Saturday, January 5, 2008

Ohio Healthy Families Act up for legislative consideration


As I reported in October, the Ohio legislature will this term consider the Ohio Healthy Families Act. The Act, if passed, will guarantee 7 sick days for all full time Ohio employees who work for companies with 25 or more employees, and a prorated number of days for part time employees. As today's Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, "If the Republican-led House and Senate fail to act within 120 days, the union-led coalition behind the Healthy Families Act will have the right to take the issue to the November ballot." That threat may spur the Republicans to pass the legislation, as having an issue such as this on the ballot in November will certainly draw more Democrats to the polls to vote for it, just as the Minimum Wage amendment did in 2006. This issue bears watching, and I will continue to post updates as this bill weaves it way through the legislature.