Ohio's Senate Bill 83 — which if enacted would require the state's public institutions of higher education to remain in effect neutral about "controversial" beliefs and policies, including climate change policy — passed the House Higher Education Committee on a 8-7 vote on December 6, 2023, as the Ohio Capital Journal (December 7, 2023) reports.
As introduced, Senate Bill 83 would have required neutrality about "climate change," as NCSE previously reported. The provision was subsequently amended to refer to "climate policies" instead, but, as Inside Climate News (December 2, 2023) observed, "opponents said the bill would continue to impair teaching about climate change even with the new wording." As amended, the bill passed the Senate on a 21-10 vote on March 17, 2023.
Referring to Senate Bill 83, the speaker of the House earlier told reporters, "It doesn't have the votes" to pass there, according to the Ohio Capital Journal (November 29, 2023), but the bill's sponsor, Jerry Cirino (R-District 18), later told the same publication that he hoped to persuade the speaker to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote.
