Staff report

State Rep. Derrick Hall (D-Akron) and U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes have voiced their opposition to state and federal proposals that would add work requirements and cut funding to Medicaid.

Hall took to Facebook in mid-May to share video of his House speech and comments against Senate Concurrent Resolution 5, which passed the House and Senate. The resolution requests that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require 80 hours a month of work, education or other qualifying community engagement activities for Medicaid recipients under age 55 who do not have underlying mental health, substance use or medical conditions.

“This will impact thousands of Ohioans who can’t work for very good reasons: they are full-time caregivers for an elderly parent or sick relative; they have mental illness that makes them difficult to employ; they lack transportation to available jobs; they lack affordable childcare,” Hall wrote on May 20. “We don’t make our state or country better by inflicting more suffering on people who have the least of us. And, ultimately, any cuts in Medicaid get paid by the rest of us as higher healthcare costs.”

Senator Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield), who sponsored the legislation, told WCMH-TV in Columbus that it isn’t intended to “push people off Medicaid expansion.”

“We’re just trying to ask them to get back on the field and start contributing,” he said.

Sykes also issued statements and spoke on the House floor in opposition to the Republicans’ federal budget reconciliation bill, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would “cut $300 billion from food assistance programs while also putting the health care of 13.7 million people in jeopardy.”

“If this version of the Reconciliation bill as written becomes law, an estimated 27,896 people in Ohio's 13th Congressional District are at risk of losing health care coverage, including 17,696 people who receive Medicaid coverage and 10,200 people who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act,” she stated in a news release.

Sykes proposed eight amendments, none of which passed, to the bill. It passed in the House on May 22 and was sent to the Senate.

Three area politicians have proposed bills in the state House and Senate to designate a portion of state Route 241 as "Captain Joshua Michael McClimans Memorial Highway."

Rep. Jack K. Daniels (R-New Franklin) and Rep Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) sponsored House Bill 259, which was referred to the House transportation committee on May 14. Senate Bill 193, which was sponsored by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), was referred to the Senate transportation committee on the same day.

Both bills propose naming the route between Nichols Road and International Parkway in Summit County for McClimans and installing identifying markers. McClimans was a 30-year-old Army captain from Akron who was killed in 2011 while serving as a nurse in Afghanistan.

Roemer, with Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) also sponsored a bill to add provisions to Ohio’s Prompt Pay Act. It would require private construction project owners to pay contractors within 30 days of a payment request or within 30 days of work being certified in compliance with architectural or engineering specifications.

If payments are not made in that timeframe, the amount owed would accrue interest at an 18% annual rate. House Bill 288 was referred to the small business committee in late May. 

State Rep. Veronica Sims, along with Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), introduced a bill, which was referred to the government oversight committee on June 4, to make May 29 Sojourner Truth Day in Ohio. On that date, Sojourner Truth made her speech, “Ain’t I A Woman?”

“Today, we celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Sojourner Truth Plaza, fashioned at the very sight of her transformational speech,” Sims said in a news release. “The 10K square foot plaza, complete with a six-foot bronze statue of Truth at its center, is the largest art installation of a Black woman in the country.”

Ohio Sen. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), along with Andrew O. Brenner (R-Delaware) proposed Senate Bill 200 to create the Ohio Israel Trade and Innovation Partnership. The partnership would explore opportunities for bilateral trade and investment, policies of mutual interest, business and academic exchanges, mutual economic support and infrastructure investment, and additional areas of collaboration.

Members would be appointed by legislators and the governor for a two-year term. As of May 28, the bill was referred to the finance committee.

Sykes introduced two bills in May — the Mental Health Improvement Act and the Law Enforcement Scenario-Based Training for Safety and De-Escalation Act of 2025.

The mental health proposal would reauthorize mental and behavioral health education and training grants for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 by amending the applicable years in the Public Health Service Act.

The law enforcement act would authorize the U.S. Attorney General to create a training curriculum to improve community-police relations and address officer safety, uses of force, crisis intervention and other scenarios. A grant program to provide law enforcement agencies with the training also would be established. 

Both bills were in committees in early June.

Sykes voted in favor of numerous bills in late April and throughout May, including the TAKE IT DOWN Act. The act became law and prohibits online publication of nonconsensual, real or computer-generated, “intimate visual depictions” and requires some platforms to remove them after being notified.

She also supported the ANCHOR Act, which would require the National Science Foundation to create a plan to improve cybersecurity and telecommunications capabilities for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. The fleet provides at-sea laboratories for scientists, educators and students studying marine science. The act has passed the House and been referred to a Senate committee. 

Sykes opposed the LEOSA Reform Act of 2025, which would allow certain active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed guns and ammunition across state lines and in currently restricted areas, such as school zones and national parks. The bill has passed the House and been referred to a Senate committee. 

She also voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a budget reconciliation bill that passed the House on May 22. Reconciliation bills are subject to an expedited process that prohibits filibusters and limits amendments in the Senate. 

It would increase the statutory debt limit and address financial matters for a wide range of federal agencies and programs. 

On April 28, Sims (D-Akron) announced that she was appointed a member of the Commission on African-Americans. 

In a prepared statement, Sims said she took pride in the appointment and looked forward to helping the commission, which was established under state law and is overseen by Ohio State University’s Bell national resource center.

“African Americans have made significant contributions — not only to our great state, but to the nation, and I would venture to say, to the world at large,” she said. “Yet as a people, we continue to face deep disparities due to systemic and structural racism. These include, but are certainly not limited to: economic exclusion, adverse health outcomes, impeded access to quality healthcare, high rates of infant and maternal mortality, exposure to gun violence, lack of safe and affordable housing, overrepresentation in our penal systems, and more. Despite a climate that seeks to unravel the very racial and cultural fabric that makes us a great and enviable nation, we must remain ever vigilant — interrupting further erosion and advancing real, condition-changing progress with urgency.”

Roemer and Sykes were active in their communities throughout the month of May. 

Among several events attended by Roemer was the 160th anniversary of Temple Israel in Akron, where he provided a commendation from the House. He also served as the grand marshall for the Akron Soap Box Derby and celebrated the grand opening of the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Center of Excellence.

Sykes also attended the STEM center opening at Camp Ledgewood in Peninsula. She previously presented the Girl Scouts with $850,000 from community project funding secured in the 2024 federal spending bill.

“I’m proud to have partnered with the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio to get this project started and see it to completion,” she said in a press release. “And the best part is completing this project is actually just the start! Now with the site in place, boundless learning and exploration will take place here.”

Sykes also hosted a “community conversation” at the Fairlawn Kiwanis Community Center to discuss her efforts to protect Social Security and Medicaid from proposed cuts, among other issues related to seniors. 

In late May, Weinstein and Hall hosted an immigration and refugee forum in Silver Lake with a local immigration attorney and former immigration judge who spoke about relevant laws and rights.

Weinstein used his Facebook page to announce several amendments he’s proposed to the biennial state budget, which passed the House earlier this year and was in the Senate as of early June.

Most recently, he shared that his security grants amendment for “targeted and vulnerable nonprofits” was adopted into the budget. Weinstein noted that he would continue to work on eliminating the Cleveland Browns stadium grant and restoring funding for libraries, childhood cancer research and other social services.

“I promise to do everything I can and I’ll run through the tape working for you,” he wrote. 

Roegner also posted about budget changes by the Senate on X, formerly known as Twitter. She shared an article from the Gongwer News Service about the proposed 2.75% flat income tax rate and an expanded homestead exemption program. 

“Proud of my colleagues in the @OhioSenateGOP for taking this bold stand to reduce the size of government and get us to a flat tax - so hardworking Ohioans can keep more of what they earn!” she wrote. “Positions our next governor @VivekGRamaswamy to finish the job.”