Legislative News 2007
- Legislative Information March
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The 127th Ohio General Assembly is now well under way. The first bills are being introduced, committees have been established and committee hearings are being held. The Transportation Budget (HB 67) and the Bureau of Workers Compensation Budget (HB 100) have already been introduced and Governor Strickland will submit his main operating budget to the Legislature by March 15. Of course this is the bill of most interest to libraries as it will contain the funding recommendation for public libraries. Once the budget bill is introduced it is expected to quickly move through the House and Senate with the goal of adoption in time for the new fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007.
Considerable information is available online at the Ohio General Assembly website http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/ to track legislative activity. The site provides the full text of bills and access to information about each legislator including bills they have sponsored and what committees they serve on. You can even watch legislative sessions live at your desktop if you’re so inclined. Approximately 180 bills have been introduced so far and hundreds more will be introduced over the next two years. A quick way to keep track of all those bills is through the status report published by the Legislative Service Commission and updated weekly. A sample of the report is pictured below. As you can see it lists each bill by number, the sponsor, a short title and what action has been taken in the House and Senate. The whole report is available in an online version and pdf format at: http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/statusreport.html
