COLUMBUS - Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) today released to following statement concerning the failure by House Republicans to refer House Bill 442, Ohio Democrats introduced fair and constitutional congressional map, to an Ohio House committee where it can receive public hearings:

"We have less than three weeks to get our work done here in the House for this stage of the process. Gerrymandering is why people are losing health insurance, hospitals are close, and more kids are going hungry, so we can't address this issue soon enough. The time to act is now," said Leader Isaacsohn. "Ohio has some of the most rigged districts in the country, which has led to almost single party rule and an out-of-teach leadership. Ohioans should come first, not President Trump's political agenda. We're Midwest nice till you start to mess with our maps! House Democrats will continue to fight like hell for a fair, bipartisan map as well as the right for the public to make their voice heard to demand the equal representation they deserve."

Also today, Leader Isaacsohn and Rep. Desiree Tims (D-Dayton) were appointed to the joint committee on congressional redistricting.

"Democrats were proud to get the redistricting process started this week when we introduced our fair, constitutional maps the people Ohio deserve. These are not our maps, these are the voters maps. That is why it is so important that people should pick their elected officials, not the other way around. Starting the committee process will now give the public a chance to make their voices heard, so I encourage them to get involved in every step of the redistricting process to understand how gerrymandering impacts them," said Leader Isaacsohn.

According to Ohio's constitution, the Ohio Legislature has until September 30th to hold at least two public hearings and vote on a bipartisan map that must be passed by a required 60% of votes in each chamber, including 50% of Democrats. If a map fails to get the necessary votes to pass, the process moves to The Redistricting Commission where Republicans hold a 5-2 majority.