Senate Bill 5...

That's right, this blog is just not about motorsports! It is also a well known political hot spot.  The last few days, I have noticed a good amount of people posting about Senate Bill 5, and so I wanted to educate myself on the issue and provide my thoughts.

Senate Bill 5 is a bill introduced by Ohio senator Shannon Jones. the following link is the article written by Senator Jones: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110218/EDIT02/102190352)

In this article, Sen. Jones explains that Ohio is facing an 8 billion dollar deficit as well as declining tax revenues.  Her solution is to reduce the collective bargaining power of k-12 educators and to abolish any bargaining power from higher education employees as well as other public employees.

There are some ideas in Sen. Jones' article that are clear and valid points.  The current bill hasn't been changed since 1983.  There have been so many changes to our state, economy, world, etc. in the last twenty-eight years that I cannot fathom a bargaining agreement to not have any revisions or changes in that time.

Sen. Jones writes in her article, "I believe that government needs to start living within its means and operating by the same standards of efficiency, accountability and performance as private sector companies. Anything less will lead to greater failure and deeper unemployment."

I agree with this statement; to a point.  I believe that the government does need to live within its means, but not at the cost of the our public employees. Especially not our educators! If our educators do not have a say in what kind of working conditions they have, what kind of health care they, receive, and other benefits, then what kind of education are these employees going to give our children?  when I have children I will want their educators to work in the most productive environments, they should have health care that they need not to worry about, and they should receive benefits that allow them to have a full retirement. I want this for my children's educators because I believe it will give my children the best chance for a great education experience. In conclusion, I believe that public employees should be granted bargaining power.

The problem with bargaining power is that with power comes responsibility.  In a perfect world, there would be no need for unions, because employees would be paid fairly and receive adequate benefits. America has already shown that it cannot treat its employees fairly enough to survive without unions so we know that is not an option. At the same time, the automotive industry has shown us just how much unions can hurt as well.  The automotive unions argued year after year for automatic pay raises for its employees.  These outrageous salaries coupled with poor financial choices by the automotive manufacturers caused the demise of the American automotive industry.  So in conclusion, I believe that these bargaining powers should be regulated and held responsibly.

I want to reduce Ohio's growing deficit as much as the next person, but I believe that Sen. Jones is looking for swift action and immediate results. I'd rather have our senators and representatives work harder to find other means of budget cutting as well as revenue increases. lets not punish our public workers for poor government choices.