2023 OH Legislative Scorecard
The following scorecard lists several key votes in the Ohio General Assembly in 2023 and ranks state representatives and senators based on their fidelity to (U.S.) constitutional and limited-government principles.
This is our second state-level Scorecard; the selected votes may not be reflective of legislators' overall records. Their cumulative scores will change as we add more votes. Please check regularly for updates.
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SB54 would form the New African Immigrants Grant and Gift Fund in the state treasury.
The Senate passed SB54 on March 29, 2023, by a vote of 31 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because neither the mission nor the duties of the New African Immigrants Commission are the legitimate objects of government. Ohio has no business authorizing a statutory mandate to “advocate for the self-sufficiency of sub-Saharan African people,” which only divides its residents on account of national origin or ethnicity. Instead of unconstitutionally and unethically engaging in identity politics by discriminatorily seeking to “apply for and accept grants and gifts" on behalf of sub-Saharan African migrants or refugees, the State should focus first and foremost on securing the basic constitutional rights of its citizens. The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment were intended to promote the “general Welfare” of all Americans and demand that each state provide to every person within its jurisdiction the “equal protection of the laws.”
SB58 would prohibit firearm liability insurance requirements or fees in the State of Ohio.
The Senate passed SB58 on April 26, 2023, by a vote of 24 to 7. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because not only are ‘no-fault’ government-imposed insurance mandates inherently unconstitutional, but requiring the purchase of “firearm liability insurance,” or the payment of a fee for the possession of a firearm, amounts to a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, which guarantees that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment prevent “any State” from depriving or denying “any person” of their “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
SJR2 proposed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have required any future constitutional amendment to be approved by at least 60% of the voters.
The Senate adopted SJR2 on May 10, 2023, by a vote of 26 to 7. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because a supermajority of the electorate—not the current threshold of only more than 50 percent of voters—should be required to approve of any legitimate changes to the Ohio Constitution. While the American Founders believed that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, they understood that a simple majority is insufficient to protecting the individual rights and liberty of the people from the “dangers of democracy,” which threaten to result in a “tyranny of the majority” or an “elective despotism.” This explains why the U.S. Constitution, in Article IV, Section 4, explicitly guarantees to “every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” It provides that government be limited to the ‘rule of law,’ as opposed to mere ‘majority rule’ in a democracy.
SR215 urged citizens to vote against a statewide ballot initiative that proposed amending the Ohio Constitution by establishing an individual ‘right to abortion.’
The Senate adopted SR 215 on October 11, 2023, by a vote of 23 to 7. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the care of human life—not its destruction—is the greatest responsibility of government. Ohio ought to forbid the practice of abortion entirely and secure the right to life for every preborn child. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and unalienable right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
SB75 would create Joint Economic Development Districts (JEDD) comprised of multiple local governments with the power to extend and levy an income tax to promote “economic development or redevelopment,” “create or preserve jobs,” and “improve the economic welfare.”
The Senate passed SB75 on October 11, 2023, by a vote of 29 to 1. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because “economic development” is simply a cliché or code word used to coerce taxpayers into subsidizing various types of crony, corporate-sponsored projects conceived outside the limited purpose and scope of government. Unsurprisingly, this bill is wholly dependent upon the income tax, which itself is an immoral, anti-constitutional act of government-imposed theft that takes from citizens the wages they have rightfully earned. Ohio ought not to disparage its citizens of their property rights or income. The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment condemn undue deprivations of a person’s “property.”
HB68 would protect minor children from “gender reassignment” surgeries and “cross-sex hormone or puberty-blocking” drugs.
The Senate passed HB68 on December 13, 2023, by a vote of 24 to 8, prior to it being vetoed by the Governor. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because no person has a right to abuse a child using the pretext of LGBTQ+ ideology. Sex mutilation against minor children violates their unalienable right to life and limb, as it absurdly attempts to erase their biological characteristics with fictional “gender” constructs. According to the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the States have a duty to protect the humanity of all people—male and female—who, as the Declaration of Independence affirms, are created by God and form the basis of individual and family self-government.
