Ohio’s Senate Bill 5, which would eliminate most collective bargaining powers for unionized public employees, passed a senate committee vote this morning. The state senate could vote on the bill as early as this afternoon.

Wisconsin may be hogging all the attention, but this legislation, if passed, would be just as crucial — or more so — in the effort to allow states to set public employee total compensation (including benefits and pensions) to more reasonable rates. From my piece today about Ohio’s attempt to curb public union excesses:

Senate Bill 5, introduced earlier this month, would allow collective bargaining for wages, but not for pensions and health-care costs. It would require state and local public-sector employees to pay 15 percent of their health-care premiums, and to pay the employee contribution (which is currently covered by the government for some local employees) to their pension plans. It also would eliminate binding arbitration — a process that allows a mediator to impose a contract if the government and the unions can’t agree to one — and ban strikes. Unlike Wisconsin’s bill, Ohio’s legislation would impact public-safety employees, too.
“We need to be able to provide folks with the flexibility to be able to manage through this existing fiscal situation and put the budget in a position where it’s sustainable over time,” says Ohio Republican state senator Shannon Jones, sponsor of the bill. Jones cites the state’s deficit — $8 billion over the next two years — and points out that cities and counties are also facing fiscal woes.

Ohio senate president Tom Niehuas told National Review online that he believes the bill will be able to clear the full Senate, where Republicans have a majority. Its chances also look good in the Ohio Assembly, which has a GOP majority as well.