By Wayne Gates

State Representative John Becker of Clermont County has introduced a bill in the Ohio Legislature that tightens attendance requirements for elected officials in Ohio.

The WORK act, which stand for “Working Officials Requirements Key”, reduces the number of days that an elected official can be absent from the job from 90 days to 30. It also requires an official to be present in their principal office for five days out of 30 in a month.

Another change to the law allows county commissioners to declare the office vacant.

The bill tightens up the process in a number of ways. First, it references “fails to perform the duties of the office” as the trigger for action, which is a fairly broad standard.

Also, it requires county commissioners to act by using the would “shall” declare the office vacant rather than using the word “may.”

If illness is an issue, the bill requires that officials provide a doctor’s certificate no later than 10 days after the 30 day mark. If they fail to comply, the county board of commissioners will declare that county official’s office vacant.

According to state law, if an office is declared vacant during an elected officials term, the local party to which that elected official belongs names a replacement until the next election.

“I’m going to try to get it worked into the budget bill. It’s just a matter of how the house speaker and senate president feel about it. Hopefully between now and then we will get some hearings on it and see if there is any opposition,” Becker told The News Democrat.

If the bill, which will be known as HB 153 does make it into the budget bill, it will take effect 90 days after the bill is signed.

Since the budget bill deadline is June 30, that means the new work requirements would go into effect no later than October 1 of this year.

Becker spoke about why he felt the need to propose the changes.

“We had this problem in Clermont County in the past. I know when I first came into the party in the ‘90’s there was talk of a now former official who spent all winter in Florida or something,” he said.

“Allegations have also come to my attention in Brown County that one or two elected officials over the years haven’t been showing up to their office.”

Becker said that he knows that such cases are rare.

“The vast majority of elected officials are hard working, dedicated servants. It seems like every once in a while there is someone in a county someplace that just doesn’t show up, doesn’t do the job. Everybody knows it and they get away with it.”

Becker also said he realizes that much of the work elected officials do is not in the office during traditional office hours.

“The law says that they have to perform the duties of the office, but you don’t necessarily have to go into work to do that. I’m in Columbus a couple days a week, but I’m performing the duties of the office pretty much constantly.”

Becker also said that it would be easy for an official to rebut charges of office neglect if they feel unfairly targeted by office or party politics.

All they would have to do is produce some sort of attendance documentation and it would go away,” Becker said.

Becker also took time to discuss his plans for his political future.

“It’s certainly no secret that I’m running for the state senate. I’m in my final term in the house now,” he said.

Becker plans to run for the seat in the 14th District of the Ohio Senate, currently held by Joe Uecker. Uecker will be forced out of office by term limits in 2021.

https://www.newsdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_John-Becker.jpg