Senate committee favorably reports amended House Bill 50 on housing collateral sanctions to Rules and Reference

The Ohio Senate Community Revitalization Committee voted unanimously May 7 to favorably report amended House Bill 50, a measure that committee materials describe as creating "a mechanism to allow relief [from] collateral sanctions for housing," sending the bill to the committee on rules and reference.

The vote moves the amended measure forward in the Senate while opponents’ written testimony opposing the amendments is on file with the committee. Ranking member Raymond Sykes said he regretted moving the bill forward without broader input from other legislators who focus on housing policy.

At the start of the meeting, Chairman Landis asked the clerk to call the roll and presented the item as the fifth hearing on amended House Bill 50. Vice Chair Senator Chavez moved that the committee "favorably report amended House Bill 50 to the committee on rules and reference." The clerk conducted a roll-call vote; members recorded on the transcript as voting "yes" included Joe Ennis, Mister Cavaz, Rayn Murphy Sykes, Senator Cotton and Senator Reynolds. The clerk and chairman announced the measure was approved by a unanimous vote and referred to the committee on rules and reference.

Written testimony the committee had placed on members’ tablets listed opponents including Nicole Pishtani, Paul Imhoff, Katie Johnson, the Ohio School Boards Association, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials.

Ranking member Raymond Sykes urged the committee to have sought input from a separate housing-focused panel before advancing amendments, saying it "would have been good to have this issue, the amendments that were added last week, to come before that committee and be a part of a comprehensive look." The committee record shows no additional floor debate and no amendments were adopted on the floor of this committee before the vote.

The clerk asked members to sign the vote sheet as it crossed their desks. The chairman then closed the hearing on the amended bill and moved to the next item on the agenda.

Details available in committee materials include the written opponent list placed on members’ iPads; no fiscal or enforcement provisions were read into the record during the committee’s proceeding.