Legislative update: Pavliga uses her lame duck session to target pronouns

Welcome to the Portager’s legislative round-up, which will regularly track what Portage County lawmakers are doing in Washington and in Columbus.

In her last months as an Ohio state representative, Gail Pavliga (R-Atwater) introduced a bill that would ban public colleges from asking students or employees for their preferred gender pronouns on applications. This House Bill 686 was proposed Nov. 7 and has sat in the Higher Education Committee since Nov. 12.

This bill echoes a similar stance Pavliga and Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.), the two state representatives serving districts in Portage County, took on LGBTQ-related legislation in January. The pair, along with 63 other state representatives, voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68, which prohibits transgender women and girls from playing on female sports teams and bans hormone blockers and sex reassignment surgeries in the state.

House Bill 68 became law in August.

The American Civil Liberties Union reported that more than 550 bills targeting LGBTQ rights are in legislative limbo throughout the U.S, including eight bills in Ohio.

A piece of LGBTQ-related legislation in Ohio made headlines this month, as DeWine signed Senate Bill 104. With this bill, transgender students in K-12 schools and colleges in the state must use the bathroom pairing with their gender assigned at birth.

Bill introduced to emphasize democracy and ethics

To “ensure that the principles of democracy and ethics are emphasized” in schools throughout the state, Pavliga introduced House Bill 657, or the Transparency in Pledge of Allegiance (T.I.P.A.) Act back in August.

That bill has moved into the Primary and Secondary Education Committee as of Nov. 12. It proposes that each municipality’s board of education must have a written, posted policy stating if and when the Pledge of Allegiance will be said during the school day (or if that is a teacher’s decision), though students would not be required to say the pledge. The bill also stated school boards must take time to honor Veterans Day on the holiday every year.

Bills waiting for movement

As in any state, bills proposed earlier this year sit in various committees in the Ohio Legislature. The two pieces of legislation below from Portage County’s Ohio State Representatives have not moved from a House committee as of early December 2024.

On March 2, 2024, Demetriou introduced a bill that would make distributing a convincingly altered image or video that puts a person in a false light, also called a “deepfake,” a first-degree misdemeanor on the first offense. On any following offenses, it would be a fifth-degree felony. It has been in the Criminal Justice Committee since March 6.

Focusing on a related topic, a bill that would mandate the state to create and distribute sextortion training materials to police departments has sat in the Homeland Security Committee since November 2023. Under Pavliga’s House Bill 329, police officers would have the option to use these trainings.

Who serves whom?

Portage County falls into two districts for the U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio gets 15 representatives total) and two districts for the Ohio House of Representatives (there are 99 total members). Portage County has one Ohio state senator, and two U.S. senators represent all of Ohio.

Ohio State Representative
Pavliga is serving her last two months as the Ohio State Representative for the state’s 72nd district after she lost to Heidi Workman, who was self-employed, in March’s Republican primary. Unofficial results from the Portage County Board of Elections show Workman will replace her in January, following a 32,967 to 23,099 defeat of Democrat Nathaniel Adams in the general election.

Demetriou won a second term as Ohio State Representative for the state’s 35th district when he defeated Democrat Mark Curtis 12,337 to 9,058 votes.

Ohio State Senator
Vernon Sykes will continue to serve the state’s 28th district, but the area no longer includes Portage County starting this election cycle. According to the 2024-2032 Ohio Senate Districts Map, Portage County is now in the 27th district. No candidate appeared on the November ballot, as Sen. Kristina D. Roegner’s term is not over.

U.S. Representative
Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) will keep her position as the 13th district’s House Representative for the second term after she won against Republican Kevin Coughlin in the district overall. She did, however, lose the Portage County vote, 1,003 to 584.

David Joyce, a Republican who represents all of Portage County, is currently in his sixth term. He will maintain his role as a House Representative for the 14th district, after he won against Democrat Brian Kenderes in the county 45,571 to 29,877 and in the district overall.

U.S. Senator
Republican businessman Bernie Moreno will represent Ohio after beating incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, a three-term senator. Moreno won the election in Portage County by a vote of 41,361 to 36,244.

JD Vance held the state’s other Senate position, but after becoming the vice president-elect, DeWine will choose his replacement until a special election is held.