March 17, 2026 · General Government Committee · 4,216 words · 9 speakers · 84 segments
I call this meeting of the House General Government Committee to order. Will the clerk please call the roll? Chair Wray? Here. Vice Chair Leroy? Here. Ranking Member Brent is excused. Representative Byrd? Here. Bryant Bailey? Here. John? Manning? Here. McLean? Miller? Oleslager? Here. Plummer? Here. Russo is checked in. Sittenberg? Here. Here. We have a quorum present and will proceed as a full committee. For today's committee, I appoint Representative Sinnenberg as the committee's secretary.
Thank you.
Everyone would please review the minutes from the February 24th committee meeting. On your iPad. Are there any objections to the minutes? Hearing none, the minutes are approved. I would like to call up House Bill for its second hearing, 272. Today we will be considering a substitute bill for House Bill 272. I'd like to recognize Vice Chair Leray for a motion.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to adopt substitute bill L1360401-5 for House Bill 272.
The substitute bill is in order. And members, you may locate the document on your iPads. Vice Chair Leray, please explain the sub bill.
This substitute bill is now narrowly focused on PFAS. It's removed provisions related to fluoride, food additives, and cloud seeding. The PFAS language has been refined to better align with Ohio law and ensure the bill is appropriately tailored to the state.
Are there any objections to the adoption of the substitute bill? Seeing none, the substitute bill has been adopted. This concludes the second hearing of House Bill 272. I would like to call up House Concurrent Resolution 19 for its third hearing. Today we will be considering an amendment for House Concurrent Resolution 19. I'd like to recognize Vice Chair Leray for a motion.
Thank you, Chair. I move to adopt amendment AM 1361820 for House Concurrent Resolution 19.
The amendment is in order. and members, you may locate the document on your iPads. Vice Chair Larray, would you please explain the amendment?
This amendment removes language calling on the United States Congress to support a constitutional amendment that affirms the authority of states to govern election processes.
Are there any objections to the adoption of the amendment? Seeing none, the amendment has been adopted. This now concludes the third hearing on House Concurrent Resolution 19. I will now call up House Bill 396 for its third hearing. There was no in-person testimony submitted for House Bill 396. Committee members, please see the written testimony that was submitted available on your iPads. I would now like to recognize Vice Chair Luray for a motion.
Thank you, Chair. I move to favor Luray report House Bill 396 and recommend its passage.
Will the clerk please call the roll? Vice Chair Wray?
Yes.
Vice Chair Wray?
Yes.
Ranking Member Brenton's excuse. Representative Byrd?
Yes.
Bryant Bailey?
Yes.
John Manning?
Yes.
McLean?
Yes.
Miller?
Olslager?
Yes.
Plummer?
Yes.
Russo?
Sittenberg?
Yes.
With nine affirmative votes and zero negative votes, the bill is favorably reported. The roll will be left open until one hour after committee ends. If you'd like to be considered as a co-sponsor of the bill, please place the star beside your name. This concludes the third hearing on House Bill 396. I will now call up House Bill 577 for its first hearing. I would like to call forward Representative Ferguson for sponsored testimony. Representative, the floor is yours.
Thank you so much, Chair and Vice Chair Leray. I guess Rep. Sinnenberg pinch-hitting today. So elections are clearly the foundation of our republic. I spoke, of course, on the floor a couple weeks ago here. One thing this GA has been exceptionally good at has been increasing the integrity of our elections. This bill, House Bill 577, takes it a step further, ensuring that every single voter in the state of Ohio does show a photo ID. You can look at my testimony. It goes a little bit further into detail. But photo ID is strongly supported by Americans and both political parties. It is supported by every demographic in every state of our country. But most importantly, it is the right thing to do for Ohio. We should be leaders in election integrity here and make sure to pass House Bill 577. and I will open it up to questions from the committee.
Are there any questions for the representative? Representative Byrd.
Thank you, Chair. Could you tell the committee how, you know, physically, how would this happen? That if you're voting by mail, that you would inform the local board of election that you have a photo ID?
Great question. So Chair and Rep Byrd, inside the every application that goes out for a mail-in ballot, it gives you the details, the directions on how to do that. You would enclose a copy of your photo identification. Any of the photo IDs that currently work at your board of elections or at a polling place, a copy of that would work as well inside your mail-in form. And if there's any issue whatsoever in getting a copy, we do provide those at no cost at any place that currently in the state of Ohio has registration forms where you can register. We already have that codified in Ohio law. So we make sure that those same places provide you a no cost photo identification because we want legal voters to be voting and participating I love to see a lot more participation in our elections, but we got to make sure people are who they say they are.
Oh, thank you. So what I hear you say then, take my photo ID, slap it on the printer, hit print, and that's it.
Chair, Rep. Bird, that's it. You actually, something like a driver license, you've got to do both sides, but yes, slap it on the printer, do it, no problem.
Thank you.
Representative Bailey Bryan?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Okay. That's on you.
I have one.
Yes, Representative Sinema, go ahead.
Thank you, Chair. Rep Ferguson, thank you for your testimony today. For those seniors who maybe do not have access to a printer at their home, which many don't. I know many people that still don't. I don't actually have a good printer in my home, believe it or not. I have a printer but not a copier, let me clarify. Is this a burden for them, and what would you suggest for them so that they can still vote?
Yep. So good question. Appreciate it, Chair Rep. Sinnenberg. So first and foremost, any of these places that I referenced before where you can currently register to vote, you have the ability to get a copy there. But currently, the Board of Elections already have the ability, especially for confined voters, to send a member of each of the two largest political parties, currently Republicans and Democrats. They send that person out to the home to help people, assist people in voting as it is today. This bill would actually include that they must take equipment that would be provided so that they themselves could go there, the one Republican, one Democrat from the Board of Elections, and get that copy for that senior voter or any other homebound voter that doesn't have the ability to do it. Because, yeah, we definitely want to make sure that this is about fairness, which is really what the whole bill is about. And the only way to remain fair is if we're requiring it at polling places, if we're requiring it at the Board of Elections. We just want to make sure the people that choose the mail option do the same thing.
Are there any other questions for the representative?
I have a question, representative. I just heard your explanation to Representative Sinnenberg about sending a Republican and Democrat member out to an individual who is having a hard time copying their license to submit. Was that your suggestion?
So, Chair, actually, specifically, currently, we have a homebound voter or person who needs help already at home with their mail-in ballot as is. We already have that procedure in the law to where the board would send a Republican and Democrat from the Board of Elections. So we are expanding their ability to also, one of the hurdles, as Representative Berg mentioned, could be getting a copy. so we're expanding their ability to do that as well so that we tighten up the ability to get the copy.
Thank you for that, and I have participated in that when I was a board member. We'd go out with a member of the opposite party and go to folks' homes that were having a hard time voting. I guess my concern is this would be such a much larger group to deal with. have you given any thought or do you have any information when it comes to seniors you know a lot of them don't have printers a lot of younger people don't have printers either they do everything on the phone now I know my local library will allow somebody who is a member of the community to come in and make 10 free copies a day you know has there been any other like libraries or somebody that would assist with this
Yes, Chair. In the bill it actually lists libraries, public schools, a few other places that would actually currently provide that same opportunity that you're talking about right there.
It's a little bit, let's see. Yeah, I'm looking at that section right now, Representative. Have these organizations been contacted to see if they would participate in this, or is this something that, Page 61. We know that they participate in other states. Yes.
So right here, if you take a look at the place that's in here that we list out, it's places that currently provide registration forms, voter registration forms. So we kept it consistent with that. Certainly open to the committee to adding or subtracting additional places. but this is a good starting point. Of course, it's, you know, the registrar of motor vehicles, public high school, a public library, a county treasurer. Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the representative? Anyone else? No? This concludes the first hearing on House Bill 577. Thank you very much, representative.
Thank you, chair.
I will now call up House Bill 609 for its second hearing. I'd like to invite forward Benjamin McEwen. I'm sorry, I probably mispronounced that. For proponent testimony. Welcome. Welcome.
Chair Wray, Vice Chair Larray, Ranking Member Brent, members of the House General Governance Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on and in favor of House Bill 609. I'm here today to speak before this committee on behalf of residents like those in my community who have been barred from holding their elected officials accountable and keeping their local institutions transparent. In 2023, the Lakota Local Schools Board of Education suspended public comment out of reaction to some internal and external discord For more than two years now the board has kept public comment suspended contributing significantly to my decision to run for our Board of Education last year in which I want to see. One thing you learn on a school board, and what is also perhaps true in the legislature, is that the power is in the collective and not the individual. As just one member on our five-member governing board, what I can do by myself is limited. While I myself cannot bring back public comment, I can speak before you all today in hopes that you, the legislature, will. The ability to voice concerns to your local elected officials should not vary by municipality, school district, or township. It is in stark contrast to our democratic values that any local government has the ability to stop hearing from the communities they are elected to represent. House Bill 609 creates uniformity in our state that affirms all Ohioans will have the right to participate in local government through the power of their speech. Furthermore, House Bill 609 consciously addresses concerns regarding residency requirements and the civility of public comment in a thoughtful and appropriate manner. Former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, once noted that if there was ever a time to expose falsehoods and fallacy, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. In other words, through discussion and debate, the truth is exposed. Not in suspending speech or censoring individuals, but continuing the discussion so that bad ideas can be defeated by better ones. I wholeheartedly believe there is conscious intent as to why freedom of speech was the very First Amendment in our Bill of Rights. It is first because it is the foundational principle that makes this 250-year experiment possible. I thank Representatives Thomas and Craig for moving to restore transparency, trust, and confidence in local governments across the Buckeye State. Thank you.
Thank you very much and congratulations on your election to the board.
I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Are there any questions for the witness? Representative Byrd.
Thank you, Chair. Mr. Nguyen, so that confused me for a moment and to educate me. You're coming as a proponent today to testify basically against the decision that the Board of Education on which you serve has made in the past to not allow for public participation. You disagree with what your Board of Education decided, and that's why you're here today in support of the bill. Is that correct?
Through the chair to the representative, yes, sir, that is correct.
Follow-up? Are you alone? Is this a 4-1 vote against you?
Through the chair to the representative, I, while school board elections are nonpartisan, I caucus on the conservative side of the aisle, and it is a 1-4 board ideology-wise. Our board suspended it three years ago now. I believe that that was a wrong decision, and we are taking very gradual steps to bring it back. And while I am a fan of local government, local control, I believe it would... Like I said, I don't believe that people being able to speak to your elected officials should vary, township, municipality, whatever. So I'm supporting this bill because I believe, like I said, across the board, no local institution across this state has the right to just simply stop hearing from its constituents. Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the witness? Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you very much.
I would now like to call forward Corey Wasmus for proponent testimony. Welcome.
Thank you. First, thanks, Chair, for getting my name pronounced right. You're one of very few people who get it first shot. I'm Corey Wassmus. I'm a township trustee in Pickway County, site of township. I guess first I should say thanks for the opportunity to speak today. And I just want to speak from the heart for a moment. Many times I was recently elected, as this young man was, and when you go out there and you go door to door, you all experience this. And, you know, sometimes you get a no answer, you know, especially with the ring doorbells. People see you come and think you're a salesman or a politician. They don't want to answer either one sometimes. That's tough enough, you know, but you talk to a few people. And then I hear from different HOA boards, people, I'd love to put your sign in my yard, but my HOA doesn't allow it. And, you know, that speaks to different things. But then you think when you get to the public meeting where your officials are there, you expect definitely the opportunity to speak. And here recently we've had some really controversial things, whether it be data centers, high-density housing, different things as we face growth across our community. And, of course, that brings people's emotions and I think how it's going to affect their grandchildren or their schools and all of that, and they want to speak. And I want to give just an example. Several months ago we arrived to a meeting. We had been coming to these meetings and speaking, a certain topic coming up. It was an annexation, pretty big one. And we're used to coming there, filling out the sign-in sheet, speaking at a podium like this. And then we come up to the third reading. We arrive. It's a special meeting. The podium's gone. No sign-up sheet. That's interesting. And I've kind of put myself in a place where people come to me for that. Where is it at? I don't know. I'm just finding out when you're finding out. So I said, you know what? We'll make our own. So we just found some paper, and we filled out our name. We set it there at the mayor's desk in front of him. He didn't arrive yet. He gets there. He sees those papers there. He looks at them, hands them to the secretary, and go along as the meeting. And all of a sudden, it's time for public speaking. And luckily, the councilwoman says, hey, are we going to let the people speak tonight? It's kind of a coldness in the room, like kind of awkward, all these people. But luckily, she got a second, and they allowed the people to speak. And the mayor actually said, you know, if you want to speak, go get the podium out of the conference room. And they went in there and they hauled that thing in there. It's kind of a symbolic thing, these men watching these two women carry this podium in here. One of those women is the mayor today. And I think she earned it by that alone, many other reasons, too. But that she stood for the people to speak. And I look back at that moment and actually I get in a different debate with this mayor. You know, he did debates, but at the end of the day, we both stand for the same thing. is to allow the people to speak. So I urge you to consider this House Bill 609. I think it speaks to being an American as this young man just spoke Our country founded upon it and it extremely important I talked to different people and they about this bill and they said well isn that the law already I say believe it or not it not the law It up to the different rules council rules or in that case school boards So I appreciate the opportunity to speak, and anything that you can do, or if you need any support I can give you, our community is growing by leaps and bounds, and I know our community would greatly appreciate it. I'm also open for any questions if you have them today. Thank you very much.
Are there any questions for the witness? Representative Manning.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you for coming in. And the young gentleman that I talked to, I certainly believe in smaller government and local control. And the way you, the people at your meeting handled it was just probably the way it should be handled. And so I guess I struggle with the fact that every time some organization doesn't get their way that they come to us and ask them. And to me, that's larger government. So maybe you have some suggestions that this young man could have done differently to get people to agree because it sounds like you guys managed to do that. But maybe you could help me with when do we stop helping local governments when they don't get what they want, they come to us and ask us to pass a bill. And to me, that's larger government. If you could speak to that.
Yeah, that's actually a very good point. And it comes down to, well, I speak as a township trustee. We have a small village. We're about 12,000 residents. About a third of that's the village. And believe it or not, well, you probably know this, it's hard to get people to run for election. And a lot of times you can say, well, you know, if we don't like what they're doing, we'll vote them out. But when it comes around election time, sometimes there's no other choices. I know that's a little bit blunt, but it's the truth. And I think government like this, you've got to do what you ran on or you might get voted out. Smaller villages and townships, a lot of people just aren't stepping up to run. So sometimes it's important to have a little bit more oversight where you're held accountable. So I guess that would be the main thing. And encourage people to run. A lot of times these smaller towns, they love social media when it comes around to election season. Because it's a quick way to get their word out to people and get people to support them. But then when it comes to being in office, they suddenly hate social media. They don't like to be held accountable by that. It's like, don't believe social media, call us. And it's like one of those things, if you're going to suppress them in one way, don't take their other way. People feel like if you're going to cut them out from speaking at the meetings, you're going to find another way to get their word across. So that's a little bit away from your question, but hopefully that answers it.
Are there any other questions for the witness? Thank you very much for coming in today.
Thank you so much.
I would now like to call forward Hannah Kubins from Americans for Prosperity for proponent testimony. Welcome.
Good afternoon, Chair Ray, members of the House General Government Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 609. Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, and that consent depends on an open deliberation and the freedom of citizens to speak before decisions are made. While Ohio's open meetings law ensures that meetings are open to observe, it does not consistently guarantee that Ohioans have an opportunity to be heard before formal action is taken. House Bill 609 addresses the gap by requiring public bodies to allow reasonable public commentary prior to votes while also preserving appropriate time, place, and manner rules. The need for this clarity is unfortunately not theoretical. In recent years, Ohioans across the state have found themselves barred from speaking at public meetings, In Canton, City Council voted in November of 2025 to eliminate its public comment period. Trenton City Council adopted rules in early 2026 that restricted public comment to city residents only, required advanced sign-ups before meetings, and limited the ability of our speakers to respond or engage. And then finally, in Madison Local School District, an Ohio School Board removed residents from meetings for making antagonistic or critical comments about board decisions. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately ruled that such restrictions violated the First Amendment, reaffirming that government bodies may not silence speakers simply because their views are uncomfortable or critical. House Bill 609 provides a reasonable, constitutionally grounded solution by ensuring Ohioans have a meaningful opportunity to speak before decisions are finalized without condoning disruption or disorder. Importantly, House Bill 609 does not prevent public bodies from managing meetings responsibly. It explicitly allows reasonable limits on the length and nature of comments and does not require public officials to engage in debate or alter outcomes. and set ensures that government remains accountable, transparent, and responsive, consistent with the First Amendment's role as a safeguard against government overreach. Thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony today, and I'm happy to answer questions.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions for the witness? Representative Byrd?
Thank you. Chair caught me with chocolate in my mouth.
All good. Take your time.
What do you take from the fact that we just had a Board of Education member speak, we had a trustee speak. When you look through the written testimony that's been submitted today, you see that, I think I saw a mayor. There may have been some village council. We have representatives of all kinds of local government in Ohio that have submitted testimony as proponents to this bill. What's your take on that?
Yeah, through the chair to the member, I think that the people who are closest to the problem are often best equipped to come up with a solution. And so we've had folks from, you know, that side of things express their support for this bill and the concern for how things are functioning in their respective communities. And I think that's a wonderful thing. Again, that the people that are closest to that problem are standing up and supporting a solution. Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the witness? I thank you very much for coming in today.
Thank you.
This concludes the second hearing on House Bill 609. Seeing no further business before the committee, the House General Government Committee stands adjourned.