A Democratic-backed group that opposes the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment released an advertisement praising House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) for the lack of a House floor vote on the resolution.
The group One Person One Vote praises Stephens in its advertisement for the lack of a House floor vote on the resolution and the August special election for voters to decide on it.
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A newly formed political action committee (PAC) has been set up to push House Republicans to vote on the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments
Save Our Constitution PAC is urging lawmakers to set an August election for Ohio voters to decide on the proposed amendment. The measure, if approved, would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
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The Ohio House passed its version of a two-year operating budget on Wednesday despite objections from Republican lawmakers that no amendments were allowed to be made. The state operating budget includes a $1 billion tax cut, higher income limits for school vouchers, and a ban on TikTok from government devices.
House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) advanced the budget to a vote without allowing for any debate or amendments. There were 24 amendment proposals to the budget that Republicans say should have been debated prior to the vote.
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After months of contention, the factions supporting Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) have come to an agreement on who controls the House GOP’s campaign funds.
On Monday, the Ohio House Republican Alliance (OHRA) announced that one supporter of Merrin, State Representative Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), and one supporter of Stephens, State Representative Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.), are to serve as co-chairs leading the campaign arm of the Republican House caucus.
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On Thursday, the Cuyahoga County Republican Party censured state Representative Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) for voting in favor of newly elected House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill).
The Cuyahoga County Republican Party Disciplinary Committee previously recommended that Patton be censured for disregarding his obligation to the party and public by voting for Stephens.
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Ohio’s Republican state legislators are in the process of appealing a state Supreme Court ruling on congressional redistricting to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state’s high court has repeatedly ruled against maps created by Ohio’s Redistricting Commission. Despite the GOP having a one-seat majority, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor (R) has sided with the Democrats in redistricting cases. (O’Connor, who is 71, is retiring from the court after this year.)
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More than two weeks after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a fourth attempt at establishing Ohio legislative districts, the Ohio Redistricting Commission scheduled a meeting.
That meeting will come two days before the court’s deadline to submit a new set of maps.
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The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a Democrat request to move the state primary to June, while independent map makers told the Ohio Redistricting Commission progress is slow creating a fourth set of state legislative districts.
The Supreme Court left the power to establish election dates and times in the hands of the General Assembly after Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, and House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, filed a motion last week to have the court set a new date.
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Ohio voters will not be able to decide on candidates for the state Legislature during the May 3 primary after the state Supreme Court struck down new district maps for the third time.
In a letter to House and Senate leadership and Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said it was no longer logistically possible to include district-specific legislative races on the ballots.
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Ohio’s May 3 primary elections are in jeopardy after the state Supreme Court struck down state legislative maps for the third time.
The court ruled 4-3 late Wednesday night the maps unfairly favor Republicans, saying the Ohio Redistricting Commission has attempted three sets of maps without input from Democrats on any, instead using GOP staffers to draft each map.
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Ohio Speaker of the House Bob Cupp has left little doubt about the future of bills that would give most Ohio workers and students the ability to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine by ordering a committee chair to cancel an upcoming meeting.
House Bill 435 failed to get a full vote Wednesday in the House for the second time in two weeks, with Cupp, R-Lima, saying the House was moving on to different things. He reiterated that message Thursday in a letter to Health Committee Chair Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, shutting down a seventh hearing on House Bill 248, the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act, a separate bill dealing with the same subjects.
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Former Ohio state Rep. Larry Householder ran for reelection under the cloud of a federal indictment and won with 72% of the vote. After being expelled from the Ohio House earlier this week, he thinks he can win again.
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After spending years developing a new school funding plan and failing to get it through the General Assembly last year, Ohio lawmakers have put it back on the table in the new legislative session.
State Reps. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, and Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, introduced the Fair School Funding Plan, legislation they said modernizes K-12 school funding across the state. It is nearly identical to the proposal that passed the House a year ago but stalled in the Senate as the session expired.
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House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, has named lawmakers to serve on a new committee tasked with repealing and replacing House Bill 6, a ratepayer-funded bailout of two Ohio nuclear plants that led to a federal corruption probe.
Democrats said they were prepared to take action when the House met on Tuesday.
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Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) is a freshman legislator from Ohio’s 80th District with the tenacity of a rookie and the strategic thinking of a veteran. During a Friday afternoon phone call with The Ohio Star, Powell said “everyone can speak on things, but it takes a plan to get there. I am not the kind of person that says ‘open Ohio’ and doesn’t have a plan – you have to have a plan to get to the endpoint.”
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Rep. Bob Cupp (R-Lima) has been selected to replace Larry Householder (R-Glenford) as Ohio’s new Speaker of the House.
After being charged with participating in a $60 million corruption scandal, Householder was removed in a 90-0 vote. Householder, who is accused of being part of a “racketeering conspiracy involving a 2019 nuclear power plant bailout bill” faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
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Ohio House lawmakers on Friday moved to address the power vacuum created by the arrest of current Republican Speaker Larry Householder amid a $60 million federal bribery probe.
The names of potential candidates to take the reins of the House of Representatives are spilling out — two days after federal officials arrested Householder and four associates over alleged bribes to shepherd an energy bill into law.
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After 15 months, a bipartisan workgroup unveiled its Fair School Funding Plan to overhaul Ohio’s school-funding formula, but some still had questions about how it will accomplish what Ohioans need. Reps. Bob Cupp (R-Lima) and John Patterson (D-Jefferson) spearheaded the workgroup along with superintendents and educators from across the state, and announced their findings during a Monday press conference. “We are excited because we’re here to announce the release of the School Funding Workgroup’s recommendations for comprehensive redesign of Ohio’s primary and secondary school funding framework,” Cupp said, calling the new funding plan “fair, more predictable, and more workable.” “It’s widely recognized that our current funding formula, forged in the last recession, is seriously flawed. Experience has shown that it’s not any longer even functioning as a formula,” he continued, saying the current funding formula is “more a patch than a formula.” At the start of the 15-month process, the School Funding Workgroup was charged with considering “what our students truly need to succeed in this rapidly changing world, and to develop recommendations to meet those needs that are fair to Ohio’s kids, school districts, and taxpayers.” “Over four-fifths of districts are either on a cap, which limits the funding…
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