Ohio's governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law on March 28, 2025. Among other provisions, the new law requires the state's public institutions of higher education to remain in effect neutral about "controversial" beliefs and policies, including climate policy.
A predecessor of Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 83 from the 2023-2024 legislative session, 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." Senate Bill 1 contains the "climate policies" language.
"This is one of the most protested-against bills in recent Ohio history," the ABC affiliate in Cleveland (March 28, 2025) reported. "There were roughly 1,500 people who submitted opponent testimony against S.B. 1, and there were about 30 who submitted in support."
