News & Commentary

Substitute Senate Bill 55 is such a noticeable improvement over current law, the ACLU of Ohio is compelled to support this bill and urge its passage.

HB 31 would expand Ohio’s public records laws to require recordings of full parole board hearings conducted by the Ohio Parole Board and to allow those recordings and transcriptions to be requested and received by the public.

Ohio elected officials have the opportunity to be bold, make history, and stand for racial justice. We know that the death penalty is ineffective, expensive, error-prone, and racially biased. Our inhumane capital punishment system does not belong in the future we dare to create.  

Together we can improve the lives of communities who have been the most frequent targets of police violence.

There are three bills moving in the Ohio legislature, with SB 172 being the most problematic. SB 172 is also the one that has advanced the farthest, having passed the Senate 23-8 in June 2025 and now awaiting hearings in the House.

The Ohio General Assembly has repeatedly narrowed students’ fundamental right to vote.

Legislation like HB 249 isn’t just about banning drag; it’s about chipping away at our fundamental human rights and deliberately taking power away from the people.

The ACLU of Ohio is a proponent of current legislation that stands to make successful reentry a reality in ways that do not exist under current law.

The ACLU’s vital work is absolutely litigation and legislative advocacy, but it is also social work in every sense. Now more than ever, social workers cannot only just support the work of the ACLU; we need to be active participants in the organization’s continued fight for civil liberties so we can create a more equitable country to live in: with true liberty and justice for all.