Bill Coley (born August 5, 1960) is a former Republican member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

, representing the 4th District from 2011 to 2020. Formerly, he was a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

from 2005 to 2011.

Career

After graduation from the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

and Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Coley worked as an attorney at the law firm of Strauss & Troy, where he represented a number of small and large businesses. He is also a private pilot. With incumbent Gary Cates

term limited A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potent ...

and running for the

, Coley sought to replace him. Unopposed in the primary, he faced Democrat Tyrone Sims in the general election. He won his first term against Sims, winning 70.08% of the electorate. In 2006, Coley faced his first reelection bid, and was unopposed. He won a third term against Democrat Tony Kilmek in 2008 with 62.81% of the vote. Coley won his final term in 2010 against Suzi Rubin with 69.31% of the votes. During his time in the Ohio House of Representatives, Coley has championed numerous conservative causes and authored the legislation that created the Digital Learning Clearing House, now part of IlearnOhio.org.

Ohio Senate

In early May 2011, Ohio Governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

announced that he would appoint Senator Gary Cates to a position within the

Ohio Board of Regents The Ohio Board of Regents was created in 1963 by the Ohio General Assembly to: provide higher education policy advice to the Governor of Ohio and the Ohio General Assembly; develop a strategy involving Ohio's public and independent colleges and uni ...

. As a result, the Senate seat was to be vacant and Coley announced that he would seek the vacant seat in the

. Coley, along with Timothy Derickson and three other citizens of Butler County, sought the seat, but in the end, Coley received the recommendation of the Butler County Republican Party and was chosen by Senate Republicans to succeed Cates in representing the Fourth District. He took his seat on May 24, 2011, and was required to resign his seat in the

to do so. Now in the Senate, Coley is serving as chairman of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee as well as serving on the committees of Education; Finance; Energy and Public Utilities and Financial Institutions. He also serves on the eTech Ohio Commission as well at the permanent joint committee on gaming and wagering. In 2012, Coley won a full term in the Senate. He was unopposed in the general election.

Policies, positions, and initiatives

Collective Bargaining

Coley has also come out to ensure that all public employees are able to still

collective bargain Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

for safety equipment, and to remove a ban on public workers talking to their local

elected officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

during negotiations. Such changes were widely regarded as improvements to S.B. 5, which passed the

17-16. Coley supported the bill, and voted for its passage out of committee. During the House floor debate on SB 5, Coley delivered a passionate argument in support of the bill and he voted for the bill to pass out of the full

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coley, Bill Living people Republican Party Ohio state senators 1960 births 21st-century American politicians Politicians from Cincinnati People from West Chester, Butler County, Ohio