COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Dozens gathered at the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday, rallying against the current version of the state’s $94 billion budget.
A group called All in for Ohio Kids also delivered a petition to Senate leadership, with 4,500 signatures against the bill, citing issues with things like public school funding, childcare, and some of the social services allocations.
Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said budget negotiations are going well and agreements are being reached on sticking points like school funding. The House and Senate originally had 883 differences between their passed versions; Huffman said that is down to 25 or 30 now.
Huffman said public schools will likely be funded fully as the House passed, while the Senate likely gets its version of the universal voucher program.
While the budget focuses on the allocation of funds, tax cuts, and school funding, there is also some policy in there. One of the policy provisions includes a law change for social media usage for children, something the Senate added to its version of the budget.
“As of right now, that’s not come back that the House is rejecting it,” Huffman said.
The measure would require social media sites to receive consent from a parent or legal guardian for any child under 16 who wants to create an account.
“For some kids, social media can be damaging; for other kids, it can be a lifeline,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said. “So, I think that’s a tough one.”
“Parents should be primarily responsible for their children, but parents can’t be with their children 24 hours a day,” Huffman said. “There’s a lot of other influences.”
The budget spells out what the consent verification should look like, giving social media sites five different ways to accomplish it:
- Sign and return a form consenting to the terms of service by postal mail, fax, or email
- Use, in connection with a monetary transaction, a credit card, debit card, or other online payment system that provides notification of each discrete transaction to the primary account holder
- Call a toll-free telephone number implemented by the operator and staffed by trained personnel
- Connect to the operator’s trained personnel via videoconference
- Submit a form of government-issued identification that the operator must check against databases of such information.
“You will in effect be requiring government identification to be linked to your social media account which will destroy anonymity online,” Kenneth Schrupp, opponent to the provision and Young Voices contributor, said.
The provision does require the government-issued ID be removed from the social media companies’ records “promptly after verification is complete.”
While some lawmakers and Gov. Mike DeWine said they think this is what needs to be done to protect kids and their mental health, others think there are better solutions.
“The middle ground is better parenting,” Schrupp said. “I think that parents should have better control over how long their kids are going to be on screens and work hard to provide them with alternatives to screen time.”
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, has worked with Ohio lobbyists regarding the budget. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company said, “We want young people to have safe, positive experiences online. That’s why we’ve built safety and privacy directly into teen experiences. We’ll continue evaluating proposed legislation.”
“I think parents should know what’s happening for their kids,” Antonio said. “But I don’t think it should come down to kids being denied the opportunity to participate.”
“If they [parents] want to say, ‘I think it’s okay for my kid to do this,’ or ‘I don’t want to fight with my kid,’ but in the end, they get the choice, so I think that’s a fair result for everybody,” Huffman said.
The budget’s due date is Friday at midnight, so whether the provision stays could be final within the next few days.