House Bill 194 You may recall signing a petition last year to place a referendum on the November 2012 ballot to repeal HB 194. This legislation, which we refer to as the voter suppression bill, was signed into law last year. Among other things, HB 194 shortens the pre-election windows for absentee and in-person early voting, prohibits Boards of Election from mass mailing absentee ballot applications. More recently, Republicans in the state legislature decided they wanted to repeal this bill that they had pushed through. Democrats protested because the petitions had been certified to place the measure on the ballot and therefore it should be up to the voters to decide the issue. It’s important to note that the repeal effort did not include restoring the three days of absentee voting just prior to Election Day that was in practice before HB 194 became law. The Ohio Senate passed the repeal bill along party lines. However, the Ohio House has delayed action on the bill. It appears that there may be a compromise in the works where by the repeal of HB 194 would be clean and complete if those three days of absentee balloting were restored.
STRTS REVISED PLAN. Last week the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board approved a pension reform plan that has the support of the Health and Pension Advocates Coalition of which we, through OFT, are members. The plan is designed to maintain the solvency of our defined benefit pension plan and to continue to make health care coverage available to retirees. Here are the key features of the plan that impact active teachers