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Read. Follow. Verify.Ohio House Bill 698 enacts the S.B. 1 Compliance Supplemental Appropriation Act to regulate state higher education operations
Last action · February 18, 2026: Referred to Workforce and Higher EducationSponsor: Tom Young
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What This Bill Would Do
Ohio House Bill 698 conditions state funding for public colleges and universities on compliance with statutory mandates, requires annual compliance certifications, inventories of reassigned diversity and inclusion personnel, and adoption of updated faculty workload and tenure policies. The measure mandates the withholding of specific funds for noncompliant institutions and requires the elimination of undergraduate degree programs averaging fewer than five degrees annually over three years.
State institutions of higher education face the permanent withholding of designated funding and potential civil penalties if they fail to certify compliance with specified statutes or submit required inventories regarding personnel reassignments within established statutory deadlines.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
state institutions of higher education
State institutions must submit annual compliance certifications, employee inventories, and updated faculty workload and retrenchment policies, under threat of withheld state funding.
faculty members
Faculty are subject to updated instructional workload standards, multiple tenure pathways, and revised retrenchment criteria where seniority does not guarantee retention.
chancellor of higher education
The chancellor is tasked with auditing institutional compliance, reviewing employee reassignment inventories and justification reports, and withholding funds from noncompliant institutions.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a state institution of higher education fails to submit its annual compliance certification?
Are faculty members with long-term service exempt from retrenchment policies?
What undergraduate degree programs must be eliminated by state institutions?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
2 actions- Feb 18, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred to Workforce and Higher Education
- Feb 12, 2026HouseIntroducedIntroduced
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Sources
www.legislature.ohio.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance85How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy80Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment15Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz60Current news / social attention level
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