TIPP
Targeting Impact through Public Policy This Issue Ohio Renter Protection Act
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Anti Discrimination Bill
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School Wellness Bill Moving Forward Senate Bill 210 and House Bill 373, known as Healthy Choices for Healthy Children, is bipartisan legislation that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing childhood obesity by focusing on three key areas:
Early Childcare and Advocacy Committee
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Faces in Public Policy
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Earned Income Tax Credit
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1. Access to nutritious foods and beverages in school settings;
Land Bank Legislation
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Re-entry Workshop
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2. Inclusion of physical activity in the daily school routine; and
On Our Agenda Promoting school wellness policies is a Tier 2 issue on United Way of Central Ohio’s Public Policy Agenda. This means that we work with community partners to address childhood obesity.
UNITED WAY LEADERS VISIT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS More than 1,000 staff and volunteers from across the country visited Capitol Hill on March 18 and met with Members of Congress about federal support of 2-1-1, child nutrition issues, and the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. Nine staff from UWCO met with Ohio Members of Congress while in Washington DC for the Mobilize for Impact Conference.
SPRING, 2010
3. Body Mass Index (BMI) screenings. Senate Bill 210 is co-sponsored by Senators Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) and Eric Kearney (D-Cincinnati), and House Bill 373 is co-sponsored by Representatives John Patrick Carney (D-Columbus) and Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon). Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation compliments our goal to increase the number of people who achieve a healthy weight. Children who are obese when they are 10 years old have an 80 percent chance of becoming obese adults with multiple chronic illnesses that will cost billions of dollars in health care.
How you can help • Call or email your Senator and Representative and encourage them to pass Senate Bill 210 and House Bill 373. For help identifying your legislators visit www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials. • Visit www.healthychoiceshealthychildren.org and join the Healthy Choices for Healthy Children Coalition, an alliance of more than 75 human service groups, hospitals, and businesses dedicated to preventing and decreasing childhood obesity in Ohio. The school setting is where children spend much of their time. It is where they learn physical activity habits and have access to food items outside of their family’s influence. UWCO supports SB 210/ HB 373. It is an excellent way to address Ohio’s alarming childhood obesity problem.
CHILDHOOD OBESITY FACTS • More than 1 in 3 children (ages 10 to 17) in Ohio are overweight or obese. • Obese children are more than four times more likely to have diabetes, and two times more likely to have been hospitalized twice or more in the past year. • By 2018, obesity rates in Ohio will surpass 50%, with health care costs exceeding $16 billion for the state. Source: Healthy Choices for Healthy Children, www.healthychoiceshealthychildren.org
Updates on Renter Protection and Anti-Discrimination Bills House Bill 9 (The Ohio Renter’s Protection Act) was introduced
by Representatives Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights) and Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) on February 17, 2009. House Bill 9 seeks to protect a tenant who faces eviction because their landlord’s residential property has gone into foreclosure. Currently, Ohio law requires only three days notice before eviction. House Bill 9 requires that landlords provide all tenants with written notice of the foreclosure action within 60 days after the action is initiated, and written notice of the sale of the foreclosed property at least 21 days before the sale occurs. When the foreclosure sale is complete, the renter will not be evicted, but rather the renter’s existing lease will convert to a month-to-month lease with the new landlord. This provides a tenant a minimum of 30 days to obtain new housing. Passage of House Bill 9 will help protect renters at risk of homelessness because of foreclosure proceedings against landlords. Please contact Finance and Financial Institutions Committee Chair, Senator John Carey, and encourage the passage of House Bill 9. Sen. Carey can be reached at 614.466.8156 or SD17@senate.state.oh.us.
House Bill 176 amends Ohio’s existing Civil Rights Code by adding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to the existing list of protected classes (such as race, religion, sex, disability, veteran’s status, age, etc.).
After passing the House of Representatives on September 15, 2009, House Bill 176 was referred to the Senate Rules Committee, but has not received a public hearing. Senate President Bill Harris chairs the Senate Rules Committee.
“HB176 is important to Ohio businesses and Ohioans. It’s time that we encourage Speaker Harris to do the right thing and move this bill.” - Lynne Bowman, Equality Federation Please contact Senator Harris at SD19@senate.state.oh.us or 614.466.8086 and urge him to schedule a public hearing for House Bill 176. For more information about HB 176 visit www.equalityohio.org or www.dowhatsrightohio.com.
Equality Ohio will host Lobby Day on May 19, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Downtown Capitol Square. Lobby Day is the one day each year when Ohio’s LGBT community and supporters come together to speak with each other and legislators about issues of equality. The main issue this year will be House Bill 176. Contact Equality Ohio at contactus@equalityohio.org or 614.224.0400 for more information.
ADVOCATE If you believe state budget cuts have reduced access to affordable high-quality early child care and education, consider joining the Central Ohio Early Care and Education Advocacy Committee. Attend the May 18 meeting and help develop strategies that will increase elected officials’ understanding of the importance of adequate state investments in Ohio’s early care and education system. The group had its first meeting on April 6 at UWCO. Attendees discussed the Center for Early Childhood Development Implementation Plan. David Howard, Field Director for the GroundWork campaign, emphasized the positive movement of the plan through both chambers of the Ohio legislature, anticipating its passage after the fall election. Visit www.build-ohio.org to download a copy of the Center for Early
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Childhood Development Implementation Plan. Committee members also reviewed changes to the Help Me Grow program. The Committee is in the process of developing advocacy strategies for the year – such as identifying candidates running for key offices and meeting with them prior to the November election. The Committee will also begin planning for a Candidates’ Forum in the fall. Representation from Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, and Madison Counties is needed. We invite you to join the Central Ohio Early Care and Education Advocacy Committee and help us plan and advocate for high-quality early care and education services for Central Ohio families. We need your help and input! Plan to join us for our next meeting on Tuesday, May 18 (1:30 p.m. to 3p.m.). Contact Troy Harris (troy.harris@uwcentralohio.org or 614-227-2736) to RSVP for the May 18 meeting.
TIPP
Faces in public policy at united way C. David Paragas Community Impact Cabinet Chair UWCO extends a heartfelt thank you to David Paragas, departing Chair of our Public Policy Committee. David provided stellar leadership for public policy staff and volunteers, kept us informed of state budget deliberations, oversaw the creation and implementation of our current public policy agenda, and served as liaison between the Public Policy Committee and UWCO’s Board of Trustees. In February 2010, David joined the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP as a partner in the Columbus, Ohio and Washington, D.C. offices in the Governmental Services and Finance Department. Previously, David was the managing partner at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff as well as co-chair of the firm’s Public Law Practice group and Economic Growth and Development team. David will continue to serve on UWCO’s Board of Trustees and chair the Community Impact Cabinet.
Christie Angel New Public Policy Committee Chair UWCO welcomes Christie Angel as the new Chair of our Public Policy Committee, effective April 1, 2010. Christie is Vice President of the legal and government affairs firm of Sean P. Dunn & Associates, where she engages in all aspects of client representation in legislative, administrative, and community relations matters. Previously, Christie served as Director of External and Government Affairs for AT&T and as Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Deputy Chief of Staff. Christie is a member of UWCO’s Board of Trustees. The Public Policy Committee looks forward to working with Christie as we develop our public policy agenda for state fiscal years 2011-2012 and champion issues that will help UWCO achieve our bold goals for Education, Income, Health and Home.
Ellen Maxfield Public Policy Fellow UWCO welcomes Post Graduate Fellow, Ellen Maxfield to our public policy team. Ellen recently graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School. As a law student, she served as the Note and Comment Editor on the Journal of Law and Inequality, and was the Speakers Chair of the Student Employment and Labor Law Association. Ellen was raised in Columbus, and she is happy to be back in central Ohio. She welcomes the opportunity to help advance public policies that support UWCO’s mission. Ellen would like to continue her career in public policy.
Bill Byers Public Policy Committee Member Congratulations to Public Policy Committee member, Bill Byers on his recent election to President of the Ohio Lobbying Association. Bill is Vice President of External Affairs of Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Previously, Bill served as Director of Government Relations and legal counsel for the Ohio State Medical Association. Prior to joining OSMA, Bill held positions as a government consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP and served as an aide to former Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich. He received his Juris Doctorate from Capital University Law School and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The Ohio State University.
Visit our website at www.liveunitedcentralohio.org/publicpolicy.
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EITC Coalition brings $5 million to Franklin County The federal earned income tax credit (EITC) is a refundable tax earn it. credit for eligible people earning keep it. low wages. The federal EITC helps save it. bridge the gap between what Franklin County EITC Coalition individuals and families earn and what they need to make ends meet. UWCO helped launch the Franklin County EITC Coalition in 2006, and remains an active member of the Coalition. The Franklin County EITC Coalition is the single largest provider of free tax preparation services in central Ohio. In 2009 alone the Coalition provided free tax preparation to more than 4,000 clients, bringing more than $5 million in federal and state tax refunds to Franklin County.
check that is especially important in this challenging economy, and would give an economic boost to the local community.
Despite the success of the federal EITC, Ohio does not have a state refundable EITC. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have enacted state EITCs, including Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. A refundable state EITC would provide working people with a refund
For more information about the impressive success of the Franklin County EITC Coalition, visit www.policymattersohio.org and download a copy of “Who Takes the Credit”.
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Giving Second Chances Through Employment UWCO, the Ohio Poverty Law Center, and the Central Ohio Pre-entry Collaboration encourage employers and Human Resource personnel to attend the first in a series of reentry-focused Employer Awareness Workshops on Wednesday, May 5 (9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.). The meeting will take place at UWCO. Rebuilding Lives: Giving Second Chances Through Employment will engage a panel of reentry and employment experts in a dialogue about the employment challenges of ex-offenders. The session is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register contact M e l i s s a Lindsay at mlindsay@ohiopovertylaw.org, or 614.221.7201, by Wednesday, April 28.
A refundable Ohio EITC would compliment the federal EITC by providing low-income working families with a refund equal to 5 percent of their federal EITC refund. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a proven, effective anti-poverty program that lifts more than 4.4 million people — roughly half of them children — out of poverty each year; it is the nation’s most effective anti-poverty program for working families. Refund the Credit is a statewide coalition that is working to establish a refundable state EITC in Ohio. Please visit www.vfc-oh.org to learn more about Refund the Credit.
LAND BANK LEGISLATION SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR On April 7, 2010, Governor Strickland signed House Bill 313. This important bill lowers the population threshold to allow more counties in Ohio, including Franklin County, to organize county land banks. A land bank is a public authority created to hold, manage and develop tax-foreclosed property. Land banks act as a legal mechanism to transform vacant, abandoned and tax-foreclosed property into productive use. Properties that are acquired by county land banks are maintained until they are redeveloped and returned to the market. Properties that are too dilapidated to salvage are demolished, and the land is retained for future development. Previously, only Cuyahoga County was authorized to operate a land bank. House Bill 313 allows 41 additional counties with populations of more than 60,000 people the opportunity to organize and operate nonprofit land banks. House Bill 313 allows counties to quickly and efficiently purchase abandoned and blighted property to ensure the property does not sit vacant for extended periods of time. UWCO supports policies that help revitalize vacant and abandoned housing and property. We thank the countless advocates who contacted elected officials about House Bill 313. We also applaud Greater Ohio Policy Center for their leadership in passing House Bill 313. For more information about Greater Ohio, visit their website at www.greaterohio.org.
VOTE !
For comments or suggestions about this issue, please contact a member of the TIPP team:
May 4, 2010
Ellen Maxfield, Post Graduate Fellow, at 614.227.2714 or ellen.maxfield@uwcentralohio.org
Primary elections are
Valerie Ridgeway, Public Policy Director, at 614.227.2706 or valerie.ridgeway@uwcentralohio.org Troy A. Harris, Administrative Assistant, at 614.227.2736 or troy.harris@uwcentralohio.org