By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Rep. Tom Young proposed a bill Feb. 12 to strengthen compliance with and enforcement of the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, previously known as Senate Bill 1. Called the S.B. 1 Compliance Supplemental Appropriation Act, or House Bill 698, the bill would tie in state funding for public universities with their compliance to SB1 and its provisions.
Signed into law March 28, 2025, the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act made several changes to the actions of public universities in Ohio. According to Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, one of the law’s main provisions was to set parameters on what can be discussed in college and how.
“The stated intent of SB1 was to, I guess, put some more parameters around what can and cannot be discussed, and in what way things can be discussed at our public universities,” Piccolantonio said.
The law also made changes to the bargaining power of faculty unions, requirements for university boards of trustees and abolished diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“It essentially abolished diversity, equity and inclusion programs at our public universities,” Piccolantonio said. “It also diminished collective bargaining rights for unionized faculty, and it made some changes to the composition of the board of trustees at a university and requirements for members of the boards of trustees related to their training.”
Young said HB 698 is meant to increase transparency and accountability in public universities to show taxpayers that their money funds institutions following state law.
“This is a follow through to SB1 and it focuses on strengthening accountability and transparency more so than we had in SB1,” Young said. “We’re trying to align Ohio’s public universities together to ensure that … taxpayers’ dollars are used appropriately and the institutions are operating in line with the state law.”
To do this, HB 698 would directly tie state funding for public universities into compliance with SB1. Piccolantonio said the money that the state provides to public universities comes from the State Share of Instruction.
If a university is found noncompliant with the law by the Ohio Chancellor of Higher Education Mike Duffe, Young said it would stop receiving funding from SSI.
“If they’re not fully compliant … their funding would stop,” Young said. “Once they were compliant, then they would receive the money from that point on.”
Young said that since universities are public institutions funded with taxpayer money, they must operate within state law.
“Public universities are funded by the taxpayers,” Young said. “[They] must operate always in a way that’s transparent, accountable and aligned with state law.”
Piccolantonio said that she thinks the proposed measures are too restrictive, and that universities would be required to comply with something not fully defined.
“There are specified punitive financial penalties that apply for failure to comply with something that is not fully defined, and within the discretion of whoever the chancellor happens to be,” Piccolantonio said.
HB 698 is still in committee and had its first hearing Feb. 24. If it gets passed by committee, it must be passed by both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate before being sent to the governor.