Senate Transportation Committee accepts amendment, tables proposal to add BMV voter-citizenship checks to House Bill 54

The Senate Transportation Committee advanced substitute House Bill 54 to the Rules and Reference Committee after accepting one amendment and tabling another that would have required Bureau of Motor Vehicles clerks to check citizenship when offering voter registration.

Committee members voted to accept amendment AM1360277, which was incorporated into the bill, and later tabled an amendment offered by Senator Smith that would have removed the bill’s provisions regarding voter registration at BMV transactions. Senator Smith said the amendment would restore the executive’s version of the bill and argued the citizenship question should be handled in standalone legislation with a fuller hearing.

"This would remove the bill's provisions regarding voter registration involving the BMV transaction," Senator Smith said, explaining her motion to amend. She added that about "55% of the state of Ohio has the real ID right now," and argued that because Real ID coverage is not statewide, the matter should not be folded into the transportation budget.

Vice Chair Schafer moved to amend the bill with amendment AM1360277 earlier in the hearing; committee members raised no objections and the amendment was accepted and made part of the substitute bill. Later, after Senator Smith offered amendment 0002-4 to remove the BMV voter-registration provisions, Vice Chair Schafer moved to lay that amendment on the table. The committee conducted a roll call for the tabling motion; the roll-call responses recorded in the transcript were: Chair Patton — yes; Vice Chair Schafer — yes; Ranking Member Antonio — yes; Senator Chavez — yes; Senator Reineke — yes; Senator Smith — no; Senator Timken — yes. Those recorded votes produce a 6–1 tally by names; the chair announced the result as "5 to 2." The article records both the roll-call entries and the chair’s announced total in the actions section below.

After tabling amendment 0002-4, Vice Chair Schafer moved that the committee favorably report the amended substitute House Bill 54 to the Rules and Reference Committee. A roll call recorded all named members as voting yes on that motion. The chair announced the motion would be sent on with the vote announced as "6 to 1." The committee also reminded members to sign the report before adjourning.

The substance of the debated amendment centered on whether the transportation bill should include changes that affect voter registration at BMV transactions or whether those changes should be considered in a separate legislative hearing. Senator Smith framed her objection around administrative burden for BMV clerks and the uneven statewide adoption of Real ID, saying the topic merited its own review rather than being included in the transportation budget.

No statutes or specific regulatory citations were named during the committee’s discussion in the transcript. The committee did not adopt the amendment that would have removed BMV provisions; instead it was tabled. The substitute bill, as amended (including AM1360277), will proceed to the Rules and Reference Committee.

The committee took no other business and adjourned.