Antonio Votes Against Partisan Bill to Distort Our Judicial Process

Today, Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) voted against House Bill 305, which originally aimed to modernize courts’ electronic filing processes but was amended at the last minute in the Senate to include over a dozen changes, including controversial language about ballot initiative contributions.

“This is, once again, an attempt to change — at the 11th hour — a piece of bipartisan legislation in a way that completely undermines the original intent of the bill,” said Antonio. “We have seen Ohioans stand up for their rights time and time again. Recent statewide issues have been supported not because there was a certain amount of money in play but because they are what the people want. We are once again seeing what appears to be the majority’s knee-jerk reaction to being out-of-touch with the people of Ohio.”

House Bill 305 was originally a bipartisan bill that passed out of the House unanimously. The Senate has now amended it to include controversial language that Democrats have voted against multiple times this General Assembly. While the bill would prohibit statewide ballot-issue campaigns from knowingly receiving foreign contributions, the provision would be unenforceable without federal action to prohibit anyone or any group in any state from accepting foreign contributions.

The bill would also shortchange the appeals process by limiting the factfinding and judicial review abilities of common pleas courts. The Republicans are attempting to distort our judicial process because of temporary restraining orders and injunctions that have halted the implementation of their recent legislation banning abortions after 6 weeks, restricting parents’ rights and other local control issues.

House Bill 305 now heads back to the Ohio House for a concurrence vote.