Senate Bill 5

It is the lull before the storm over Ohio Senate Bill 5. The Democratic Party, with much aplomb, had its million signature march in Columbus whereby it presented to the appropriate state officials over a million signatures to repeal Senate Bill 5. Leading the pack were the Democratic Party representatives from the Mahoning Valley. They claim they are fighting for the middle class. That getting this issue on the ballot is a victory for the middle class.

How is this a victory for the middle class? To me, it looks like a victory for public employees. As it stands now, if the vote were held today, Senate Bill 5 would be repealed. On the other hand, when each of the component parts is polled, the public overwhelmingly supports the provisions of Senate Bill 5. Therein lays the challenge for the election. The Republicans must educate the public as to what Senate Bill 5 does. The Democrats must confuse the public with emotion and false information.

This is NOT a referendum on the middle class. At the base level, Senate Bill 5 does the following:

1) Outlaws strikes by public employees.

2) Sets minimum standards for employee contributions to benefit programs, including health care and retirement programs.

3) Introduces merit pay for teachers.

4) Eliminates binding arbitration by third parties in disputes whereby the third party can ignore the current fiscal situation of any government body in dispute resolution. It can’t force a township to put a tax levy on the ballot to fund a labor arbitration award.

5) Comparable salary determinations are eliminated, particularly in university situations. You can no longer base a salary on comparable pay including areas where the cost of living is substantially more than the area in which the university is located. You can’t look to a comparable wage in New York City, with the highest cost of living in America, to justify a similar salary in Youngstown, Ohio, which is among the lowest for cost of living.

Under Senate Bill 5, Ohio public employees will be treated exactly the same as current federal employees, and the same way they were treated in Ohio up until twenty years ago when public employees were granted the right to strike.

At the end of the day, the only folks who will benefit from the repeal of Senate Bill 5 are the public employee unions. And the rest of us will be left to pay the continuing rising cost of local government.

If you voted against the last county sales tax levy; if you voted against the last local police levy; if you voted against the last school levy; if you are tired of levies being place on the ballot over and over and over again after they have been defeated one, twice, and more…then you will vote to retain Senate Bill 5.

Given the history of levies in Mahoning County, my money is on Senate Bill 5 being around for a long time… a million signature march notwithstanding.