2008 Organize! Ohio Platforms

            Below is the Organize!Ohio’s 2008 People’s Agenda  as modified from 2007 by representatives of community groupss across Ohio.     

 Housing and Consumer

Problem: Ohio leads the nation in housing foreclosures.  Unscrupulous loans are provided across Ohio without any cosnsumer protection.  In 2006 predatory lending legislation was enacted into law with support of affected residents across Ohio , but the law enactment does not by itself end predatory lending practices.

Agenda:  Continue to join local and  state efforts to educate and organize for responsible lending in Ohio and to provide protections for persons facing foreclosures.

www.esop-cleveland.org; www.responsiblelending.org; www.cohhio.org

Problem:  Ohioans (particularly poor Ohioans) are regularly victimized by payday lending industry where Ohioans seek out small loans during critical times of need, and then pay exorbitant  rates of interest and onerous fees averaging 391% APR.  The average borrower pays $800 for a $325 short term loan.  400,000 Ohio families use payday loans costing Ohioans $290 million in fees each year.

Agenda:  Enact payday lending laws that will  that will protect consumers  at a level at least as high as the federal government protects veterans including being capping    interest fees at 36%, prohibiting the use of post dated checks, and limiting the number of pay day loans.

www.responsiblelending.org;  http://ohiocoalitionforresponsiblelending.org

Problem:   Over 100,000 Ohio children are victims of lead poisoning obtained from old paint in Ohio homes.  Children with lead poisoning often suffer from learning disabilities, respiratory problems and brain damage.  Paint companies sold lead based paint until banned in 1978 even though they had knowledge of its harmful effects.

Agenda:  Support community group efforts across Ohio to have the paint manufacturers take financial responsibility for the effects of their lead paint production.

            www.ehw.org; acorn.org 

Education

Problem:  Ohio has an inequitable school funding system that has been consistently found unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court, but has not been remedied.

Agenda:  Enact a school funding formula that provides equitable and necessary school funding for all school districts in Ohio

            http://www.ohiofairschools.org

Problem:  Currently school funding to help poor students is only based on families receive TANF cash assistance.  Multi program count would count kids whose families get: food stamps, Medicaid, CHIP, OWF, Disability Assistance, and Healthy Start

Agenda:  Change the poverty based assistance formula to a multi-program count for poverty-based assistance for tutoring and smaller classes.

http://www.ohiofairschools.org  

Problem:  Charter Schools, which were sold to the public as alternative education options that would improve the quality of education instead have performed worse than the public schools being a magnet for private entrepreneurs looking to make a buck off the education system, and a drain to public school funding.

Agenda:  Develop and implement a system of accountability for charter schools across Ohio.http://www.ohiofairschools.org

Health Care

Problem:  With 28% of non-elderly Ohioans without health insurance, Ohio is nevertheless removing the poor from health coverage, and adding co-pays for low-income Medicaid patients

Agenda:  Short term-  Minimally restore Family Medicaid coverage to 100% of the federal poverty line and increase it to 200% line; eliminate all co-pays; restore Disability Medical Assistance (which serves the lowest income individuals)  and expand health care to individuals without dependents to pre-cut levels.

            www.uhcanohio.org

 Long term-  Passage and implementation of universal health care for all Ohioans.

            www.spanohio.org

Jobs

Problem:  Ohio is the only state in the country in which a worker earning the minimum wage and working all year for 35 hours a week will not qualify for unemployment compensation. It is also the only state in which a worker making $9 an hour working all year for 20 hours a week will not qualify.

Agenda:  Enact legislation that will allow low-income and part-time workers to qualify for unemployment compensation.

             www.policymattersohio.org

 Problem:  Ohio has no provision for any paid leave days for its employees, meaning there is no requirement for full time employees to be paid for any holidays or any missed days due to illness

Agenda:  Establishment of a workers protection law that will provide for a minimum of seven paid leave days annually for employees.

  www.sickdaysohio.org

TANF

Problem:  County Departments of Job and Family Services have been allowed to ignore required state rules and regulations of services to be provided to its county recipients under TANF. 

Agenda:  Organize to ensure that the State Department of Job and Family Services provides enforcement for county compliance to assure that recipients have the opportunity to receive the services with which they are entitled.

Problem:  To be able to access any public services in Ohio or to vote, one needs a photo ID and/or birth certificate.  If you  without  those documents there is a cost to obtaining them they is frequently out of the reach of low income Ohioans.

Agenda:  The state of Ohio must provide a program or service to cover the costs for a low-income individual to obtain a valid ID.

Problem:  Kinship care givers provide a valuable service while receiving minimal or no assistance for the children with whom they provide care.  Such assistance is badly needed for low-income kinship care givers

Agenda:  Provide financial assistance to kinship care givers that is comparable to that given to foster parents.

www.fairhillcenter.org/KinshipCareServiceProviders.htm;  www.fairhillcenter.org/KinshipCareServiceProviders.htm   

Utilities

Problem:  With heating bills skyrocketing lower income families are not able to meet their basic needs.

Agenda:  To develop and uniform disconnection and payment policy across Ohio that avoids disconnections while providing for reasonable repayment policies.

            www.pickocc.org

Tax Reform

Problem:  Ohio has a tax system where the burden of taxes fall disproportionately on moderate and lower income families.  Wealthy earners and corporations do not pay their share.

Agenda:  Enact a fair and equitable tax system that will generate adequate revenue.  Defer income tax cuts, restore corporate income tax and reverse income tax breaks for the most affluent Ohioans

            www.communitysolutions.com

Problem:  Although Ohio’s tax reform measures in 2005 reduced tax liability  through a tax credit for families significantly below the poverty line (under $15,400 for a family of four), ranking Ohio the eighth worst state in the country for low-income person tax liability

Agenda:  Passage and enactment of a meaningful Ohio Earned Income Tax Credit

            www.policymattersohio.org

Voting

Problem:  There has been a systematic effort in Ohio to disenfranchise potential particularly low-income voters from registering to vote and voting in Ohio ranging from restrictions on community registration efforts to onerous ID requirements at the polls.

Agenda:  Organize to protect the rights for all citizens to vote in Ohio.

            www.Ohvotes.org

Immigration

Problem:  With a perceived threat of immigrants in Ohio, there have been actions and legislation that has been proposed that attack both legal and undocumented immigrants

Agenda:  Defeat all anti-immigrant legislation and pass the allowance of Medicaid health care for legal immigrants and an Ohio Dream Act which would allow undocumented immigrant children who have been living in Ohio to attend state schools at the state tuition

            www.holatoday.org

 Environment

Problem:  The poor and communities of color are overburdened with toxic chemical pollutants in their communities through living in close proximity to industrial zones, power plants, incinerators and toxic waste sites.  These  lead residents to suffer serious health problems

Solution: Give a voice to working class, low-income and communities of color unfairly burdened with pollution so that environmental policies are strengthened and enforced in vulnerable communities

            www.ohioej.org; www.theoec.org