DeMora Condemns Inclusion of Poison Pill in Yet Another Bipartisan Bill

Today, state Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) voted against House Bill 305, which originally aimed to modernize courts’ electronic filing but was amended at the last minute in the Senate to include over a dozen changes, including controversial language about ballot initiative contributions.

“Republicans are showing just how desperate they are to shut regular citizens out of the ballot initiative process after the three ass-kickings they got last year,” said DeMora. “Don’t be fooled, no matter what they say this language has nothing to do with so-called foreign money – they are only concerned with stopping the Democratic process! How many bipartisan, noncontroversial bills are going to be ruined with this disgusting, anti-democracy language?”

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 expedite 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, gender-affirming care for minors, trans-athlete participation, and the ability of municipalities to regulate flavored tobacco.

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