The Ohio House today voted 94-1 with 2 abstentions to pass HB61 which restores the unrestricted right of OBC access to those in Ohio adopted between January 1, 1964-September 17, 1996. It’s companion in the Senate is pending. Sadly, the bill did not pick up the ’96’s who will still be subject to a Disclosure Veto (DV) already in place for that access tier..
The truth is that Ohio Legislative Services, which vets all bills, refused to OK challenging the DV law that amounts to an agreement between the State of Ohio and a handful of cowardly biological parents who demand that the government grant them a special privilege to hide their identities from their adult offspring. This “agreement” is quite different from the blanket sealing of OBCs with no legal “agreement,” despite what opponents claim and we have shown repeatedly holds no water. No one knows how many shirkers are on file here, but the number 20 has been tossed around the last couple of years. I believe DVs can be removed from 1996 law, but the legal arguments need to be developed more fully, and the big fat arm of Legislative Services needs twisted. I also believe that the foolishness of OBC access for all but a minuscule number of bastards will within the next few years be recognized. for the absurdity it is. There is time to save those few kids who have been black-holed since they won’t even be eligible for access for another couple years. Perhaps I am too hopeful.
I’ve been attending the HB63 hearings and reporting on them here (see March 2013 posts below), but when I checked today on the progress of the bill to the House floor, I didn’t see anything. Otherwise, I’d have been there. The naysayer was Ron Amstutz. (R-1-Wooster). I’m not sure who the abstentions were, but I don’t see Matt Hoffman on the voting roll today and I know he objected..Hoffman, you may remember, was the chief smirk and eye roller when I testified in favor of HB 7 five years ago.. He also claimed that he and his brother (a Quad A lawyer) routinely told their bio clients that their names would never be released to anyone, including their dirty little bastard.. It’s our little secret.
A proponent hearing for companion SB23 is scheduled for April 17 in the Senate Medicaid, Health, and Human Services Committee. Some of the state’s staunchest anti-abortion advocates and the President of the Senate are sponsors. I don’t see it flunking.
This is such an incredible sea change and it says something about the perceived power of Ohio Right to Life (many years ago a corporate lobbyist told me ORTL was full of hot air and had everyone fooled) and the Ohio Catholic Conference at the Statehouse. Without their opposition, OBC access appears to be the no brainer we know it is.. Now they need to get on board for the 96ers.
Current OBC bastard activists as well as deformers need to take a good look at what has happened here.
Any attempt to create new segregations and blackoles must be met with brass knuckles and a Spartan refusal to retreat. A handful of ’96s are what happens when you let deform through the door under the excuse of “baby steps” or we’ll- pick-them-up-later or whatever they want to call it. It’s bad enough that old bad laws are still in place, but new DV and other restrictive legislations make a joke out of adoptee rights and tie the hands of activists to finish the job If one Bastard is left behind, then we all are and the battle continues when in fact, it should be over. The failure to include the ’96s, for no matter what reason, cannot be seen as permission for other states to do the same. Ohio has along-established unique three-tired system that many states don’t have and will be difficult go get rid of.. If the 1996 compromise had not been made 16 years ago, today the road to victory would be clear and not littered with the bodies of left behinds. Ohio, instead, would be on the way to being the 8th free state of Bastard America.. There is no excuse today for any state movement to accept and promote new restrictions. If you take them now, you’ll pay for them later.
Marley Greiner
Executive Chair, BN
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
The truth is that Ohio Legislative Services, which vets all bills, refused to OK challenging the DV law that amounts to an agreement between the State of Ohio and a handful of cowardly biological parents who demand that the government grant them a special privilege to hide their identities from their adult offspring. This “agreement” is quite different from the blanket sealing of OBCs with no legal ”agreement,” despite what opponents claim and we have shown repeatedly holds no water. No one knows how many shirkers are on file here, but the number 20 has been tossed around the last couple of years. I believe DVs can be removed from 1996 law, but the legal arguments need to be developed more fully, and the big fat arm of Legislative Services needs twisted. I also believe that the foolishness of OBC access for all but a minuscule number of bastards will within the next few years be recognized. for the absurdity it is. There is time to save those few kids who have been black-holed since they won’t even be eligible for access for another couple years. Perhaps I am too hopeful.
Dan – I agree with you all the way. Due to time constraints I haven’t written much about Ohio (and I’m here), but I do believe the DVI can be gotten around. There appears to be interest in the legislature, but I don’t know how much. It has been clear from the beginning that the legislature at this the doesn’t want to deal with voiding DVs, thanks to Leg Services. Once that DV got its toe in the door in 1996, it became impossible for Ohio, under the current circumstances to become a free state. We’ve got a legal agreement between the state and anonymous individuals. It’s a crime. (Each closed state is a crime, but states like Ohio, particularly so.) I agree with you that within the next few years, where a handful of unlucky bastards are denied access and everybody else isn’t, is going to make the state a laughing stock. Same for Washington State which strangely has had a DV on the books since the 1990s, but was only asserted for the first time last year–4 times. Gee, what can that be about. (snark!) Unfortunately many deformers feel that something is better than nothing and continue to pimp compromised bill as “something.” We can always go back later and pick up the left behinds, which so far, has never happened. All I can say is that there’s a lot of naivete and denial out there.