I wrote before, in Use it . . . and then lose it, about how the Ohio Statehouse (that’s the State Capitol Building) worked to create a shoe rule after I was stopped by a state trooper while barefoot there. But they screwed up their rulemaking procedure, as I talked about in Back to the Ohio Statehouse. So they went back to square one, I lobbied them in person, and you folks wrote letters.
It appeared that they’d given up. I attended I think 3 of their quarterly meetings in a row, but eventually stopped. And that’s when they sneaked in the rule again, last month.
So now they have Rule 128-4-02(G)(11)
Attire – full attire, including shirts and footwear, are required within the capitol buildings.
Well, not quite.
First, they screwed up their filing of the rule. The original hearing before the legislative oversight committee was supposed to be November 29, but they filed under the wrong statute. So they had to redo that. There is also a timetable and other procedures that have to be followed before the rule becomes effective, so there is still a bit of time to try to reverse it, if we want to make the effort.
Every rule has to go before what is called the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. If they determine that the rule exceeds the scope of the rule-making agency’s statutory authority, they can ask the full General Assembly to reverse it. So there is that chance (but would the JCARR do that for a shoe rule?, I suspect that is unlikely).
There might be another saving grace, though. In the same rule (128-4-02) they also changed their firearms rule. Now, here in Ohio there have been many recent changes regarding concealed carry of a firearm, and the legislature has made a very specific statute about where concealed firearms may and may not be carried (with a conceals handgun license). And it sure looks like the new rule violates that. So, the rule may be overturned simply because of that.
At this point, I’m still trying to figure out what to do, and how much lobbying of JCARR members I (and maybe all of us) ought to do.
The JCARR hearing is now scheduled for December 16. So, there is some time, but not a lot of time. And the bigger question is whether this is a fool’s errand and a waste of time.
It does get horribly depressing to have these authoritarian bodies insist on their prejudices.
If you want to do another letter writing campaign, let us know. I don’t know how much regard they give out of state letters, but I’d send in another one for the cause.
What counts as footware??
@whitbybarefootrunner. I think the answer that matters would be whatever they say. Yes, I would try to get away with barefoot sandals, but if it came to an arrest, the judge would assuredly say, “But you know what they mean!” There is also that undefined term “full attire”. Are shorts “full attire”? Coat and tie? What? Again, I think that, if push came to shove, it would be just what they approved of, and nothing else.
I just find it very interesting how ill defined “footware” is. There are a huge variety of shoe (or non-shoe) options out there. Using these blanket terms doesn’t really help someone understand what may or may not be acceptable under any other persons idea or frame of mind. Maybe you should take the earlier advice and buy some clown shoes, I’d be interested to know how they would handle it….