HB 235 Opponent Testimony to the Ohio House Commerce & Labor Committee (March 8, 2022)

Summary

This is written opponent testimony on HB 235 to the Ohio House Commerce & Labor Committee, dated March 8, 2022, from Jeff Dillon, Ohio Legislative Director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP). AFP opposes House Bill 235, saying the government has no business dictating who private employers choose to hire and that the bill's benefit is aimed at the labor unions that would operate the apprenticeship training programs it contemplates. The testimony refers to opponent testimony the committee heard on January 26 and to House Bill 6 of the 133rd General Assembly. It urges the committee to hold no additional hearings on HB 235. The closing note describes AFP as having more than 3.2 million activists and 36 state chapters.

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  HB 235 Opponent Testimony to the Ohio House Commerce & Labor Committee, March 8,
                                         2022

Chairman Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and members of the
committee, thank you for holding this hearing and for the opportunity to provide testimony.

My name is Jeff Dillon, and I am the Ohio Legislative Director for Americans for Prosperity
(AFP). As one of the largest grassroots organizations in the country, AFP is driving long-term
solutions to some of the country’s biggest problems. Our organization, and its thousands of
activists across Ohio, are dedicated to breaking barriers that stand in the way of people
realizing their full potential. Removing or reducing these barriers, in whatever forms they take,
helps move our society toward one of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping others
improve their lives and by transforming their communities. Accordingly, AFP opposes House Bill
235.

Ohio’s economy is being increasingly guided by cronyism rather than by contribution and
competition. When proposed laws that would profoundly affect private businesses’ hiring and
employment practices ignore facts in favor of anti-competitive practices, needless barriers to
innovation and free-market solutions arise.

HB 235 is not mutually beneficial legislation – the benefit is one-sided, aimed solely at enriching
the labor unions who would operate the apprenticeship training programs contemplated under
the bill, who coercively collect dues from members as a condition of employment and then
utilize those dues to curry legislative favor.

On January 26th of this year, this committee heard and received a litany of opponent testimony
from individuals, companies, and organizations well-positioned to understand the economic
impact this legislation would have if enacted. Without rehashing the entirety of previous
testimony, AFP is in agreement with nearly everything those opponents said, but in a nutshell,
my organization’s opposition comes down to this fundamental point: the government has no
business dictating who private employers choose to hire. That is the business of those private
employers. The government certainly has the authority to impose the heavy-handed labor
mandates contained in HB 235, but that doesn’t make it a good idea, especially when
proponents of this legislation failed to make any cogent arguments with respect to their
concerns about the alleged need for improvements to safety.
Cronyism is the biggest problem plaguing the Ohio General Assembly. The saga and fallout from
House Bill 6 of the 133rd GA seems to have changed the culture in the capitol very little, if at all.
There is growing consensus among those attuned to Ohio politics and government affairs that
many in this chamber are beholden to the dictates of organized labor because many of those
organizations are cash cows for legislative candidates. Advancing HB 235 would only further
that narrative, which seems truer and truer as the weeks and months roll by.

HB 235 is a bad bill: bad for business, bad for workers, bad for consumers. AFP – Ohio urges this
committee to hold no additional hearings on HB 235, let the bill die a quiet death, and not to
create a slippery slope where the new normal becomes the government setting internal hiring
policies for companies and businesses that are already highly regulated, whether that is in this
bill, or other equally poorly conceived legislation yet to come.

Thank you, Chairman Stein, for the opportunity to submit this opposition testimony.


Jeff Dillon
Ohio Legislative Director
Americans for Prosperity




Americans for Prosperity (AFP) exists to recruit, educate, and mobilize citizens in support of the policies
and goals of a free society at the local, state, and federal level, helping every American live their dream –
especially the least fortunate. AFP has more than 3.2 million activists across the nation, a local
infrastructure that includes 36 state chapters, and has received financial support from more than
100,000 Americans in all 50 states. For more information, visit www.AmericansForProsperity.org.


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