Ohio House plans break on union-bill hearings

COLUMBUS (AP) — Testimony has wrapped up for now on an Ohio bill that restricts the collective bargaining rights of public workers.

An aide to House Labor Chairman Joseph Uecker said today no hearings had been scheduled for next week.

The legislation would prohibit strikes and limit other rights of roughly 350,000 police, firefighters, teachers and other public employees. They wouldn’t be able to negotiate health-care benefits or certain other working conditions.

The measure has cleared the Republican-led state Senate. A vote in the GOP-led House has not been scheduled.

The planned break on the bill comes as the House intensifies its review of Gov. John Kasich’s two-year operating budget, which was introduced Tuesday. The budget counts on savings from relaxed union rights at the state and local levels.