Ohio library systems, advocates push back on House provision to hide certain materials
As Ohioans pleaded for more support for the state’s public libraries, there was also outcry against a provision that library staff and supporters say would add more work and unnecessary regulations to the local institutions.
The Ohio House added a provision to their budget draft that was not in the governor’s executive proposal, one that would require public libraries to place “material related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in a portion of the library that is not primarily open to the view of minors.”
As budget plans move through the Ohio Senate, state residents asked the chamber to push back on the House’s proposal and eliminate the provision in their own draft.
Librarians who spoke at the Senate Education Committee last week noted the vague language of the provision, and tried to give legislators an idea of the heavy lift this might mean for libraries. Library visitors and advocates criticized the provision as targeted toward LGBTQ+ content, such as transgender issues.
“Books are an outlet, an escape,” said Bree Taylor, founder and executive director of the non-profit transgender advocacy groups Trans Unity Coalition. “A children’s book isn’t going to turn a kid gay or trans, but it will bring comfort to a kid who already is.” READ MORE
Ohio Senate advances Gavarone-sponsored ban on ranked choice voting
With minimal debate last week, the Ohio Senate advanced a measure effectively prohibiting ranked choice voting in the state. ‘Effectively’ because state lawmakers actually can’t ban the practice. Instead, Senate Bill 63 threatens to withhold an important stream of state funding for any local government that embraces ranked choice.
The proposal’s sponsors are bipartisan, and although the bill passed easily the vote split the chamber’s Democrats. Five of the Senate’s nine Democrats voted no. The bill now moves to the Ohio House where there is no companion legislation.
State Sens. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, and Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, sponsored the measure, and both made their pitch to fellow senators when it came up for a vote. Gavarone said she’s spent much of her time in office working on elections-related legislation. “Ranked choice voting flies in the face of that commonsense work by causing greater uncertainty and delayed election results that can take days or even weeks to settle,” she argued. READ MORE
Ohio Republican lawmaker wants to ban noon Ohio State football games
A new proposed bill is trying to get Ohio State football games to start later.
Ohio state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, introduced a bill last week that would require Ohio State football games to kick off at 3:30 p.m. or later if the Buckeyes are playing a top-10 ranked team in the Associated Press poll.
“A few weeks ago, I said it would be a crime for FOX to put Ohio State vs Texas at noon,” Fischer said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Promises made, promises kept!”
The Ohio State Buckeyes kick off their season against the Texas Longhorns in Columbus on Aug. 30. The time of the game has not been released, but it will air on Fox and is expected to be a noon game.
The game will be a rematch of the Cotton Bowl from earlier this year, which the Buckeyes won 28-14 — eventually going on to win the National Championship by defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. READ MORE
