COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An amendment that limits the amount of time state government workers can do their jobs remotely made its way into the Ohio Senate version of the 2023 state budget last Thursday.
If it survives the budget’s conference committee — where lawmakers, behind closed doors, will reconcile differences between the House and Senate’s versions — and is signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohioans working for the state will only be allowed to work from home eight hours each week.
Unless they have reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, that remote work limitation would begin in August for state Department of Education workers and October for everyone else, according to the budget document. Across the state, Ohio’s government has close to 50,000 people on the payroll.
“You do more work, you do more effective work, when you are physically present at your workplace,” Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman said in an interview with NBC4’s Natalie Fahmy.
State, local executives voice mixed views on amendment
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther welcomed the proposed measure limiting how often those working for the state can do so from home. Columbus police officers, firefighters, and waste collectors “didn’t Zoom in” during COVID-19, he said, and city workers have since returned to their offices.
“We’ve been back in person for a long period of time now,” Ginther said. “I believe people on the front lines in public service ought to be accessible.”
From the Ohio Statehouse to the Rhodes Tower to elsewhere, Columbus’s Downtown economy also heavily relies on state government offices, Ginther said.
“Having those folks back in the office will be very important for our restaurants, our coffee shops, our dry cleaners,” he said.
But Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost — who heads an office of more than 1,500 — is against the requirement. In an unlisted video message to staff members published to YouTube last week, Yost called the proposal a “surprise” that would create challenges for many in his office.
“My commitment to you is that we’re going to stay involved,” Yost said in the video. “I don’t have a vote or a veto, but we’re going to do the best we can to influence the process, and to make sure the Legislature is thinking through the unforeseen impacts that are going to occur because of a change like that.”
Members of the Ohio House voted not to concur with the Senate’s version of the budget Wednesday afternoon. They will have to whittle down the numerous differences between the two versions, including the remote work proposal, among others.
The state’s fiscal year begins on July 1, so the budget has to be on DeWine’s desk for signature by June 30. Lawmakers have missed that date before, including as recently as 2019. The latest budget documents can be viewed here.