- Our planet is in chaos.

Our waters are polluted, our air is poisoned.

We have no laws go forth through space, through the planet Earth.

Learn from them.

We have so little time left.

- Take me to your leaders.

- Who are you?

Well, what do you want?

- My planet is in trouble.

We need your help.

Please take me to your leaders.

- This case gets more interesting all the time.

I've been traveling around with Ntic.

You remember Ntic, my alien friend.

Interesting name, huh?

I have this feeling that there's some deeper meaning there.

Well, anyway, here's what we've come up with.

So far, our government has three branches, the executive, legislative, and judicial.

The executive leaders are the governor and the mayor.

Now we need to find the legislative leaders.

Well, come on.

Let's go.

The General Assembly is the legislative branch of government in the state of Ohio.

The General Assembly has two parts, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Now, a member of the Senate is elected for a four year term.

A member of the House of Representatives is elected for two years.

All members of the General Assembly may propose and vote on bills.

A state representative is a member of the House of Representatives.

He or she is elected to represent the people of a legislative district.

Let's go to one of the districts.

Mr. Jack.

Sarah, who represents the 99th District, lives in Bel Air, Ohio.

He travels to Columbus for the meetings of the General Assembly.

These meetings are called Sessions.

Now.

State representatives work in committees.

A state representatives main responsibilities are to propose and pass laws, including taxes, and keep the executive branch and judicial branch from having too much power.

One way to keep the executive branch from having too much power is to override the Governor's veto.

Okay, so your state representative represents you at the state level.

Do you know who represents you in your city?

For example, who represents the people of Katon?

I met with Kathy Burns, a council member from Ka Shockton.

She took me to City Hall where the council meets right there.

Ka Shockton is a city of about 15,000 people in Katon and in other cities and villages in Ohio.

The council is the legislative branch of government.

Now, the number of members on the council depends on the size of the city or village.

In Katon, there are seven council members who are elected for a two year term.

The term may be different in other cities and villages.

Some of the main responsibilities of council members are to propose and vote on local laws, which are called ordinances, to approve the budget submitted by the mayor to propose and vote on local taxes and to hire city workers and decide their salaries.

Most of the council members meet at least once a month, but special meetings may be held whenever they're needed.

Most of the important market council member does is in committees.

Now committees research problems, and reports to the other council members.

An example of a committee in Ka Shockton is the recreation committee.

I still have some questions about the legislative branch of government.

Maybe you do too.

So I've called into more of my assistants to help me.

In fact, you may already know them.

Come on, let's get back to the office.

Is everybody back?

Good.

I'm glad you're all here because I need your help too.

Some of you have phones right in your classrooms today, and in a few minutes I'm gonna ask you to call me.

But first I wanna introduce you to some very special people.

Here in my office is Ms. Kathy Burns, a city council member from Katon, Ohio.

Thank you for joining us today.

Councilwoman Burns.

- Katie, I'm happy to be here.

- Great.

And also with me are two of my assistant private eyes.

This is Heather Davis from North Hills Elementary School in Marietta.

And this is Philip Ferris from Trimble Middle School in Gloucester.

And joining us from Columbus is Mr. Jack.

Sarah, the state representative from Bel Air Ohio.

Thank you for being with us today, representative Sarah.

- Thank you.

It's a pleasure to be here with you.

- Great.

Now I know that you have questions about the legislative branch of government and well, we have some questions too.

So the first question for representative Sarah is from Heather.

- When were you elected to the legislature and how many years do you have left in your term?

- I was elected in 1982 and began serving the following year in 83.

And I have two years in my term.

It's just begun here in January.

So I'm at the beginning of it and have little less than two years, but have begun that two year term.

- Okay.

Philip, what is your main responsibility?

- The legislature makes the laws of the state of Ohio and perhaps the most important thing that we do, we're working on right now, and that is the state budget, and we decide how much money the state is gonna have to spend and how we're gonna spend it.

- Okay.

Heather, are you a member of a committee in the legislature?

And if so, which ones?

- Yes, I serve on four committees, finance and appropriation, which is, which works on the budget.

I'm also chair a subcommittee of that committee.

I'm on the Energy and Environment Committee.

I'm on the Ways and Means committee, which writes tax law.

And I'm also on the Public Utilities Committee.

- Okay.

Huh.

What role do you take in the making of a bill?

- Well, a couple roles.

I can introduce a bill if people in my district want to change a certain law or we think a a law should be changed, I can introduce it into the legislature.

And then also I have to have a responsibility to sit on committees and hear other legislators ideas for new laws and work with them in deciding which one should be passed and how they should be changed before they're passed.

- Great.

Heather, what do you do in session of the legislature?

- Well, when we meet in session, we, we have brought before us the bills that have PA been passed out of committees, and we decide on those days which ones will pass and move on to the Senate, at which time they'll decide what they're gonna do with them and, and the, while the sessions are important, most of the work on the bills occurs in committee.

- Okay, great.

Well, right now let's have some questions about city government.

The first question for Councilwoman Burns is from Philip.

- How many members are there on the city council?

- There are seven members in city council.

There are three at large and four.

Four four wards.

- Okay.

Heather, are you a full-time employee of the city or do you have another job?

- I have another job.

I am a realtor and plus a wife and mother.

- Okay.

Also, how much do you get paid as a council member?

- We get paid $3,000 a year.

Which average up to about $5 an hour.

Not very much.

- Okay.

What problems has your council had to discuss recently?

- Oh, like most cities, our biggest problem is their, the income is down and our city services are more, and we try to give the best service for as little as possible.

And, you know, that can, and another problem we've had where our city is having a, a joint development director with a county, and he will aid in finding jobs for our city.

- Okay.

Heather, what on, what kinds of committees do you serve?

- I serve on the, well, I've served on almost all the committees in the last six years, but right now I'm on the finance committee, which are sets, salaries and pro appropriates.

The budgets and the monies.

I'm on the water and sewer committee, which works with, oversees the Water City department department.

And right now we're renovating the whole water and sewer system.

And I'm also on the park in recreation in the park board.

I work with the park board and I work with the rec recreation board and the recreation board or sponsors this little league softball and the soccer.

- Gotcha.

Could you describe how you conducted your campaign to get elected?

- Primarily, I have gone door to door.

This is gonna, I ran three elections and I also hand out a campaign material like pencils, magnets, and sponges.

And I, I'll put radio and TV advertisement and then yard signs.

- Okay.

What do you do if you don't agree with the majority votes?

- Oh, it's hard to, everybody disagrees.

There's no, no.

Two people have two have the same opinion.

What I do is try to do is what's best for the city.

You what I think is best.

- That's good.

What, how long do you have left in your term?

Are you planning to run again?

Why or why not?

- Well, I feel I, I have 10 more, 10 months left and I have just sitting in my petition for a candidate for my fourth term.

In fact, I was doing today, so I am running again.

- Okay.

And why am I, - Oh, - I'm sorry.

Okay.

Oh, well, right now we wanna take some phone questions also, so I have my speaker on, on my speaker phone on, so we can all hear the questions.

So our first question is from Cory.

Cory, what school are you calling from?

- New Straitsville - Street.

What was it?

I'm sorry?

- New straitsville.

- New Straitsville.

Okay.

Cory, who would you like to ask a question to?

- The city council.

- Okay.

What would you like to ask?

- What's the first thing you do when you start your job?

- Oh, we meet at usually about seven 30 and we start off with a P pledge, allegiance and a prayer.

And then we have petitions and mon monster tips, which is people speaking up in city council, whatever their opinions are.

And then we go on to ordinances and then any special committees.

- Okay.

Now we have a question for Mr. Sarah.

It's from Alex from Amesville.

Alex, you there?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

What would you like to ask him?

- Representative Sarah, briefly, what do you think will happen in Ohio now that President Clinton's new economic plan has been presented?

- Well, I think all the states are hoping that some things change with the federal government.

Over the last 12 years, the federal government has dropped a lot of responsibility onto the states without providing us the funding to deal with it.

And we're hoping that the attitude will change in Washington and that we'll make changes in Medicaid and healthcare and those types of programs so we can have more of our money available to put into education and job creation.

But overall, I think we are hoping that his proposal will generate the type of jobs that our future generations will need, the good paying jobs that will allow them to raise families and, and earn the money that they'll need to make a decent living.

- Okay.

Thank you.

Our next question is for our councilwoman Burns, and it's from Old Washington.

And what's your name?

Caller?

- Christy Cunningham.

- Okay.

It's Christy is her name.

Christy, what question would you like to ask?

- What do you like the best about being a council person?

- Oh, what I like best about being a counselor is helping the city feeling that I have some, putting some input into our city and because I enjoy our community.

- Okay.

Next question is for Representative Sarah, and it's from Adam from New Straitsville.

Adam, - What do you think the most important part of your job is?

- Well, I think the most important, and I've always felt this way, that the most important part of my job is dealing with the constituents and the citizens of Ohio and helping them with their problems.

We deal with a wide variety of problems that we get called about, and, and I have always viewed that as, as the most important thing that we do.

And that is to help people, help them with their individual problems and, and to make policy on a state level that helps 'em have a better life and have their a future that is more productive.

- Okay, great.

The next question back to Councilwoman Burns.

Okay.

And it's from Molly, from Amesville.

Molly?

- Yes.

What is it like being a woman in a job that has mostly men?

Yeah.

- Oh, Molly, it's kind of difficult.

What I do is I have to be more prepared, more aware of the issues, and just be, be always up to date on everything.

- Okay, great.

Representative, Sarah, we have a question for you from Jenny and what school are you from?

Jenny?

- What are some things you intend to do for the kids in Ohio?

- I'm sorry, I, what was the question again?

- What are some things you intend to do for the kids in Ohio?

- Well, the, again, you know, the, the key for Ohio, I think in our future is what we're gonna do to educate our children for the jobs of the future.

And we have serious problems with funding of education in Ohio where rich, richer, wealthier areas of the state are able to provide prop, the proper education.

And those of us from my part of the state, Eastern and southeastern Ohio struggle because of the economic problems to provide our children with the same type of education.

So I think the main goal would be to see that funding in Ohio's educational system is brought more in line so that people in your school have the same ability and the same opportunities that those who are fortunate to live in maybe more wealthier school districts.

- Gotcha.

Okay.

Next question is for, again, for Councilwoman Burns.

It's from Terry from New Straitsville.

Terry, - What local law did you pass?

- Pardon me one more time.

Terry, - What local law did you pass?

- What local law did you pass?

- Oh, local law, the laws, well, different ordinances every week about budget appropriations.

Oh, passing.

Oh, a new law about the Oh, recreation board and you know, giving money to the parks.

- Okay.

All right.

Thanks a lot.

Well, we're just about out of time for questions today, but thank you for being with us today, representative.

Sarah.

- It's my pleasure.

- Thank you.

Great.

And thank you Councilwoman Burns.

Thank you.

This investigation is going really well.

We've learned that in the legislative branch of government, state representatives and council members propose and pass laws.

But before we move on to the next stage of our investigation, I wanna tell you about a challenge activity for you and your teacher.

Now listen carefully.

Today's challenge can be found on page 12 of the Teacher's Guide.

This challenge is to form committees and prepare a report for the governor or mayor by the end of next week.

Write to me, Katie Sherlock, tell me about it.

Let me know what you did and what you learned.

I just need one letter per class and include your teacher's name and school address.

You can send your letters to me at the address you see on your screen.

See you next time.

- Take me to Your Leaders.

Was made possible by a grant from the Ohio Education Technology Equity Commission.