· May 25, 2012

A week of positive developments for pro-women legislation in Ohio

As a pleasant change from the anti-women bills that have seen advancement recently, four pieces of pro-women legislation saw progress in both the Senate and House this past week. On Tuesday, the Senate passed Senate Bill 199, to establish the Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and moved the bill to the House for further hearings.  Senate Bill 349, the Fair and Acceptable Income Required (FAIR) Act, was introduced and moved to the Senate’s Insurance, Commerce, and Labor committee.  The bill would strengthen wage discrimination law by allowing the only pay difference to be due to merit, seniority, or quality and quantity of work. Also on Tuesday, House Bills 262 and 426 were voted on and passed with 98 and 97 pro-women yeas, respectively, and were moved to the Senate for hearings.  House Bill 262, the “Safe Harbor Bill,” exempts minors who are victims of human trafficking from crimes of solicitation.  House Bill 426 establishes an income tax refund check-off contribution for the benefit of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project and was moved to the Senate on Wednesday for hearings. The progress of these bills hopefully means a slowdown of the legislation to roll back the rights and protections of women which have been overwhelmingly active, when compared to pro-women legislation, in the statehouse since the state of this General Assembly.