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“We need to restore Ohio,” said Hicks-Hudson as she
mentioned such areas in which the state was lagging compared
to others – income, poverty, employment, population growth,
to name a few.
The Promise calls for an effort by elected officials to
strengthen local communities by increasing funding from the
state for libraries, public schools and rape crisis centers;
to enact a targeted tax cut for working people; to raise the
minimum wage; to increase wraparound services, such as
counseling and mental health programs for students; to
increase state-share funding for colleges and universities
and to enact common sense gun control laws.
Joining Hicks-Hudson during the town hall meeting were
fellow Toledo-area representatives Michael Sheehy District
46) and Lisa Sobecki (District 45) along with Thomas West of
Canton (District 49).
“We have come to the State House to work for you,” said
Hicks-Hudson of the way she and her fellow Democrats view
their mission. “And we need to hear from you. Collaboration
needs to be improved between representatives and
constituents.”
Repeatedly during the hour and a half long meeting,
Hicks-Hudson stressed the point that such meetings would be
commonplace and that it was critical for that those
residents of the greater Toledo area reach out to their
representatives and express to them what their needs are.
Hicks-Hudson also spent some time explaining the budget
process and its four components to attendees. Those
components – transportation, capital (the state facilities);
operations and the Bureau of Workers Compensation – she
explained as the policy and values the government places on
its handling of taxpayer funding.
During the meeting, Hicks-Hudson and her colleagues, Sheehy,
Sobecki and West, fielded questions from the audience
regarding water safety, health care, education, the
immigrant crisis and mental health, in what was described as
part the beginning of an enhanced state-wide effort by
Democratic House officials to bring constituents into the
policy process.
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