The overhauled two-year state budget approved Tuesday by the House Finance and Appropriations Committee would put new restrictions on sex education in schools while giving a $30-million-a-year boost to nursing home funding.
The changes were in a 600-plus-page package of amendments to the House version of Gov. John Kasich’s “Jobs Budget 2.0.” The budget bill cleared the Republican-controlled committee on a party-line vote.
The sex education amendment would ban instructors from endorsing anything other than abstinence as acceptable behavior. The measure also would prohibit handing out contraception on school property.
A parent could sue an instructor who violates the provision and receive damages and attorney fees. And a court could issue a civil fine against the instructor of up to $5,000.
Committee Democrats condemned the move.
“I am very disappointed that we continue to use some medieval approaches to educating our children and embed them in the budget,” said Rep. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat.
Rep. John Patrick Carney, a Columbus Democrat, berated lawmakers across the aisle for stifling the distribution of condoms.
“Evidence-based health care, watch out, because the Ohio House Republicans are on the warpath,” Carney declared.
Moments before taking a vote on the amended bill, committee Chairman Ron Amstutz assured the budget was not about ideology.
When asked what motivated GOP lawmakers to propose the sex education changes, Amstutz said he didn’t “have much to offer,” adding that he would have to take another look at the bill’s language.
“There’s been a lot of questions about that,” Amstutz said.
The amendment’s language prohibits instruction by those who endorse “non-abstinence” or “gateway sexual activity.” It defines “gateway sexual activity” by citing the Ohio Revised Code’s definition of “sexual contact” listed under the section on sexual offenses. It describes such activity as any touching of an erogenous zone for the purpose of sexual satisfaction.
Mary Anne Mosack, national director for state initiatives for the National Abstinence Education Foundation, welcomed the amendment.
“It’s a very, very, very wise preventative bill,” said Mosack, who monitors sex education programs throughout the country. “Our legislature recognized that in students’ classes they are being exposed to explicit sexual activities.”
Celeste Ribbins, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said the organization was evaluating the language in the bill “to determine its real impact not just on our sex education programs, but on the quality of sex education programs throughout the state.”
Also included in the bill was an increase to nursing home funding.
Lawmakers added $30 million per year to a fund that would provide financial incentives to nursing homes based on their quality of care.
Amstutz said the amount was nominal compared to the current funding amount.
House Democrats proposed 16 amendments to the budget, and all but one were shot down, including an attempt to restore Kasich’s proposed Medicaid expansion and a removal of GOP language that would reprioritize how family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood are funded.
The committee approved a slew of other GOP-backed amendments, covering everything from lottery tickets to limousine services.
The two-year, $63 billion budget is expected to reach the House floor on Thursday.
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