Ranking Member Brown Piccolantonio Statement as Hundreds of Ohioans denounce Senate Bill 1's Attacks on Higher Education

COLUMBUS — State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D-Gahanna) today issued the following statement concerning Tuesday’s House Workforce and Higher Education Committee second hearing on Senate Bill (SB) 1:  

“I’m against SB 1. It would write over 100 new unfunded mandates into Ohio law, likely cost well into the millions in administrative and compliance costs and micromanage universities all the way from the exact texts that have to be taught in a new required class down to the exact phrasing of a 154-word statement of commitment that has to be printed on every new admissions letter.  

Beyond that, it takes aim at one of the most fundamental organized labor rights, adding university faculty to the current list of safety-critical employees like police officers, firefighters, and prison guards who aren’t allowed to go on strike, and begging the question: Which kinds of workers are next?  

That said, I’m still hopeful we can address some of the important unintended consequences the bill could have – concerns that aren’t partisan.  

If we ban certain types of scholarships, not only will the students who could have received those scholarships not be able to afford to go to school, it will also literally cost the state more money. That’s because we only provide income-based financial aid to fill in what’s needed after all other scholarship money has been taken into account – so, when less scholarship money goes to students, we pay more in state assistance as a result. 

If we don’t let faculty negotiate around layoff conditions, when schools have to shut programs down, they wouldn’t need to consider things like how close an older faculty member is to being able to retire with a full pension. While things like that wouldn’t be top-of-mind for a school that needed to cut costs quickly, they could be the difference between a long-time faculty member being forced into retirement on a $35,000 fixed income and that same person retiring on a full $70,000 pension just five years later. Unions exist to protect workers who face situations like that. 

If we do not create exemptions for accreditation purposes for majors like Social Work, it could have dire consequences for the mental health workforce.  

And, if we don’t make a few clarifications to the free speech section, universities could be barred from taking a job applicant’s Antisemitic or white supremacist views into account, since the bill says universities can’t use ‘any assessment of an applicant's political or ideological views in any hiring decision.’ 

I appreciate the hundreds of Ohioans — students, faculty, parents, and labor leaders — who came to speak to the Workforce and Higher Education Committee today, submitted testimony, called, and emailed our offices. It’s my great honor to get to listen to them and work on their behalf,” said Ranking Member Brown Piccolantonio.