TO: All Ohio Representatives and Ohio Senators

RE: Request to deny passage of HB 1/SB 88

Via email only

The undersigned organizations, representing hundreds of Ohio voters, oppose the HB 1/SB 88 for many reasons. The General Assembly is wasting its time legislating xenophobic laws that are clearly unconstitutional and ultimately will harm the interests of Ohioans.

House Bill 1/Senate Bill 88, as written, is overly broad, constitutionally questionable, and would discriminate against people who are simply trying to live, work, and contribute positively to life in Ohio. While purportedly the bill would protect people and entities who are supposedly associated with “foreign adversaries” from owning property within 25 miles of military installations or critical infrastructure, but truly, it would punish immigrants, international students, small business owners and families.

HB 1/SB 88 is an illegal “bill of attainder.” A bill of attainder is legislation that imposes punishment on a specific person or group of people without a judicial trial. See, e.g., Nixon v. Adm’r of Gen. Servs., 433 U.S. 425, 468 (1977). The U.S. Constitution bans enactment of bills of attainder by either the U.S. Congress or state legislatures. U.S. Const. Art. I. Sect. 9, Cl. 3. The U.S. Supreme Court first relied on the clause against state bills of attainder in a Reconstruction-era case, Cummings v. Missouri, 71 U.S. 277 (1866), which involved a post-Civil War amendment to the Missouri constitution that required persons engaged in certain professions to swear an oath that they had never been disloyal to the United States. The Court held that the purpose and effect of the challenged provision was to punish people who had been disloyal to the United States by permanently barring them from professions which required an oath of loyalty to the U.S. The Court invalidated the provision as an unconstitutional bill of attainder. Id. at 325-329.