Important Victory! U.S. House Passes GPO-WEP Repeal
The decades-long fight to repeal unfair Social Security offsets reached a critical point this week, with the U.S. House of Representatives voting overwhelmingly in favor of H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act. The legislation would fully repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). These provisions of federal law unfairly punish public service by reducing the earned Social Security and spousal/survivor benefits of public servants who have a public pension from states that did not pay into Social Security.
On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 327-75 in favor of H.R. 82. Importantly, every member of the Ohio delegation voted in support of the bill. This is historic progress, but not the end of the fight. Now, the Senate must pass the measure before the end of the year. Companion legislation in the Senate (S. 597) has broad bipartisan support with 62 cosponsors. Both Ohio’s senators support the bill. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is a lead sponsor of the bill and Vice President-elect U.S. Senator J.D. Vance listed as a co-sponsor.
Please contact your senators today and thank them for their support of the Social Security Fairness Act and urge them to call for H.R. 82 to be brought to the floor and passed before the end of the year.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH): (202) 224-2315
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH): (202) 224-3353
Please also consider sending them a letter via NEA’s action alert on GPO and WEP Repeal.
Honesty Partners Host Webinar on Intellectual Freedom and Ohio Libraries
Intellectual freedom has been under attack in Ohio. From bills censoring academic freedom and interfering with honest education in classrooms from Ohio’s colleges and universities to public PK-12 schools, we have stood up against and pushed back on bills aimed at scapegoating educators and pitting communities against public education only to keep us from coming together to demand that the state fully and adequately fund public education in Ohio. Recently, public and school libraries have been targeted with extreme legislation that would significantly and negatively impact these critical institutions.
OEA’s partners at the Honest for Ohio Education Coalition are hosting a webinar on Monday, November 18, 2024, via Zoom at 7:00 PM to talk about the challenges facing public and school libraries and how they are pushing back against this newest attack on academic and intellectual freedom and the freedom to read.
To sign-up for the webinar, please click here.
Bill to Increases Teacher Minimum Salary to $50,000 Receives First Hearing
Representative Joe Miller (D-Amherst) provided proponent testimony in the Ohio House Primary & Secondary Education Committee on House Bill (HB) 411, legislation that would make increases across the state minimum salary schedule, including a starting minimum salary of $50,000. OEA supports HB 411 as it aligns with OEA’s recommendations in the Educator Voice Academy on Teacher Recruitment and Retention.
Trans-Bathroom Bill Restrictions Go to Governor for Signature
The Ohio Senate concurred with House amendments to the Senate Bill (SB) 104, which included House Bill (HB) 183 – the trans-bathroom ban. OEA opposed HB 183’s inclusion in SB 104 and urged Governor DeWine to veto SB 104.
School Bus Safety Bill Receives Amendments in House Transportation Committee
House Bill (HB) 279 is designed to improve school bus safety, was amended by the Ohio House Transportation Committee to remove a requirement that new school buses be equipped with lap and shoulder belts. OEA supported this amendment, as school buses are specifically designed to be highly safe without seat belts through the design concept of “compartmentalization.” This includes safety elements such as narrow rows of padded seating, smooth surfaces, and an elevated seating plane. Other recommendations in the bill come from Gov. DeWine’s Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group.
Career-Technical Licensure Bill Receives Hearings in Senate Committee
The Ohio Senate Education Committee continued to hold hearings on House Bill (HB) 432, sponsored by Representative Don Jones (R-Freeport). OEA is an interested party on the bill.
HB 432 permits:
- An applicant to apply for an initial career-technical workforce development educator license instead of only permitting an employing school district to apply on behalf of the applicant.
- An applicant who received an offer of employment to enroll in one of two alternative educator preparation programs in lieu of a career-technical workforce development educator preparation program offered by a higher education institution.
- Requires the State Board of Education to issue a career-technical educator license to certain individuals who are already validly licensed educators.
Religious Release Time Bills Get Committee Hearings
The Ohio House Primary & Secondary Education Committee and Senate Education Committee held hearings this week on matching bills that would require, instead of allowing, school districts to adopt policies permitting outside organizations to remove students from school for Religious Release Time programming off school campus. Parental consent is required, and students are not permitted to miss ‘core’ subject classes. OEA opposes House Bill (HB) 445 and Senate Bill (SB) 293 because they violate the Ohio governing principle of local control of public schools, hurt students by limiting and disrupting instructional time, and raise problematic legal and accountability questions for the public that have not been resolved. OEA recommends maintaining the current law, which protects local control and student instruction by allowing locally elected school board members to gauge the impact of religious release programs on student learning and levels of community support around this potentially divisive issue. OEA provided written opponent testimony in the House and plans to do the same in the Ohio Senate.
For an archive of past Legislative Watch releases, visit the Legislative Watch archive.