Ohio & Mahoning Valley - A house bill is hoping to crack down on universities that do not comply with the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, also known as Senate Bill One.

The Higher Education Act has been in effect for about a year, but some lawmakers want to tighten the control it gives the state over universities.

The law already prohibits faculty strikes, weakens tenure, puts strict controls over what issues can and can't be discussed in class and bans antidiscrimination efforts. 

Ohio Republican Tom Young is proposing House Bill 698, a bill he says establishes a structured enforcement mechanism.

In his testimony for his bill, Young said “There is no structured verification mechanism between certification and litigation. That gap creates an environment where technical compliance can substitute for actual compliance.

The bill would set aside a portion of the state share of instruction funds for state institutions of higher education. The chancellor can withhold those funds if a university is found to be out of compliance with the law, and may audit institutions.

Mark Vopat, YSU-OEA President, worries the bill is creating a false narrative, and that the regulations will be a burden on universities.

“This is just part of this micromanaging the university, but the other side of it is, truthfully, this is going to affect the efficiency of the administration,” said Vopat. “I know YSU’s policy is already in line with this new legislation. So it seems like an unnecessary added burden to the universities and more intrusion into what the universities do.”

Vopat also said the bill would give more power to the state.

“I mean, this is the micromanagement now of even the Board of Trustees, where they're saying, look, if you have a policy about retrenchment, the firing of faculty, you're not allowed to consider seniority, tenure, any of those things in that decision that that can't be part of your policy. So they're now actually not only dictating, you know that the faculty have no say in this, but now they're saying even the Boards of Trustees can't decide what's best for the university,” said Vopat.

House Bill 698 also requires institutions to prepare an inventory of all employees who performed DEI functions, without defining them, at the beginning of 2025, and who were reassigned on or before September 25. 

There are also questions on if the bill breaks the constitution.

“There is a question as to whether the bill is constitutional, under the Ohio Constitution. So right off the bat, there's a problem, because it's in perpetuity, putting money aside to sort of penalize universities that don't comply with SB 1,” said Vopat.

The bill was introduced February 12.