COLUMBUS, Ohio — Key supporters of an Ohio criminal-sentencing reform bill are now pulling their support, citing changes state lawmakers passed earlier this week.
Both the ACLU of Ohio and the Ohio chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a group that’s part of the conservative Koch advocacy network, said Thursday they are no longer supporting Senate Bill 3. The bill is one of Senate President Larry Obhof’s key priorities, and would reclassify most low-level, felony drug possession crimes as misdemeanors. The bill is part of a larger, long-time legislative push to reduce Ohio’s prison population and encourage drug addicts to re-enter society.
Both groups are concerned about new amendments to SB3 that toughen penalties for people convicted of drug trafficking within 1,000 feet of a drug-treatment center.
They say the new bill doesn’t require police and prosecutors to prove someone realized they were near a treatment center when they were selling drugs. They also say the change goes against the intent of the bill, which is to reduce the number of Ohioans in prison.
“As proponents of SB3, we were blindsided by the amendments which absolutely weaken and poison the bill,” said Micah Derry, AFP’s state director in Ohio. “SB3 is meant to address current flaws in our justice system, but the new amendments double down on poorly-developed language.”
“When you add bill language that will deliberately put more people in prison and will affect communities of color more than rural and suburban areas … You’ve turned what was a positive reform bill into what we have coined a Statehouse-to-prison pipeline,” said Gary Daniels, a lobbyist for the ACLU.
The AFP and ACLU are part of the backbone of the left-right political coalition that has pushed for policy changes in recent years in Ohio, shifting the state away from a “War on Drugs” approach toward one that emphasizes treatment and rehabilitation.
John Fortney, an Obhof spokesman, said Thursday the complexity of SB3 makes it difficult to please all parties. He also said the bill isn’t “set in stone.”
“There’s a lot of work yet to be done on it,” he said.
Sen. John Eklund, a Geauga County Republican who’s sponsoring the bill, said the groups’ decision to drop their support was a “knee-jerk” reaction.
“People react to things sometimes unnecessarily," he said. “We’re in a process here, and sometimes we do things legislatively designed to elicit comment and reaction. And so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The changes approved this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee also were made to try to attract support from law enforcement groups. They incorporate elements of a different bill, which the Senate approved with strong bipartisan support in May, and which a House committee unanimously recommended for passage in November.
Groups representing police, county prosecutors and judges oppose SB3, saying it would eliminate options used to investigate drug crimes and to force addicts to be accountable to court-mandated treatment programs.
Obhof and the Alliance for Safety and Justice, another key group supporting SB3, spent Thursday promoting the bill to newspaper editors in Canton.
Shakyra Diaz, the Ohio director for the Alliance and Safety and Justice, said in a statement that her group is reviewing the new changes to SB3.
“We remain supportive of the fundamental components of Senate Bill 3 that reclassify low-level possession from a felony to a misdemeanor to ensure a treatment-first response to addiction, so felony convictions no longer undermine recovery and stability,” she said. “We are carefully evaluating the new amendments and are committed to working within the ongoing legislative process for a final bill that makes Ohio healthier and safer.”
Obhof previously had said he’d planned to pass the bill before state lawmakers left Columbus for the holidays.
But on Wednesday, he told reporters the bill will need extra time, as lawmakers continue to try to differentiate between drug addicts who need help and drug traffickers who are harming communities.
“I think deciding where to draw some of the lines is worth taking the time to get right,” he said.
Cleveland.com reporter Laura Hancock contributed to this story