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POSTED 02/15/2008:
Posted 01/16/08:
Veteran 9/11 Fire Fighters/FDNY Members Head to Florida Posted 10/31/2007: Brothers and Sisters, On behalf of President Sanders and Secretary-Treasurer Horton I am very happy to announce the introduction of HB 371. HB 371 will close the collective bargaining loophole being used to deny our brothers and sisters the right to bargain collectively with their employers.
HB 371 was introduced by Representative Larry Flowers along with 58 bipartisan cosponsors. To my knowledge, no other bill in the 127th General Assembly has been introduced with so many cosponsors. With 59 cosponsors we have reached a 60 percent majority in the House. We have continuously gained floor votes as well and should have at least 70 committed floor votes in the House at this time.
We worked with Representative Flowers to have the bill assigned to the State Government and Elections Committee the same day it was introduced. A majority of this committee are cosponsors as well.
I thank the Legislative Committee for their time and dedication to working on this issue:
1st District Tracy Koons
2nd District John Beavers
3rd District Jeff Younkins
4th District Jon Harvey
5th District Jack Reall
Retiree George Rusiska
We could not have done it without them.
I also want to thank all of the Local Officers who wrote letters, called and emailed their Representatives and got their members to do the same. The grassroots effort really makes a difference.
Thanks to the Executive Board for all of the help and support throughout this process. Your efforts are much appreciated.
I have attached the bill as introduced, please note the Representatives who are sponsors and cosponsors and send them a thank you, they really appreciate it and they deserve it.
As with all things in the Legislature, we have a lot of work to do to keep this bill moving and pass it through the House and Senate for the Governor's signature. I will be calling on all of you to keep up the hard work and get your members involved.
We have a long way to go but we can get it done if we all pitch in.
In addition, we are currently working on language for a cancer and infectious disease presumption bill, additional military leave for members serving our country, a bill to address the loss of pre employment physicals, a statewide arson registry and finishing rules for fire fighter continuing education requirements.
We are also defending our position on many bills during this session.
Thanks again.
Fraternally,
Jim Carney
Legislative Director Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters 1380 Dublin Rd. Suite 104 Columbus, Ohio 43215 614-989-7040 Cell 614-488-9920 Office 614-488-9925 Fax
POSTED 09/18/2007: 'Fire Fighters For Dodd' Breaking News Iowa State Senator Jeff Danielson Endorses Chris Dodd Will co-chair Dodd Iowa Steering Committee Iowa State Senator and Senate President Pro-Tempore Jeff Danielson has announced his endorsement of Chris Dodd for president. Also a professional fire fighter with Cedar Falls Local 1366, he is the first member of Iowa's Senate Democratic leadership to endorse a presidential candidate. Danielson is also serving as a co-chair of Dodd's Iowa Steering Committee and is a member of Dodd's National Steering Committee. "When it comes to protecting this country and strengthening our communities, proven leadership and experience matter," said Danielson in making the announcement September 13. 'I support Chris Dodd because he is the candidate I trust to keep America safe and keep our middle class families strong. Time and time again, Chris Dodd has shown not only that he has thoughtful, bold ideas, but that he has the ability to pull people together to get them done.' Danielson has represented Iowa Senate District 10 since 2004. His election to the Senate leadership by his peers last year made him the youngest President Pro-Tem in Iowa. Read more... POSTED 07/19/2007: The IAFF's top legislative priority, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 -- which guarantees collective bargaining rights for every fire fighter in the nation -- has overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, HR 980, won the support of a majority of the Republicans and Democrats in Congress, passing by a margin of 314-97. "For more than 50 years, the IAFF has battled to guarantee every professional fire fighter the right to collectively bargain," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. "This is just the first step, but it's truly an historic moment for our union." HR 980 assures four basic rights: the right to organize and form a union and be recognized as the exclusive representative for employees within a specific fire department; the right to bargain with respective public employers over wages and other terms and conditions of employment; the right to have a neutral third party assist in mediating any disputed issues; and the right to reduce negotiated agreements into binding, legally enforceable contracts. Thanks to the IAFF's aggressive grassroots efforts, HR 980 garnered 280 cosponsors, including 70 Republicans. Only 12 of the more than 2,900 bills introduced in this Congress have attained a congressional majority - 218 members - as cosponsors. "Clearly, our grassroots operation -- the calls from our members in the field -- succeeded in elevating this issue and generating support across all parties in the House," Schaitberger notes. The IAFF will now focus its efforts in the Senate and, ultimately, on lobbying the president to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk. For more information on HR 980, click here. Posted 07/16/2007: E-mail and Call Your Representatives and Ask Them to Vote For the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (H.R. 980) The IAFF needs your help to accomplish our top legislative priority, our national collective bargaining bill. In the House of Representatives, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act has received broad bipartisan support with 280 cosponsors Please urge your Members of Congress to vote For and strong advocacy in the upcoming Floor vote on (H.R. 980) the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act when it is taken under consideration on Tuesday July 17 2007. To e-mail your Member of Congress go to: Posted 07/13/2007:
Posted 06/28/2007: From: Oapfflegdirector@aol.com Brothers and Sisters, President Sanders and I have been working on several issues over the last few weeks. The Township Collective Bargaining issue and the ambulance staffing bill have been the major highlights. We have continued to push for the collective bargaining amendment to be added to the budget in each step of the budget process, without success. I am told that it made it into the Senate amendments but was removed because of a "right to work" amendment being added by a Republican Senator. With only a couple days left in the budget process I am not optimistic. On the issue of ambulance staffing we have had quite a few meeting and conversations with Representatives Flowers and Carmichael. The latest was this morning. We seem to have made some good progress on the bill. We won't know until we see the amendments as they come out and make our analysis but in a nutshell here is the latest: 1. A substantially volunteer EMS agency will be one where fifty percent or more of the EMS runs are taken by volunteers. 2. All personnel on the vehicle, including the driver, must be valid certificate holders under 4765.30 or 4765.55. 3. Drivers training will be, in some way, a condition for driving vehicles. 4. The issue of a lower standard of care was talked about at length. Laura Tiberi, representing medical directors, affirmed our position that this is lowering the standard of care, that no other neighboring states allow transport of patients without 2 EMT's and that medical directors are hesitant to get involved in the operational aspects of the department. All of the interested parties tried to explain the difference in scope of practice, patient care and outcome, as well as the synergistic affect of multiple patient care providers. While nothing was decided on this issue I feel that more conversations will be had because, in my opinion, we did get their attention. I am very glad that we were able to slow the bill down enough to get some rational thought going into it. I also appreciate Carmichael and Flowers making an effort to work with us. I will let you know how things progress. With any luck they will break July 1st. Fraternally, Jim Carney Posted 03/19/2007: IAFF 2007 Legislative Confereence Coverage - 2008 PRESIDENTIAL FORUM
Collective Bargaining FAQ's PDF
• May 5, 1998: 74 percent of voters reject penny increase in sales tax to boost school funding and ease property taxes. • May 11, 2000: Ohio Supreme Court finds state has made progress, but system remains unconstitutional. • Sept. 6, 2001: Court again finds system unconstitutional, but proposes fixes. • Dec. 11, 2002: Supreme Court finds system still unconstitutional, but ends role in case. • February, 2005: Majority of 35-member blue-ribbon panel named by Gov. Bob Taft urges constitutional amendment allowing some property tax mills to increase with property values without a popular vote. The idea goes nowhere. • Dec. 27, 2004: Former state Rep. Bryan Flannery falls short of signatures to present school-funding plan to lawmakers. • July 29, 2005: Educate Ohio coalition concedes it won’t have enough signatures to put revised Flannery plan on the ballot. • Nov. 7, 2006: Ohio elects Ted Strickland, the first governor who agrees with Supreme Court rulings. • Jan. 17, 2007: New coalition starts “Getting It Right!” campaign with plan to gather 402,000 signatures for new constitutional amendment with similarities to Flannery plan. By JIM PROVANCE COLUMBUS — Ever since voters shellacked a proposed penny-on-the-dollar hike in the state sales tax to boost educational subsidies and ease property taxes in 1998, repeated efforts to get another school-funding plan before voters have resulted in a series of false starts. Last week, a coalition of teachers’ unions, school boards, administrators, and parents came closest in nine years to getting a plan off the ground. But that effort has the daunting task of convincing more than 402,000 registered Ohio voters to sign petitions to get its proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot, especially as it faces opposition from Ohio’s business community and cool responses from new Gov. Ted Strickland and the state’s big-city mayors. Since the first Ohio Supreme Court ruling nearly a decade ago that the state’s school-funding system is unconstitutional because of its heavy reliance on local property taxes, a series of proposed laws and constitutional amendments have fizzled, and one task force after another came up empty. The signature requirement faced by the coalition behind the “Getting It Right!” campaign is greater than any petition effort that came before. Enough signatures must survive county election board and court scrutiny to equal 10 percent of those who voted in the 2006 gubernatorial election. Backers of three proposed constitutional amendments that appeared on November’s ballot, only one of which was ultimately supported by voters, had to gather 323,000 signatures based on the 2002 gubernatorial election turnout. “I think you will find that this will be a totally volunteer effort,” said coalition spokesman Jim Betts. “We feel there are enough committed citizens in the state of Ohio who have already demonstrated through this very small effort that they are more than happy to strive to put this issue on the ballot.” But trying to accomplish such a task solely with volunteers could prove tougher than the coalition expects. Ask Bryan Flannery, the former state representative and Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Ask the backers of the successful minimum-wage and indoor-smoking ban campaigns last year who started out as all-volunteer efforts only to fall back on professional signature-gatherers in order to meet deadlines. And they faced much smaller signature requirements. “We saw tremendous success in utilizing volunteers, who were far more passionate about the issue and were willing to work hard for cause they believed in,” said Tracy Sabetta, spokesman for the American Cancer Society, which led the effort to enact the smoking ban. “We did have to use some paid signature-gatherers in larger cities,” she said. “I would encourage the school-funding group to mobilize volunteers as effectively as possible, because that will help to build grassroots support for the election.” ‘Fundamental’ right The State Board of Education, with 11 elected members and eight appointed by the governor, would determine what constitutes a high-quality education and then attach a per-student price tag to it. The state would assume a school district levies 20 mills of local property taxes and the state would have to make up the difference between what those mills generate in revenue for school districts and the cost set by the state board. The amendment does not mandate that schools roll back their property tax rates if they levy more than 20 mills, nor does it suggest where the state would find what could be hundreds of millions of additional dollars required to be given to local school districts. “The whole funding issue is one, obviously, that was debated quite often again and again and then again within the deliberations of our group,” said Mr. Betts. “We finally came to the conclusion that tax policy, frankly, is better left to the deliberative process of the General Assembly as opposed to rigidly trying to enforce a taxing system that may be necessary in 2007 but is outmoded, outdated, or not appropriate in 2035.” Such issues, however, could prove problematic when it comes to gathering signatures or getting Ohioans to vote yes on Election Day. Mr. Flannery noted that both of his plans require schools to reduce property taxes in exchange for getting an infusion of state funds. Could be difficult So far, Mr. Strickland and legislative leaders have looked at this as just one more proposal on the table as they enter budget preparation season. Even though he has questioned aspects of the plan, Governor Strickland has said its very existence could work to his advantage as he calls various parties to the table to fashion his own fix. “This may result in some people being more willing to engage in good-faith negotiations if they perceive this as something they find totally unacceptable,” he said. “I’am not signing onto this proposal, but I don’t want to be a detractor.” But even as those talks go on, the “Getting It Right” ship may already be sailing. Once Mr. Dann determines that the language to be placed before potential petition-signers accurately represents the proposed amendment, supporters would have until Aug. 8 to file petitions with the secretary of state containing at least 402,000 valid signatures. And the petitions must also demonstrate statewide support by getting enough signatures in 44 of the 88 counties to match 5 percent of the gubernatorial vote there.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gov. Ted Strickland anticipates no problem keeping his first budget within the spending limits lawmakers approved last year. In fact, the Democratic governor said he doesn't expect to reach the 3.5 percent growth allowed by the legislative restriction, termed a Tax & Expenditure Limitation or TEL. "Quite frankly, I don't think there's much danger in exceeding the TEL," Strickland said in an interview. "This year's budget is going to make Mr. Blackwell look like a big spender." Republican Ken Blackwell, Strickland's opponent in the gubernatorial election, proposed a constitutional amendment restricting annual growth to 3.5 percent or the combined rates of inflation and population growth, whichever is higher. The measure was replaced with a version placed in state law, rather than in the Ohio Constitution. Strickland said lawmakers have the option of removing the spending limits from law if they choose. "It was a legislative initiative and it can be altered legislatively, so I don't know that the legislative TEL is going to be a huge hindrance (in writing the upcoming two-year budget)," Strickland said. "I'll tell you what a huge hindrance is: It's the revenue available." Strickland planned an afternoon news briefing on his budget in Columbus. |
