Author: Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Secretary of State Reports 630 Cases of Potential Voter Fraud During His Administration So Far

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) reported on Friday that his office discovered 630 cases of possible criminal voter fraud since he took office four years ago.

Incidents include 510 cases of potential voting by noncitizens, 97 instances of people possibly voting in more than one state and 23 allegations of election fraudsters using dead persons’ registrations. The department referred all of these cases to law enforcement, according to LaRose’s Year in Review 2022 newsletter.

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Bill Would Clean Up Pennsylvania Voter-Record Errors

Bradley Vasoli

Over the weekend, Pennsylvania state Senator Ryan Aument (R-Lititz) told colleagues he will reintroduce a measure to clean up his state’s voter rolls.

Concern about the Keystone State’s voter records grew after Democratic Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a report in December 2019 alerting lawmakers to copious apparent errors in the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE). 

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Wisconsin Governor Evers Seeks Recreational Marijuana Legalization

Bradley Vasoli
Tony Evers

Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) is preparing for a potential battle with the Republican-run Wisconsin Legislature over the legalization of recreational marijuana. 

Evers is gearing up to present his biennial budget requests to lawmakers in February and has said there is “no question” he will ask the legislature to permit adults to use cannabinoid substances for fun as he did in his most recent budget proposal earlier this year. 

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Report: Ohio Ranks in America’s Bottom 20 States for Economic Freedom

Bradley Vasoli

A new report from several free-market think tanks ranks Ohio 35th out of the 50 states in terms of economic freedom. 

The Columbus-based Buckeye Institute issued the Economic Freedom of North America 2022 report in collaboration with the Canadian Fraser Institute, the Puerto Rican Instituto de Libertad Económica and the Mexican Caminos de la Libertad. The study factors in government spending levels, taxation and labor-market flexibility when ranking all states and provinces across the continent. 

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Pennsylvania Bill Proposal Requires Pain Medication for Unborn Humans Prior to Abortions

Bradley Vasoli

A measure proposed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week would require the administering of pain medication to an unborn child before an abortion is performed. 

State Representative Tim Bonner (R-Grove City) circulated a memorandum asking other representatives to back his upcoming bill which would instruct abortion doctors to dispense pain relief to a fetus if the organism has gestated for longer than 15 weeks. Bonner suggested his bill would not affect the legality of ending a pregnancy and entreated lawmakers on both sides of the abortion issue to join him in sponsoring the legislation.

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Wisconsin Congressman Tiffany Wants ‘Year-and-a-Day’ Homicide Rule Gone

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07) is spearheading an effort in Congress to end the “year-and-a-day” rule for federal homicide prosecutions.

Tiffany’s “Justice for Murder Victims Act” would allow murder charges to apply if an attacker committed an assault that resulted in the victim’s death more than a year and a day after the incident. Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) is cosponsoring the legislation, while Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) have introduced a companion bill in their chamber.

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Proposal Would Let Independents Vote in Pennsylvania Primaries

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state senators are asking other lawmakers to support an upcoming bill to let nonpartisan voters participate in primaries. 

State Senators Daniel LaughlinTwo  (R-Erie) and Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) proposed legislation permitting all state residents whose voter registrations reflect no party affiliation to cast a ballot in either the GOP or Democratic nomination contests. The senators cite 2021 data from the commonwealth indicating that 1,233,748 Pennsylvanians are registered to vote but choose to identify with neither of the two major parties. Since 2017, that number has increased by 51,816. 

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Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty: State Government Should Ban TikTok

Bradley Vasoli

A Milwaukee-based think tank is weighing in on the Wisconsin state government’s social media policy, urging Governor Tony Evers (D) to ban the video-sharing application’s use by state agencies. 

In a report called “The Mysterious TikTok-ing Noise,” the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) notes that numerous other governors earlier this month signed orders instructing all departments under their control to delete the program from their devices. The piece also observed the unanimous vote taken last week by the U.S. Senate to adopt the same policy for all federal computer hardware. 

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Ohio Representative Johnson Introduces Bill to Expand Emergency Connectivity

Bradley Vasoli

Representatives Bill Johnson (R-OH-6) and Kim Schrier (D-WA-8) last week introduced legislation directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to guarantee more comprehensive emergency-call connectivity in rural areas. 

Both of the bill’s sponsors represent districts with wide rural expanses containing many communities that don’t have reliable service for remote devices, often leading to public-safety contingencies. Johnson’s district extends from northeast Ohio to the state’s south but is situated well outside of major cities. Schrier represents an area that begins just outside of Seattle and Tacoma but stretches well into her state’s sparsely populated center. 

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Pennsylvania Democrats’ Bill Would Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegals

Bradley Vasoli

Three left-wing members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced they intend to introduce a bill to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. 

Representatives Danilo Burgos, Joe Hohenstein and Chris Rabb, all Philadelphia Democrats, asserted that unlawful U.S. residents should be able to obtain driving licenses or learners’ permits if they can establish to authorities their real names and dates of birth. They say acceptable documents to prove identity could be passports, consular identification papers, marriage licenses, divorce records or adoption certificates. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Gallagher Calls Marine Corps Report on Gender ‘Insane’

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) this week responded scathingly to news that the Marine Corps is considering a report recommending the branch ditch gendered identifiers for drill instructors.

The Corps commissioned a study per a $2 million contract with the University of Pittsburgh. The report broadly recommends “direct, sustained training from drill instructors of both genders” to emphasize that “men and women are equally respected and authoritative leaders of their Service.” A section of the study addresses allegedly discriminatory language and suggests that the Corp may want to consider instructing personnel to call their superior officers  by their ranks and last names rather than “Sir” or “Ma’am.” 

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Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner Issues Answer to Impeachment Summons

Bradley Vasoli

As the holiday weekend nears, Pennsylvania state senators are viewing initial written arguments from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) contesting his impeachment. 

The then-GOP-controlled state House of Representatives voted last month 107-85 to try the radical prosecutor in the Senate to consider his removal from office. Senate leaders then issued a writ of summons to Krasner outlining seven counts against him. Articles of impeachment concern alleged “dereliction of duty and refusal to enforce the law,” obstruction of a legislative investigation against him, improper conduct in two criminal trials, failure to admit conflict of interest, failure to heed victims’ rights and refusal to prosecute certain crimes. 

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Election Transparency Initiative Denounces Marc Elias’ Requested Change to Electoral Count Act Reform

Bradley Vasoli
Marc Elias

A right-leaning election reform outfit on Wednesday denounced the current version of legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act, particularly a provision urged by Democratic election attorney Marc Elias. 

The original act was enacted in 1887 to prevent presidential election crises such as that of 1876, during which three states submitted competing groups of electors, forcing Congress to determine how to resolve the count. Ultimately Republican Rutherford B. Hayes emerged victorious over Democrat Samuel Tilden. 

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Blackburn Releases New Video on the Economy, Discusses What Has Kept Tennessee Growing as Nation Struggles

Bradley Vasoli

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is preparing to release a video via social media discussing the state’s economy and spoke with The Tennessee Star this week to discuss both the pressures it endures as well as its bright spots compared with other regions.

In the one-minute spot, which shows the senator touring a Clarksville-area manufacturing plant, she discusses the challenge ongoing inflation poses to producers as they attempt to provide affordable goods to Tennesseans. 

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Wisconsin Republican Congressmen Denounce Omnibus Spending Bill

Bradley Vasoli

While a $1.66 trillion omnibus spending bill passed the Democrat-run Senate 75-20 this week with the support of many Republicans, House GOP members, including those representing Wisconsin, are voicing their disappointment. 

Republicans point to exorbitant spending as the major driver of inflation which reached a 40-year high this year and now stands at 7.11 percent, well above the long-term average of 3.27 percent. The party likely cannot prevent the new spending legislation’s passage insofar as the GOP will not take control of the House of Representatives until January. 

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Wisconsin Senator Baldwin Wants Student Debt Forgiveness for Farmers

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Tina Smith (D-MN) filed legislation this week to forgive student-loan debt for new members of the agriculture industry. 

Their bill, the Student Loan Forgiveness for Farmers and Ranchers Act, would cancel significant educational debt for those qualifying as “a beginning farmer or rancher” as well as minority, women, and veteran farmers. 

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Ohio Public Employees Sue AFSCME, Other Unions over Forced Dues Payments

Bradley Vasoli

Ten Ohio public employees this week sued in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to stop labor unions from drawing money from their paychecks.

Lead plaintiff Lukas Darling worked in property enforcement for the Boardman Township Planning and Zoning Department and resigned as a member of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) two years ago. The other nine petitioners have worked either in public schools or at a state agency. Each resigned as a member of either AFSCME, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees or the Ohio Education Association.  

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Say Krasner Can’t Use Courts to Avoid Impeachment

Bradley Vasoli

Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives responsible for conducting Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s impeachment are arguing Krasner can’t resort to the courts to avoid the state Senate trial. 

Earlier this month, the far-left prosecutor asked the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to preempt the proceedings initiated by Republican lawmakers in November. He cited three reasons: First, a new General Assembly has taken office; second, he contends that the state Constitution doesn’t authorize a city district attorney’s impeachment; and third, he disputes that “misbehavior in office” is seriously alleged. 

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Nashville’s Jason Whitlock Suggests Himself for Twitter CEO

Bradley Vasoli

In the wake of Elon Musk’s indication that he will resign as chief executive officer of the social-media platform Twitter, Nashville-based journalist and sportscaster Jason Whitlock is suggesting himself as an apt replacement.

Musk tweeted out a poll to Twitter users last weekend asking whether they wished him to remain as the website’s CEO or leave the post. The survey garnered 17 million responses, 57.5 percent of whom voted for Musk’s departure. The founder of the auto company Tesla and the spacecraft creator SpaceX acquired Twitter in late October for $44 billion and is expected to remain the platform’s owner while giving up direction of the company to another individual whom he has not yet selected.

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Legislation Would Clarify Work-Search Requirement for Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation

Bradley Vasoli

A bill soon to be reintroduced in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly aims to prevent unemployment claimants from undermining their own job searches to keep benefits flowing. 

Last year, state Representative Shelby Labs (R-Doylestown) introduced the legislation to explicitly codify state policy on work-search requirements. The commonwealth requires every individual seeking unemployment compensation (UC) to apply for at least two jobs and follow through with one work-search activity every week. 

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State Senators Propose Pennsylvania Law Against Social Media Censorship

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Senators Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) and Scott Hutchinson (R-Oil City) Thursday announced they would reintroduce a bill proposed in the last legislative session designed to prevent social media platforms from censoring Pennsylvanians. 

Mastriano and Hutchinson introduced the original measure in May 2021. They secured the cosponsorship of four other senators, all Republicans, but the bill did not receive a vote in the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. The two lawmakers said new developments impelled them to try again in the new session. They cited the recently released “Twitter files,” internal documents pertaining largely to the social-media company’s decision in late 2020 to deny users access to a New York Post story concerning Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s personal computer.

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Wisconsin Attorney General: Agreements with CVS and Walgreens Over Opioid Crisis Finalized

Bradley Vasoli

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) announced on Thursday that his and numerous other states have finalized an agreement whereby the CVS and Walgreens pharmacy companies will pay $10.7 billion to those jurisdictions over opioid-epidemic concerns. 

The deal comes as a result of litigation by prosecutors across the nation alleging that the corporations failed to ensure that their pharmacies properly dispense painkillers, resulting in illegal trafficking and use of the drugs that has contributed to widespread deadly addiction. 

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Pennsylvania GOP House Leader Cutler Asserts Right to Schedule Special Elections for May

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) on Thursday insisted he has the right to schedule special elections for three legislative vacancies. He wants two elections to take place during next May’s primaries. 

Cutler’s party has tussled with Democrats over control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the wake of November’s elections. Democrats won a majority of House seats that month, but Republican members nonetheless outnumber Democrats by two insofar as three seats to which the latter party won elections are vacant. 

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Wisconsin’s Gallagher and Illinois’s Krishnamoorthi File Bipartisan TikTok Ban Legislation

Bradley Vasoli

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers this week filed legislation in the House of Representatives to ban the TikTok video-sharing application nationwide. 

Congressmen Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) submitted their bill in the House of Representatives while Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced companion legislation in his chamber. They call their measure the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act). It is written broadly enough to possibly prohibit use of other platforms operating under the influence of “a country of concern” such as China or Russia. 

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Lifeline Scholarships Reintroduced in Pennsylvania House

Bradley Vasoli
Girl with brunette hair reading in a library

Pennsylvania state Representative Clint Owlett (R-Wellsboro) on Tuesday announced he will reintroduce legislation to guarantee school choice to students in the state’s most poorly performing school districts. 

Under Owlett’s proposed law, families of such students could also use the new “lifeline scholarships” to pay for textbooks, special-needs services and other qualifying expenses. 

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Ohio Legislative Committee Approves Universal License Recognition Bill

Bradley Vasoli

Advocates for occupational licensing reform successfully urged an Ohio House panel on Tuesday to unanimously pass a Senate bill to recognize professional certifications awarded by other states.

Eighteen states, varied in their politics and geography, already recognize out-of-state licenses for most professions, including neighboring Pennsylvania. These universal-recognition laws all require the licensee to have current permission to work in his or her state and have no pending professional disciplinary matters or disqualifying criminal records. Licensees remain subject to any fees or testing required by their adopted states. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Gallagher: Nationwide TikTok Ban to Be Introduced This Month

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) this week touted an emerging effort in both houses of Congress to ban the video-sharing application TikTok nationwide. 

Gallagher and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) penned an opinion piece for The Washington Post last month insisting Americans should not have access to the app. In a discussion with WISN CHANNEL 12 on Monday, Gallagher said he will introduce bipartisan legislation to that effect this month and he anticipates it will get a vote early next year. 

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Sue Over Majority-Leader Status

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania former House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) this weekend announced he filed a lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania over Representative Joanna McClinton’s (D-Philadelphia) assertion of House majority-leader status. 

McClinton has used her title as majority leader to schedule special elections to replace one deceased member and two retired members of the state House of Representatives. State law calls on the House speaker to determine special-election dates for that chamber and vests the House majority leader with that power if the speaker cannot perform that duty. 

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Ohio Elections Commission To Look Into Evidence Against Blystone Instead of Settling

Bradley Vasoli

The Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) announced last week it will hold a hearing on Thursday, January 5, 2023 to review evidence against former gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone concerning alleged campaign-finance violations. 

Charges against the Republican former hopeful include failure to report contributions from small-dollar backers and breach of rules regarding corporate donations. The onetime candidate was engaged in negotiations with Commission Executive Director Philip Richter, but some GOP members of the commission, including D. Michael Crites and Christina Hagan, reportedly insisted on continuing the probe to achieve full accountability. 

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Ohio State Senate Passes Bill Recognizing Natural Gas as Green Energy, Facilitating Drilling on State Lands

Bradley Vasoli

The Ohio State Senate this week passed a bill deeming natural gas a form of “green energy” and eased the leasing of state lands by fossil-fuel companies. 

Sponsored by state Representative J. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield), the measure’s main feature is an unrelated agricultural policy reducing the minimum number of poultry chicks that can be sold or transferred in Ohio from six to three. Lawmakers embraced that change based on the advice of the poultry industry and that of adults supervising children in 4-H agriculture programs who want to make smaller purchases for their farm projects. 

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Wisconsin Senator Johnson and Colleagues Urge White House to Reverse Major Climate Policies

Bradley Vasoli

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson wrote jointly with several colleagues to President Joe Biden this week urging him to reverse major elements of his anti-fossil-fuel agenda. 

The letter from the senators takes issue with several actions the White House has taken to hinder investment in and use of oil, natural gas and coal in an effort the administration insists is important to lessening global warming. 

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Wisconsin Congressman Calls on LinkedIn to Remove Job Listings for Companies That Pose Security Threats

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) this week urged the head of the career-networking website LinkedIn to prohibit the platform from posting job openings at companies posing security threats to America. 

Gallagher, who sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Armed Services Committee, penned a letter to LinkedIn Chief Executive Officer Ryan Roslansky, drawing particular attention to companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The congressman stated that the site presently welcomes thousands of employment-opportunity notices from China-based corporations the U.S. government flags as national-security and privacy risks. 

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Wisconsin Republican Members of Congress Ask Evers to Pull Government TikTok

Bradley Vasoli

Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin this week called on Democratic Governor Tony Evers to end all state-government usage of the video-sharing application known as TikTok. 

The app, which has garnered about 80 million monthly active users since its release in 2016, is run by the Chinese technology corporation ByteDance. Recent reporting indicates the communist Chinese government is using the program to mine data from TikTok users aggressively and track some Americans’ whereabouts. 

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Coalition Backs Universal License Recognition in Ohio

Bradley Vasoli

A coalition of free-market associations sent an open letter on Tuesday to Ohio’s state lawmakers encouraging them to enact universal occupational license recognition, meaning the Buckeye State would honor professional certifications issued in other states. 

Message signers included leaders of Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, the Buckeye Institute, the Goldwater Institute, the National Taxpayers Union and Americans for Tax Reform. The organizations observed that the state’s population is declining and that it will continue to do so if pro-market reforms aren’t made to attract new workers, including universal license recognition. Numerous states, including Arizona and North Carolina, generally accept credentials obtained elsewhere by people moving into those states. 

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Pennsylvania Political Consultant: Philadelphia Suburbs a Hotbed of a Legal Version of Ballot Harvesting

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania just completed its third year of no-excuse mail-in voting, with Democrats scoring major victories in statewide and legislative offices. According to a political strategist from the state’s southeast, one factor affecting the Democrats’ 2022 success was its engagement in a legal form of “ballot harvesting” in the suburbs west of Philadelphia.

Athan Koutsiouroumbas, a managing director of the Harrisburg-based consultancy Long Nyquist and Associates, refers in a Monday commentary for RealClearPennsylvania to Democrats’ efforts to encourage mail-in voting in Delaware County. He called the effort a “completely legal ballot-harvesting juggernaut.” 

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Policy Constraints Force Electric Bills Up in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvanians’ electric bills rose by an average of nearly three-quarters over the last two years and policymakers have only made the problem worse, according to the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation (CF). 

State residents served by Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) have seen their rates go up by just over half since December 2020. Customers of the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) have meanwhile experienced a doubling of their power costs during that time. All other providers have also risen their rates considerably. 

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Ohio Senator Portman, in Final Policy Effort in Senate, Calls for More Global Trade

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) retires at the end of the year, but before he does, he hopes to have a hand in reenergizing openness toward global trade, a policy perspective that hasn’t been ascendant in the Biden administration or the preceding Trump administration. 

In a guest column for the D.C.-based Hill newspaper, Portman and his Democratic Delaware colleague Chris Coons called on Congress to pass a legislative package facilitating foreign trade agreements. The lawmakers particularly urged enactment of their Trading System Preservation Act. The act would enable the president to iron out industry-specific trade deals with other nations that are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and would allow negotiation of comprehensive agreements with Ecuador, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Kenya. 

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Keefer to Chair Pennsylvania House Freedom Caucus

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s new House Freedom Caucus announced its initial leaders this week, with state Representative Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg) to chair the new organization and Representative David Rowe (R-Mifflinburg) to serve as vice chair. 

Keefer and Rowe were among the 20 GOP members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to vote against this fiscal year’s budget, a compromise between the majority-Republican General Assembly and Democratic Governor Tom Wolf which increases state spending by 16.6 percent to $43.7 billion. In remarks to the press, the new caucus’s leaders complained of the extent to which government is growing in the commonwealth and promised to pursue zero-based budgeting as well as regulatory reform. 

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Free-Market Think Tank Backs Bill Lightening Occupational Licensure Burden, Urges Further Reform

Bradley Vasoli

In the view of an Ohio conservative think tank, the Buckeye State should enact a bill the House passed, and the Senate is now considering to pare back licensure burdens for many professionals. 

Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at the Columbus-based Buckeye Institute, testified this week before the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee in favor of the bill. He added he believes the state should pursue further reform even after the legislation passes the Senate and receives Governor Mike DeWine’s signature. 

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Retiring Ohio Senator Portman Helps Codify Gay Marriage into Law

Bradley Vasoli

Same-sex marriage is on track to becoming codified in federal statute and retiring U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) is celebrating his role as a key driver of the change.

In 2013, Portman became the first Republican senator to support redefining marriage as something other than the matrimonial union between one man and one woman. He attributed his reversal of his prior opposition to gay marriage to his son having come out two years earlier.

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Governor Wolf Bestows $2.5 Million in Taxpayer Funds on LGBT Center in Philadelphia

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) on Wednesday joined a number of state, federal and city officials to celebrate the awarding of $2.5 million in taxpayer funds to a gay and transexual activity center in Philadelphia’s “Gayborhood.” 

Wolf said the money from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) will go toward several major renovations envisioned for the William Way LGBT Community Center just south of City Hall. The grant comes in addition to $1 million the center received from the state in 2019 to improve the property’s heating, ventilation and cooling systems as well as to remodel the building’s front area. 

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Buckeye Institute Urges Ohio Legislators to End Late-Summer Special Elections

Bradley Vasoli

The Ohio Senate Local Government and Elections Committee held its third hearing on Tuesday regarding legislation to end the state’s late-summer special elections, drawing supportive testimony from Buckeye Institute Research Fellow Greg R. Lawson. 

Lawson’s Columbus-based center-right policy outfit backs the effort to eliminate these elections which feature nominating contests for state legislative offices, state-party committee votes and many ballot initiatives. The bill, sponsored by state Representative Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township), passed the state House of Representatives 68-22 last December and must pass the Senate and receive Governor Mike DeWine’s (R) signature in December to become law. All House members who opposed the measure last year were Democrats. 

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Ohio Congresswoman Brown Pushing Bill to Expand Government Role in Healthcare

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representative Shontel Brown (D-OH-11) is leading a charge among members of Congress in favor of a measure to expand the federal government’s role in healthcare, particularly regarding mental-health-related comorbidities. 

The Cleveland-area Democrat is cosponsoring her Mental and Physical Health Care Comorbidities Act with House colleague Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2). Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) has introduced a version of the legislation in his chamber. 

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Franklin County, Ohio Court Soon to Decide Whether to Continue Voucher Case

Bradley Vasoli

In the next few weeks, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page (D) is poised to decide whether a lawsuit against Ohio’s private-school choice program will go forward. 

Litigation against private school choice in the Buckeye State has been in the works since last year when dozens of school districts under the aegis of Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding posited that the state’s EdChoice program harms the state’s ability to properly fund its public schools. The districts suing the state, which now number more than 130, filed their action in January. 

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State Senator Proposes Pennsylvania Prison-to-Business Partnership Program

Bradley Vasoli

State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is asking colleagues to support legislation to create a prison-to-jobs pipeline for nonviolent inmates in Pennsylvania. 

Boscola bemoaned Pennsylvania’s status as among the worst states in the U.S. in terms of ex-prisoners reoffending; it has a 41-percent recidivism rate. In a memorandum announcing her measure, she posited that rate will go down if the commonwealth proactively advances many prisoners toward employment as they prepare for life outside of jail. 

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Ohio Governor Announces $5 Million in Security Grants for Higher Education

Bradley Vasoli

Thirty-three higher-education institutions across the Buckeye State will get $5 million in total for safety related enhancements, Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) announced this week. 

The allocations from the state’s 2022 Campus Safety Program will largely fund equipment such as metal detectors, alarms, loudspeakers, security cameras and lock technology. Schools getting the largest amounts include the University of Akron ($422,630), Kent State University ($387,567), Terra State Community College ($338,598), Bowling Green State University ($278.075.63) and Washington State Community College ($226,345.90). 

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Far-Left Pennsylvania Democrat Proposes Board to ‘Combat Election Disinformation’

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Representative Christopher Rabb (D-Philadelphia) this week proposed a bill to establish an “Election Integrity Board” that would monitor politicians rhetoric regarding electoral matters and “combat” what the panel deems “disinformation.” 

In a memorandum seeking cosponsors for his legislation, the far-left lawmaker who represents Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy neighborhoods lamented the nomination in the 2022 primary of over 100 individuals he considers “election-denying candidates.” He blasted them for asserting what he insists are “unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud” and opined that “our elections are highly secure.” He suggested that politicians and hopefuls who raise concerns about such issues create unnecessary doubt in the minds of the electorate.

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Ohio Senators Portman and Brown Sponsor Senate Version of Bill Expanding Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio’s two U.S. senators this week proposed a Senate bill making full-time students eligible for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. 

U.S. Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2) and Danny Davis (D-IL-7) introduced a House version of the measure earlier this week. The proposed change to the program would make LIHTC, which provides tax relief to developers who build or rehabilitate low-cost rental units, allow full-time students to live on sites that were funded by the credit. The current prohibition on such students living in those buildings was intended to prevent LIHTC from aiding the construction of dormitories. 

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Ohio Congressman Wenstrup Sponsors Bill to Expand Housing Availability for Homeless Veterans and Students

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2) and Danny Davis (D-IL-7) this week introduced a measure to assist homeless veterans, foster youth and others in obtaining affordable housing as they seek college degrees. 

Wenstrup and Davis hope to change the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which lightens the tax burden on developers constructing or rehabilitating low-cost rental units. Currently, LIHTC does not permit full-time students to avail themselves of LIHTC-funded housing sites. This restriction was written to prevent the tax credit from funding dormitory buildings. 

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