Fathers and Families of Ohio’s Matt Johnson (left) and Michael Domanick (right) met with Senator Frank LaRose (center) in Akron last week. today. Senator LaRose was a co-sponsor of HB 121, a military custody bill modeled on Fathers and Families’ successful California AB 2416–to learn more, see F & F’s Don Hubin’s column Custody agreements should survive deployments (Columbus Dispatch, 4/6/11).
According to Johnson:
The meeting was very positive. Senator LaRose intends to devote attention to issues involving family court reform and asked me to help organize a meeting in a month in Columbus, Ohio to bring interested parties to the table to discuss ideas for legislation. He said he will have someone from the Ohio Legislative Commission, the organization which bills must initially pass through, at the meeting.
We discussed various aspects of family court reform, including some issues which the Senator was not previously familiar with. Domanick explained some of the cost savings that many of our proposals would mean for Ohio. These include shared parenting, which frees up the considerable court time spent on needless child custody battles, and our family access motions proposal, which will provide an expedited means for courts to enforce parents’ parenting time rights.
Senator LaRose called Hubin afterwards and they spoke at some length about F & F of Ohio’s legislative initiatives. Our current Ohio legislative projects include:
1. Presumption of Shared Parenting during Temporary Orders
2. Parenting Time Enforcement
3. Disabled Parents Protection Bill
4. Presumptive Child Support in Shared Parenting Cases
5. Child Support Self-Support Reserve Correction