Residency is a local issue

The state of Ohio has enough problems that members of the General Assembly should have their hands full without meddling in the relation ship between cities and their employees. And yet, Ohio's legislators are on the brink of enacting a law that would bar municipalities from requiring city employees to live within the city.
We can understand the political reasons why this legislation -- already passed by the Senate -- is gaining steam. On the one hand it is being pushed by representatives from suburban areas who would like to have well-paid public employees from the city buying houses and paying taxes in their communities. On the other hand are representatives and senators who want the support (and money) that public employee unions have to offer.
But why is this a state issue? If residency were an unconstitutional infringement on individual rights, it would be a matter for the Ohio Supreme Court to address.
If it is hurting the ability of cities to recruit the best employees, then it is a matter for individual cities to wrestle with.
Statehouse hypocrites
It simply isn't a matter that the state Legislature should be sticking its nose into. At least not a General Assembly that considers itself conservative and is quick to decry "unfunded mandates" that are passed from the federal government to the states.
Some will point out that Columbus doesn't have a residency requirement. But Columbus has historically refused to extend its resources -- water and sewer -- to adjacent unincorporated areas. Consequently, what would be a suburb in the Youngstown area is part of the city in Columbus.
If the state truly believes that residency requirements are an evil the General Assembly must outlaw, then it should outlaw all of them. Let's have a state superintendent of schools who lives in Indiana. A highway patrol manned by men and women from West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. A Supreme Court justice from Illinois.
And those pesky residency requirements for elected officials: forget those too. Jerry Springer could keep his TV show and run for governor -- with Arnold Schwarzennegger as his running mate.