Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is urging the General Assembly to pass the full biennial budget before its June 30th deadline rather than to pass a temporary budget with negotiations continuing into July.
Under the Ohio Constitution, the state’s two-year budget must be passed and signed into law before the fiscal year’s end on June 30th. However, the budget legislation approved by the Ohio House and Ohio Senate differ significantly from one another.
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Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said that he disagrees that the state legislature may miss the deadline to pass the state’s biennial budget.
This follows Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hills) indicating the possibility that the state legislature may miss the deadline with budget negotiations continuing into July.
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Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) indicated that the state legislature may miss the deadline for the state’s biennial budget with negotiations to continue into July.
Under the Ohio constitution, the state’s two-year budget must be passed and signed into law before the fiscal year’s end on June 30th. However, the budget legislation approved by the Ohio House and Senate differ significantly from one another.
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On Friday, a Columbus, Ohio-based think tank submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking justices to allow states to enforce against water pollution, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).
The 1972 law set up a permitting system for corporate or infrastructural projects that result in the discharge of pollutant materials into rivers, streams or other bodies of water. Under the act, states may undertake their own permitting programs. But last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling that South Carolina’s program is not strong enough to supersede the federal permit process and therefore citizen lawsuits can effectively nullify the state program.
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This week Governor DeWine added several new laws to the books and required the state to pony up money for grandparents and extended family members raising their related children.
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Small businesses, bars and restaurants, low-income renters, arts groups, and colleges and universities are among those eligible for $429 million in federal pandemic dollars being released by the state next week, Gov. Mike DeWine and his fellow Republican legislative leaders announced Friday.
The aid package, which the governor has promised for several weeks, is scheduled to go before a bipartisan state legislative spending panel Monday. Its passage is assured with the backing of House Speaker Bob Cupp and Senate President Larry Obhof, who joined the governor at Friday’s virtual news conference.
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Ohio State Senate President Larry Obhof responded plainly to a tweet from a Cleveland-area think tank encouraging the state to close income tax loopholes.
“Let me save you some time on this. There is 0% chance @OhioSenateGOP will raise income taxes,” Obhof tweet at Policy Matters Ohio.
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Ohio State Representative Diane Grendell (R-Chesterland) announced Wednesday the introduction of a bill to “terminate the COVID-19 state of emergency in Ohio.”
The representative lauded Governor Mike DeWine for his swift response to COVID saying that he “responded appropriately.” However, Grendell said the administration “continues to use the state of emergency to restrict businesses and all Ohioans.”
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Leading Ohio Republicans have called on Speaker of the House Larry Householder (R-Glenford) to resign after his recent arrest for allegedly participating in a $60 million bribery scheme.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested Householder along with Matt Borges, the former Ohio Republican Party chairman; Jeffrey Longstreth, a longtime political strategist for Householder; Neil Clark, the former budget director for the Ohio Republican Caucus; and Juan Cespedes, a Columbus lobbyist.
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Is Jane Timken the leader the Ohio State Republican Party needs to help President Donald Trump win re-election when her party seems to be engaged in a civil war? The stakes are high in the Buckeye State. Trump and Biden are locked in a dead heat, according to a poll available here by RealClearPolitics. GOP insiders say the number of Republican-registered voters in the state has fallen from 2.2 million in June 2016 to 1.9 million last month. Meanwhile, Timken and Gov. Mike DeWine went on a state tour early this year to say how great things are, The Ohio Star reported. They touted the pre-pandemic economy, government spending and children’s programs while ignoring the governor’s red flag laws, his policy to allow dangerous refugees into the state and primary endorsements that the two have drawn heat on. Since then, DeWine and Timken have not addressed conservatives’ concerns over Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in strangling the economy. Now, conservative-leaning county parties are showing their displeasure with state leadership by sending strongly worded letters to DeWine. It may be that letters are the…
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Student Religious Liberties Act into law Friday, a bill that protects prayer and religious expression in public schools.
“No student should have to hide their faith just because they enter a public school. The Student Religious Liberties Act is carefully crafted to ensure school administrators can’t unfairly penalize students of all faiths, or no faith,” said Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, one of twelve groups that testified in support of the bill.
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Conservatives are using words like “betrayal” to describe Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in shutting the state down, and suggests he had an ulterior motive.
The Senate will not act this week on Senate Bill One pulling back the Health Department director’s powers, meaning it will likely fail, Fox 19 Now reported. The Senate is only having committee meetings this week and will hold a session next week.
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Ohio State House Republicans on Wednesday approved a move to limit the Health Department’s emergency declaration powers.
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by Tyler Arnold Formal discussions between the House and the Senate regarding a budget agreement are expected to begin Wednesday. House Majority Leader Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, told The Center Square via email that some informal discussion are already underway. Although both chambers have a Republican majority and successfully passed bipartisan bills, the plans differed from each other on some specifics regarding healthcare transparency, tax cuts, a film industry tax credit and education spending. “I think we’re going to work well together and I fully expect a quality bill that is satisfying to both chambers and the governor,” Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, told reporters. On healthcare, the House version includes a plan called “Healthy Ohio,” which calls for a controversial provision on price transparency. The transparency provision would require hospitals to give patients cost estimates on non-emergency procedures and products. Although supporters argued that this would reduce costs, the Senate pulled it out of its budget proposal after backlash from the medical industry. Although both chambers pushed tax cuts, the Senate version has larger cuts to the personal income tax than the House. The Senate plan would also maintain the current threshold for the small business tax credit, which…
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Should Dunkleosteus terrelli be Ohio’s official fossil fish? Should the sugar cookie be the official cookie of the state? What about the Monarch Butterfly? Should it become the official butterfly for Ohio? The Ohio Senate believes the answer to the first question is yes. Senate Bill 123 was unanimously passed in the Senate and is now pending in the House. And it’s looking pretty favorable for the sugar cookie and Monarch Butterfly — unless some other cookie or butterfly lovers object. These are just three of the questions facing the Ohio General Assembly this year, in what some consider to be part of the “other” work that representatives and senators do. Amidst the bills on more serious matters, like the state budget and drug sentencing reform, are a host of miscellaneous measures: naming sections of roads, designating special license plates, or declaring a month/week/day in recognition of a person or illness. In fact, such bills are 14 percent of the total in the House and 12 percent of the total in the Senate. Naming a section of a road in Ohio is usually done for person who has died, like a law enforcement officer or member of the military. Sometimes,…
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Spring fever has citizens eager to start new businesses all over the state. In March, Ohio citizens set a state record for new business license application filings. Last month, Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office received 13,747 new business filings, beating the previous record by 873. “It’s a significant milestone, and one that wouldn’t happen without a business environment that encourages entrepreneurs to take chances – to innovate and grow,” said LaRose. “We’re going to continue doing everything we can to empower Ohioans to succeed.” In 2015, State Sen. Larry Obhof (R-Medina) proposed a bill that would cut business filing fees by 21 percent. The bill also implemented easier online government filing systems. It passed both houses with 100 percent of the vote. There have been five records set since March 2017. Each record has surpassed the previous one by 30 to 600 filings. This past March’s filings were a 6.7 percent uptick from the previous record leaving Obhof ecstatic about the results. There are many reasons for this sudden growth. Sen. Obhof attributed much of it to “across the board income tax cuts.” “We eliminated the death tax, we had targeted tax cuts that benefited small businesses and really…
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The Ohio Legislature failed to agree on a transportation budget before its midnight deadline Sunday. While several items were agreed to, a comprise hasn’t yet been reached on the gas tax. As The Ohio Star reported, the Ohio House and Gov. Mike DeWine settled on an 11-cent gas-tax increase, seven cents down from what DeWine initially proposed. “I’m pleased that we have reached an agreement with the Speaker of the House on the transportation budget that will enable the Ohio Department of Transportation to improve and maintain safer roads, bridges, highways, and intersections across Ohio. I am hopeful that the Senate agrees to this plan as well,” DeWine said in a statement after the agreement was announced. But the Ohio Senate is opposed to the 11-cent figure, and previously passed a bill that would institute a six-cent hike. A joint conference committee composed of six members has been meeting since Wednesday, but failed to reach an agreement. Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina) has been relatively quiet on the matter, but spoke with reporters Friday about the negotiations. “We will continue conversations and will all be back on Monday or Tuesday of next week. So I think it’s just a matter…
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