· May 13, 2013

Legislation: Ohio House Bill 59 – Biennial Budget

Bill: House Bill 59 (full text, official bill analysis) Title: Biennial Budget Sponsors: Representative Amstutz Co-Sponsors: Representatives Anielski, Baker, Beck, Blair, Boose, Brown, Burkley, Conditt, Dovilla, Grossman, Hackett, Hagan, C., Hayes, Lynch, McClain, McGregor, Pelanda, Rosenberger, Ruhl, Sears, Sprague, Stebelton, Thompson Bill Analysis:  The biennial budget spans the executive branch of Ohio government and thus has policy changes in every agency, many of which directly impact women and children in Ohio.  Policy changes that specifically relate to women’s issues and women’s health include a change the distribution of family planning funds and a change to the transfer language for ambulatory surgical centers. Changes to the distribution of family planning funds prioritizes the distribution of federal funds such as the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Social Services Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Title X Family planning. This re-prioritization would leave organizations such as Planned Parenthood at the bottom of the priority list. Changes to the transfer language for ambulatory surgical centers places current rules into law. These rules require that an ambulatory surgical center, the typical designation for a facility providing abortions, have a written transfer agreement with for “the safe and immediate transfer” of patients to the hospital when necessary. The director of the Ohio Department of Health may grant a waiver. By placing this language in revised code it removes the agency’s discretion to change the rules without legislative approval. Without a transfer agreement facilities that have this designation may no longer be able to operate. Update:  The Senate version of this bill added several concerning amendments. The Senate took the transfer agreement language one step further by adding a provision that would prohibits an ambulatory care clinics from having a written transfer agreement with any public hospital or from entering into a contract with any physician who has privileges at a public hospital.  This would greatly restrict  women’s access to abortions in Ohio. The Senate also added the language from HB 108 to the Budget. This bill, initially intended to create the Rape Crisis Trust Fund and provide additional funding to Rape Crisis Centers, was amended to include language which would prohibit Rape Crisis Centers from referring patients to entities that provide abortions. Final Update:  The final version of the budget included the following provisions:

• Reprioritize family planning funds, essentially blocking funding for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood serves nearly 100,000 women in Ohio, providing cancer screening, birth control, STD treatment and prevention, pap tests and health information.
• Prevent funds from going to rape crisis centers that refer women to facilities or medical care providers who also provide abortions. (HB 108, a separate bill with these provisions ,was also voted on by the House and is receiving hearings in the Senate.)
• Prohibit abortion clinics from entering agreements with public hospitals or with doctors affiliated with public hospitals. These agreements to transfer patients in medical distress are required by State law, so without them many clinics will be forced to close. The closure of an abortion clinic in Toledo that could not obtain a transfer agreement demonstrates how this provision could impact the rest of the state.
• Requires a physician to inform women in writing of the presence of a fetal heartbeat and the statistical likelihood that her fetus could be carried to term. The Department of Health would draft rules for how a fetal heartbeat can be detected, but those rules may only require an external exam. Civil, disciplinary and criminal penalties are included for doctors who purposefully perform or induce an abortion on a woman without fully meeting the new requirements

Status: Introduced in the House,  Passed the House on 4/18/2013.  Passed in the Senate on June 6, 2013. Signed by the Governor on June 30, 2013. Votes: 

House 4/18/2013
Yeas (Anti-Women): 61
Adams J.	Adams R.	Amstutz	Anielski
Baker	Barnes	Beck	Becker
Blair	Blessing	Boose	Brenner
Brown	Buchy	Burkley	Butler
Conditt	Damschroder	DeVitis	Derickson
Dovilla	Duffey	Gonzales	Green
Grossman	Hackett	Hagan, C.	Hall
Hayes	Henne	Hill	Hottinger
Huffman	Johnson	Kunze	Landis
Lynch	Maag	McClain	McGregor
Milkovich	Patmon	Pelanda	Perales
Retherford	Roegner	Romanchuk	Rosenberger
Ruhl	Scherer	Schuring	Sears
Slaby	Smith	Sprague	Stautberg
Stebleton	Thompson	Wachtmann	Young
Batchelder
Nays (Pro-Women): 35
Antonio	Ashford	Barborak	Bishoff
Boyce	Budish	Carney	Celebrezze
Cera	Clyde	Curtin	Driehaus
Fedor	Foley	Gerberry	Hagan, R.
Heard	Hood	Letson	Lundy
Mallory	O’Brien	Patterson	Phillips
Murray	O’Brien	Okey	Patmon
Pillich	Ramos	Redfern	Reece
Rogers	Slesnick	Stinziano	Strahorn
Szollosi	Williams	Winburn
Senate  6/6/2013
Yeas (Anti-Women): 23
Bacon	Balderson	Beagle	Burke
Coley	Eklund	Gardner	Hite
Hughes	Jones	Jordan	LaRose
Lehner	Manning	Obhof	Oelslager
Patton	Peterson	Schaffer	Seitz
Uecker	Widener	Faber
Nays (Pro-Women): 10
Brown	Cafaro	Gentile	Kearney
Sawyer	Schiavoni	Skindell	Smith
Taveres	Turner