House speaker says higher education bill may not pass

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Since the spring, the Ohio Statehouse has been working on Senate Bill 83, the “Higher Education Enhancement Act.”

The bill has brought forth hours of testimony, and though it passed in the Senate months ago, Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said the legislation’s fate in the house is not as bright.  

“Oh, it doesn’t have the votes,” he said.  

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), is on its eleventh version. The latest version made a number of changes and since then, Stephens said he was reviewing the new version.  

The bill changes the way public universities operate in several ways. The legislation, among other things, touches on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training, requires schools to report more administrative things online, and would create an American government course requirement.   

On Tuesday, Stephens said he still does not think it is in a good place.

“I think there are a lot of concerns with that bill from both sides of the aisle, frankly,” Stephens said. “I understand what's being attempted, but sometimes that language can go either direction and I think it's important that we look at that.”  

Stephens said despite the changes made, he is not putting effort into moving it forward.  

“I don’t know that I’m trying, it’s been in committee for, what, six months,” Stephens said.  

But Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is still urging the bill’s passage. He said if the House does not pass it this General Assembly, it will come back.

“And probably, the next iteration is not going to have all of the concessions,” Huffman said. “When you make concessions and the folks who say, ‘If you make these concessions and we’ll vote for it,’ but they don’t, well then, the concessions don’t end up getting made in the future.”

In response to Stephens' comments, a spokesperson for Senate Republicans, John Fortney, said, “Our public universities are there to serve the people of Ohio, not the faculty, and not the administrators. Senate Bill 83 has undergone numerous hearings and thoughtful changes to prioritize intellectual diversity and non-discriminatory hiring which has suffered greatly on our campuses as recently reported. The bill has broad support. New questions or concerns should be made public so they can be addressed. We look forward to the next hearing Wednesday in the House.”  

The bill is scheduled for a second House committee meeting Wednesday morning. There will be both proponent and opponent testimony in the House Higher Education Committee.