Committee hears proponent testimony on bill to ban "release time" for public employees

The Government Oversight and Reform Committee held the second hearing on Senate Bill 8, which would prohibit "release time," a practice by which public employees are paid by government employers while conducting union or political activities, with proponent witnesses testifying in support.

Hannah Cubbins, legislative director for Americans for Prosperity Ohio, told the committee that "taxpayers should not be obligated to subsidize political and organized labor activities through public sector unions." She described release time as a practice that removes employees from their public duties and shifts the cost of union activity to taxpayers and cited figures she attributed to the Goldwater Institute, saying the city of Columbus paid "more than $1,100,000 and 38,469 hours" to individuals between June 19 and June 2020 and that the department of corrections paid roughly "$597,000 and 22,681 hours" in the same period.

Beau Uton, testifying on behalf of FGA Action, echoed that taxpayer dollars "should always be reserved for services for the public, not special interest handouts." Uton described contract provisions he said exist in some jurisdictions — for example, a Columbus contract that he said allows union officers to work full time for the union while receiving full city pay, and an Akron teachers' union contract he said authorizes 125 days per year for union business.

The panel's members pressed witnesses on the data and on how the bill would treat work that is part of an employee's public duties. Senator DeMora asked for a specific example in which release time harmed the state or local community; Cubbins said she did not have a specific incident to cite. Senator Weller questioned the Goldwater Institute figures cited by witnesses, noting the study "doesn't differentiate the release time between what potentially someone was doing for the union or what somebody is doing on behalf of their city," and said that could skew the totals. Cubbins responded that the Goldwater Institute had difficulty obtaining some records and that she would defer to their methodology and be open to alternative calculations.

Ranking Member Weinstein raised a scenario about a police officer using release time to advocate for better training and said the bill as written could be read subjectively. Cubbins said she was "open to" an amendment to clarify that activities falling within an employee's proper public duties would not be affected.

Committee members were also directed to written testimony available on committee iPads from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio and from the Goldwater Institute, which witnesses had referenced during their remarks. The committee concluded the second hearing on Senate Bill 8 with no vote taken and no formal action recorded on the bill at this meeting.

The committee will retain the bill for further consideration; no committee vote was recorded at the conclusion of the hearing.