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Rep.: SB 5 moved too quickly
YOUNGSTOWN
A top Ohio House Republican said a bill that restricts collective-bargaining rights for public employees moved through the state Legislature too quickly.
But state Rep. Ron Amstutz of Wooster, R-3rd, chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, said Friday that delaying approval of the legislation known as SB 5 [Senate Bill 5] “wouldn’t have changed anyone’s” vote in this “polarized political climate.”
Amstutz replaced Ohio Speaker of the House William Batchelder at Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s annual legislative luncheon Friday. The speaker’s father recently died.
“It [SB 5] would have benefited from some more even-handed discussions with the stakeholders, but I don’t think that’s possible in this political environment,” Amstutz said to the local reporters before speaking at the luncheon.
Those stakeholders, he said, include unions, local elected officials, state officials and members of the business community and chambers of commerce.
Amstutz, who voted in favor of SB 5, said he would have preferred for the bill to have moved through the Legislature “along a track with the budget.” SB 5 was approved by the Ohio House on March 30. The budget was approved last week.
“It isn’t a quick-fix proposal,” he said of SB 5. “It isn’t something that will immediately change the [government] cost curve.”
Amstutz added that “it’s a mischaracterization that SB 5 will fix our state. It needs to be done as part of an overall change.”
The bill greatly reduces the collective-bargaining power of the 350,000 unionized public workers including police officers, firefighter and teachers.
Amstutz said that “over time, there would be some adjustments” to the bill, like other bills.
“You don’t always get it right the first time,” he said.
Those who oppose the bill are collecting signatures to place it on the November ballot for a repeal vote.
Amstutz said he’s “not a real partisan person. I don’t like the partisan debate, but it happens.”
He added that the state budget, approved May 5 by the House, is causing “substantial pain” to school districts and local government entities.
But the state had to cut billions of dollars out of its budget because of challenging economic times and the elimination of about $4 billion in one-time income payments, primarily federal-stimulus money, he said.
When Democrats controlled the House with a Democratic governor, they should have taken steps to reduce spending so there “would have been a softer landing for this budget,” Amstutz said.
In response to a question from an audience member, Amstutz said he expected Gov. John Kasich to have a proposal for legalized gambling in the state by the end of the year. That proposal would include legalizing slot machines at the state’s horse racetracks.
Penn National Gaming wants to relocate a harness track it owns in Toledo to Austintown if slots are permitted at those facilities.