Originally posted Oct. 29, 2007

H.B. 315 Assigned to FIRES Committee

House Bill 315, which contains the proposal for creating an ongoing, dedicated revenue stream for the STRS Ohio Health Care Program, has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Securities (also known as the FIRES Committee). No hearings have been scheduled as yet.

The members of the FIRES Committee are:  Representatives Chris Widener (chair), Kevin Bacon, William Batchelder, Todd Book, Armond Budish, David Daniels, Dan Dodd, Clyde Evans, Bob Gibbs, Jay Goyal, William Healy, Cliff Hite, Joseph Koziura, Eugene Miller, Allan Sayre, Dan Stewart, Jimmy Stewart, Tom Patton, Carol-Ann Schindel, Matt Szollosi, Mark Wagoner, Sandra Williams and James Zehringer. 

This bill carries with it the support of the Health Care Advocates for STRS (HCA) — a coalition of major management, professional and retiree organizations representing Ohio’s public K–12 and higher education teachers. This member-driven initiative calls for increasing public teachers’ contributions to STRS Ohio by 2.5% and their employers’ contributions by 2.5% of teacher payroll to create an ongoing, dedicated revenue stream for the STRS Ohio Health Care Program for current and future retired educators. These increases would be phased in over a five-year period, in .5% increments. The bill was introduced by Rep. Scott Oelslager, along with 14 co-sponsors, on Sept. 18, 2007. 

Members who would like to share their position on House Bill 315 with the members of the FIRES Committee can do so via mail using this address:  Ohio House of Representatives, 77 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43215-6111. Additional contact information (phone numbers and e-mail addresses) can be obtained by calling toll-free 1-800-282-0253 or by using this Web site:  http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp.