To Chairman Koehler, Vice Chair Reynolds, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Workforce Development Committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of Senate Bill 143.
SB 143 is an uncomplicated bill that recognizes two truths here in Ohio. One, lots of Ohioans have a criminal record. Two, those people often have a much more difficult time finding a job or even being considered for employment.
On that first point, it is estimated one in three Ohioans has a criminal record, one in six has a felony or misdemeanor conviction, and one in eleven Ohio adults has a felony conviction. Indeed, on a planet where the United States is unfortunately the largest incarcerator of its people, Ohio manages to exceed our national average. This makes Ohio, itself, one of the biggest jailers in the entire world.
We have a prison population that has exceeded its official capacity for decades. Many or our jails are packed full, exceeding their own capacities, and leaving their cities and counties frequently seeking additional funding to pack in even more people.
In addition, Ohio currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Furthermore, Ohio’s poverty rate routinely exceeds the national average. These
are all realties I know concern you.
Ohio is also full of people who want to work, want jobs, and want to provide for themselves and their families. But, far too many of these same people – our own family, loved ones, friends, and neighbors – cannot find jobs, cannot embark upon meaningful careers, cannot even get their foot in the door to change their situations.
As this committee knows and has heard, SB 143 is an attempt to reverse these ongoing trends in our state and make Ohio a place more welcoming to all qualified jobseekers and employees and a better place for business to thrive.
SB 143 does this by acknowledging the numerous difficulties your constituents with criminal records face when looking for work and the discrimination they encounter at even those very first stages of trying to improve their lives.
SB 143 does this by removing one of those initial barriers. That is, the paperwork and related methods, at the very start of the employment process, that often seek to quickly eliminate from consideration anyone and everyone with a criminal record of any type.
It is important to note this legislation does not require quotas of any type regarding employees or applicants. It in no way substantially infringes upon how employers screen prospective employees. SB 143 does not prevent employers from inquiring about criminal histories slightly further into the vetting and hiring process. SB 143 simply recognizes and addresses the pervasive, multilayered problems for individuals and society when we shut whole classes of people out of any consideration for jobs, jobs that pay a decent wage, and jobs that provide adequate employment benefits, such as health care.
The General Assembly, including members of this committee, have been leaders in legislating and supporting second chances for those with criminal records here in Ohio. You have worked on and approved such measures as removing and minimizing unnecessary barriers to obtaining professional licenses, expanding record sealing and expungement, and providing alternatives to incarceration. SB 143 is an additional step to reversing the very real damage Ohio’s status as a top incarcerator in the world has caused to people, families, and communities.
Of course, we should not ignore the heavier lifting lies with ensuring more of your constituents do not find themselves and their lives intertwined with the criminal legal system in the first place. The ACLU of Ohio and others will continue to be loud and impatient advocates for such necessary reform. But we must also acknowledge and support efforts that make a real difference in peoples’ lives despite a broken, unfair system that impacts so many.
For these reasons and more, the ACLU of Ohio encourages this committee’s favorable consideration of Senate Bill 143 and we thank the sponsors, Senators Blessing and Craig for their leadership on this important matter.
