

HB 241 – Parental Rights for Minors (2021) – among other rights, requires parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion.

Ohio Republican Legislative Bills Passed 2019 - 2022

HB 2 - Residential Broadband - The bill created Ohio’s first ever Residential Broadband Expansion Program through providing grants to offset construction cost hurdles and help facilitate the expansion of high-speed internet and all broadband services to unserved households across Ohio. The legislation contains $210 million in grant funding over a three-year period, and passed with an emergency clause.

HB 22 - Human Rights and Heartbeat Protection Act - Prohibiting abortions at the first detectable heartbeat

HB 122 - The Telemedicine Expansion Act - Expands on the types of providers who may bill for telehealth services, adds new services that a provider may bill for and implements new ways in which providers can see patients across state borders.

HB 509 - Reduction of business licensing requirements - is part of the process to review professional occupational licensure and ensure we are balancing consumer protections and quality standards with best practices, competitive fees, and reasonable education requirements.

SB 9 - Elimination of Regulatory Restriction - Senate Bill 9 extends the prohibition, included in the last operating budget, on adding new regulatory restrictions without removing two, through June 30, 2025, and further requires state agencies to reduce regulatory restrictions 30 percent by that same date.

SB 22 - Limits on Governor's Emergency Health Authorization powers - With this Bill the legislature has the ability to restrict the Governor’s power and that of his administration, including the Director of the Ohio Department of Health when issuing orders during the pandemic. 

SB 131 - Reform of Occupational Licensing - adopted universal occupational license recognition for people moving to Ohio.

SB175 - Stand your Ground - The amendment allows a civilian with a gun to shoot someone else if they are not an aggressor, they are in fear of harm and deadly force is necessary, and they are "in a place in which they lawfully have the right to be.

SB 215 - Constitutional Carry - Ohio no longer requires gun owners to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon from their local sheriff.

Important Budget Changes: Expanded School Choice, implemented 2nd chance grants to complete college degrees, and dropped the marginal state income tax rate to 3.99% in the budget.

Why don't we have 24 Florida's?

Get the Facts on how the Republicans in Red States have Failed to Deliver for their Voters

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