As the first House committee meeting for SB5 got underway, the Dispatch reports that it is expected to easily gain passage, that of course would eventually setup a referendum to overturn this radical law that upsets decades of collective bargaining. To gain that "easy passage" however, more radical steps were taking by the majority
House Speaker William G. Batchelder replaced two Republicans on the committee: Reps. Richard Adams of Troy and Ross McGregor of Springfield. Unlike in the Senate, where committee changes were made to get the bill passed, House GOP leaders said the changes were made because the two need to focus on the Finance Committee, which will start budget hearings next week.
Business Journal Daily has some of the political implications of this radical legislation
Republicans might have made a mistake by using a sledgehammer when a scalpel might have been more appropriate, Sracic said. Rather than going after collective bargaining rights, which recent poling shows Americans largely support, Republicans could have gone after retirement contributions or other issues, "things that would have been acceptable," he said. "The problem [for Republicans] is unions have been very good about making this about their right to collective bargaining," he remarked.
Swing voters in the middle also tend to act as governors in the system, "so any sort of extreme action is going to be resisted," he added.
In response to Governor Kasich's first state of the state, a crowd of over 3,000 people protested this ongoing assault on working people, as the Latern reports
Thousands of protesters flooded the lawns in an attempt to drown out Gov. John Kasich as he gave his State of the State address.
After encouragement from protest leaders, hundreds of protesters filed into the Statehouse at about noon today. The protesters were in opposition of Kasich and Senate Bill 5.
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