March 5, 2010 ‘The Honorable Armond Budish Speaker, Ohio House of Representatives 77 South High Street, 14" Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215 Dear Speaker Budish: As members of the Veterans Affairs Committee, we were disheartened by this week's committee actions. The committee notice distributed from the chairman's office last week indicated possible amendments and a possible vote on HB 449 (Ujvagi). Also slated for a hearing on Tuesday were SB 147 (Hughes), HB 350 (Ujvagi), and HB 433 (Ujvagi- Grossman), Little did we know that we would soon be forced to vote on multiple amendments which would combine three-fourths of the scheduled legislation into a single bill. It is also suspect that each of these bills is sponsored by Representative Peter Ujvagi, who will soon resign from the legislature, with the purpose to rush his legislation through before his departure. There was no communication by the chairman, or anyone in the majority caucus, that this was the intent when HB 449 was listed on the agenda as having “possible amendments.” We appreciate Representative Ujvagi’s apology during committee; however, this does not change the situation. ‘This lack of professional courtesy is discouraging. As members of this august body, we are expected to examine the legislation that comes before us and vote on what we believe will be the best policy direction for our state. The objections we raised in committee came not from policy objections to these bills, but from an obvious disregard for decorum and proper etiquette that should always be a part of the committee process. During the committee hearing, it was stated by majority members that there were no objections to any of the proposals. However, since the committee hearing, it has come to our attention that objections were raised from local government groups on some of the provisions both before and after the committee meeting. This is frustrating considering the committee could have publicly learned of these objections if they were fully vetted in the committee process prior to passage. The Veterans Affairs Committee should not be the domain of partisan maneuvers and gamesmanship. We urge you to consider the removal of the offending provisions from HB 449 on the House Floor prior to voting on this legislation’s passage. All of us support the sacrifices of our military as they fight to protect our freedoms, our country, and our democracy. We hope at future hearings proper process and protocol will be followed. This will enable the members of the Veterans Affairs Committee to work in a bipartisan, open and transparent fashion in order to properly show our respect and appreciation to our men in women in uniform, Sincerely, 77 South High Street + Columbus, Ohio 43215-6111 BoSeto G ? 88" House District, (EO Recbr Peter A. Beck Terry Boose 67" House District 58" House District (2b, ECab Courtney Ef Combs 54! House District CC: John Otterman, Chairman, House Veterans Affairs Committee CC: William G. Batchelder, Ohio House Minority Leader