The Ohio House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed legislation that attempts to save taxpayers millions of dollars statewide by modernizing the Ohio Revised Code.
The Ohio House passed the legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support by a vote of 94-1, advancing it to the senate for its consideration.
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Protesters interrupted a session of the Ohio House this week demanding that Governor Mike DeWine declare a state of emergency in East Palestine as a result of the catastrophic train derailment earlier this year.
The group’s Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment and River Valley Organizing gathered to pressure the Ohio governor to submit a disaster declaration before the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) July 3rd deadline. Also, the groups protested in the Rotunda at the Ohio Capitol Building and marched into DeWine’s offices.
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The Ohio House of Representatives advanced a Republican-backed piece of legislation that tries to require school systems to have policies that allow parents to be more active in their child’s education.
The Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee passed the legislation 10-5 advancing it to the house floor for further consideration.
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The Ohio Senate passed its version of the state’s new two-year $85.7 billion budget bill on Thursday highlighting significant reforms for education policy, tax policy, and home ownership programs.
The latest version of House Bill (HB) 33 passed out of the Ohio Senate by a 24-7 party-line vote. Now approved, the legislation will go to a conference committee to work out differences with the House budget.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the appointment of Republican attorney Diana Stevenson to the Barberton Municipal Court serving the Barberton, Green, New Franklin, Norton, Copley, Coventry, and Clinton communities.
Judge-designee Stevenson started her legal career in 1993 as a judicial attorney for several judges in various counties, including a year as a judicial attorney at the Ohio Supreme Court. Stevenson started working for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office in July 1996 as an assistant prosecutor, a position she held for four years. She then worked as a magistrate for the Summit County Probate Court for 12 years. She was chosen to serve as the Barberton Municipal Court’s clerk of court in 2012. Stevenson won the 2013 election and was returned to office in 2015 and 2021.
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The Ohio Ballot Board approved new ballot language for State Issue 1 following an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the board rewrites the proposal to address issues in the ballot text of the previously approved version.
The new version approved by the Ballot Board in a 3-2 vote split down party lines summarizes for voters what State Issue 1 would do if passed, updated a section of text that the state Supreme Court said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot and removed the term “any” from the title of the ballot wording.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine submitted a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requesting a second extension on the deadline for Ohio to request a major disaster declaration for damage resulting from the catastrophic East Palestine train derailment which occurred earlier this year.
The FEMA website states that a major disaster declaration provides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work.
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The Ohio House of Representatives advanced two Republican-backed pieces of legislation on Wednesday that aim to protect women’s sports and children from exploitation in the state.
House Bill (HB) 68, known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, sponsored by State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery), passed out of the Ohio House Public Health Policy Committee by a 7-6 vote advancing it to the house floor for further consideration.
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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Ballot Board must rewrite some of the language that will appear as State Issue 1 before voters on the August special election ballot.
In the decision issued by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justices Pat Fischer, Pat DeWine, and Joe Deters the Ohio Ballot Board (OBB) is to address issues in the ballot text, including one that they said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, State Senator Michael Rulli (R-Salem), and State Representative Monica Blasdel (R-Columbiana County) announced that the state of Ohio is offering zero-interest, forgivable loans of up to $1 million to businesses affected by the catastrophic East Palestine train derailment earlier this year.
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Lawmakers in the Ohio Senate have reinstated Governor Mike DeWine’s requirement for verified parental consent before children use social media in their version of the state budget.
DeWine included the Social Media Parental Notification Act in the executive budget for 2023-24, which he submitted to the Ohio General Assembly in February. In April, the House Finance Committee removed the proposal from the budget in favor of a potential separate bill.
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The Democratic League of Women Voters have said that they are adamantly against Ohio State Issue 1 which aims to change the percentage needed to amend the constitution by a statewide ballot initiative to a supermajority of 60 percent from the current 50 percent plus one.
Their opposition is inconsistent however as their own organization’s bylaws require a 66 percent vote for amendments.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that he along with 21 other attorneys general have secured final approval of a combined $17.3 billion settlement to hold two drug makers and two pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid-addiction crisis and help fund opioid recovery efforts.
Under the settlement, Ohio expects to receive a total of $679.6 million from drug makers Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens over the next 15 years.
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The Ohio House of Representatives advanced a Bipartisan piece of legislation that aims to require insurance providers to cover hearing aid costs for minors.
The Ohio House Insurance Committee passed the legislation 14-0 advancing it to the House floor for further consideration.
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Gov. Mike DeWine praised a plan by a Columbus-based policy group that calls for a state-based immigration policy to allow Ohio to attract legal immigrants to fill a growing need in the high-tech labor force.
The Buckeye Institute recently released a report on how a state-based visa program could impact what it called urgent problems in the high-tech job market. That followed the group’s plan to upskill and reskill Ohio workers to meet labor shortages.
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Two Republican Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill that would raise the annual tax deduction limit for married, joint filers.
House Bill (HB) 125 sponsored by State Representatives Adam Mathews’ (R-Lebanon) and Nick Santucci (R- Howland Township) aims to increase the annual deduction limit for married, joint filers for contributions to state 529 plans and Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE)savings accounts as well as index the annual deduction limits to inflation.
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A gender studies professor defended her decision to give a student a failing grade on an assignment because she used the term “biological women,” claiming the phrase perpetuates “systemic harm.”
Olivia Krolczyk, a student at the University of Cincinnati, made a viral video discussing how her unnamed professor had awarded her a zero on an assignment in which she had argued that biological men, or transgender women, have an unfair advantage over biological women when they compete on the same sports team, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. University of Cincinnati Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor Melanie Rose Nipper admitted to the outlet that she awarded Krolczyk a zero for her use of “biological women,” stating that the right to free speech and debate ends when “you are, intentionally or unintentionally, participating in a systemic harm of some kind.”
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An Ohio House Representative introduced legislation that aims to cap how much retirement benefits school employees can receive.
House Bill (HB) 146, sponsored by State Representative Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), would establish a School Employee Retirement System contribution-based benefit cap to prevent pension spiking.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) said the Department of Justice’s indictment of former President Donald Trump is an “injustice.”
On Thursday, Trump announced that the Department of Justice indicted him and that he has to show up in court on Tuesday in Miami.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio U.S. lawmakers is pushing to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters to Ohio.
In a letter sent this week to President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, and Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman lawmakers from Ohio implored Biden to select Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as headquarters for the U.S. Space Command and to locate additional U.S. Space Force units in Ohio in partnership with the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is an undeclared candidate for the U.S. Senate, is currently leading the race to unseat Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024 in a new poll conducted by Louisiana-based Causeway Solutions for Leadership for Ohio Fund.
The poll obtained by the Washington Examiner details that among Republican primary voters surveyed, undeclared LaRose has secured a strong lead obtaining 24 percent of the vote over the already declared candidates.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost reached a settlement with the sham charity, the Ohio Clean Water Fund, which stole thousands of dollars after pretending to raise money for East Palestine residents in the wake of the disastrous February 3rd train derailment.
Under the settlement, the sham charity must return over the $131,000 in pocketed donations so the money truly does benefit East Palestine residents.
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The Ohio Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that generally prohibits the installation of an electronic tracking device on someone else’s property without the other person’s consent.
Senate Bill (SB) 100, sponsored by State Senators Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), aims to establish the use of tracking devices for menacing or stalking purposes as its own offense under Ohio law – a move that the bill’s sponsors say closes a loophole in current state statutes.
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The Ohio Senate introduced its version of the state’s new two-year $85.7 billion budget bill highlighting significant reforms for education policy, tax policy, and homeownership programs.
The budget includes income tax cuts, universal school vouchers, and a plan to remove the majority of the power of the state Board of Education and superintendent.
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Political strategist and daughter of 2024 U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Emily Moreno Miller, joined the Ohio Right to Life Board of Directors.
Her new position comes just two months after her announcement that she was stepping down as executive chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party.
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An “anti-racist” dance instructor is set to start at The Ohio State University this upcoming semester as the school’s new “artist laureate.”
The university named Nyama McCarthy-Brown its first “artist laureate.” She is also an associate professor at the university and has taught there since 2018.
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The Ohio Department of Development along with director Lydia Mihalik announced that Ohio is awarding $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support minor league sports teams statewide.
Eight minor league sports teams across the state will receive grant funding totaling $30 million as part of the Minor League Relief Grants administered through the Ohio Department of Development. Six of the state’s seven minor league baseball teams and two of the state’s minor league hockey teams are to receive the funding.
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A student at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio is calling for action after a professor failed her on her final project proposal over her use of the term “biological women” in a paper about feminism.
Olivia Krolczyk claimed in a now-viral TikTok video that her Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture professor failed her on her project proposal even though it was “a solid proposal” because using the term biological women is “exclusionary.”
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The Columbus City Council unanimously voted on Monday to end an executive order from Democratic Mayor Andrew Ginther that food trucks and carts in the Short North area of the city close at midnight.
The Columbus City Council rescinded the order less than three weeks after unanimously approving the recent city curfew.
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An Ohio hospital is setting diversity quotas for its employees in leadership positions, despite failing to reach a previous diversity threshold in 2022, according to documents obtained by medical watchdog Do No Harm and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
As a part of its 2023 Objectives and Key Results (OKR), the has set diversity quotas for several of its leadership roles, including in its finance and Clinical Transformation departments, according to documents obtained by Do No Harm and shared with the DCNF. The clinic recently partnered with OneTen, a group focused on getting black people hired, to focus “its skills-first [hiring] lens on racial equity” noting that the hospital “has experienced a significant gap in attracting, retaining and promoting Black talent.”
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted joined with Ohio Business Round Table President and CEO Pat Tiberi to address growing needs in the state’s workforce.
According to Governor DeWine, investing in education to build a skilled workforce of Ohioans is critical to continue the economy’s growth and momentum.
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Norfolk Southern Railway seeks to dismiss a mass class action lawsuit against it following the catastrophic train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year.
The class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Youngstown, is a collection of 31 separate lawsuits that residents and businesses from East Palestine and the surrounding areas brought against the railroad corporation. Earlier this year U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that all 31 cases be consolidated to streamline proceedings.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost rejected a petition which aims to amend the state constitution by ending qualified immunity for state workers claiming that the language is vague, confusing, and contradictory.
The proposal called “Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights” aims to add a Section 22 to Article I of the Ohio Constitution in order to end qualified immunity being used to protect state employees, including but not limited to law enforcement officers, against civil lawsuits.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill that would legalize adult-use cannabis in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 168 known as the “Ohio Adult Use Act” sponsored by State Representatives Jamie Callender (R-Concord) and Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) would permit Ohio residents over the age of 21 to grow, buy, and possess cannabis, as well as allow the expungement of conviction records for prior crimes involving cultivation and possession.
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Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate have introduced legislation to exempt sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide business incentive growth in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 189, sponsored by State Representative Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) and companion bill Senate Bill (SB) 134, sponsored by State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) aim to remove sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide gun and ammunition manufacturers a tax credit that would offset the federal excise tax imposed on these manufacturers.
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On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds the Ohio Ballot Board’s unanimous decision that the proposed constitutional amendment called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporated only one constitutional amendment.
The Court’s 7-0 ruling rejects a lawsuit by Margaret DeBlase of Montgomery County and John Giroux of Hamilton County claiming that the Ohio Ballot Board erred in its decision and that the proposed amendment contains multiple topics.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine authorized a contingent from the Ohio State Highway Patrol to assist local law enforcement in Texas with border surveillance.
The authorization by Governor DeWine came in response to a request for assistance from Texas Governor Greg Abbott in resolving the escalating border crisis, which has been marked by surging immigration rates and overburdened local law enforcement.
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Norfolk Southern Railway announced that it intends to renovate and donate its historic East Palestine train depot as part of the railroad’s response following the catastrophic train derailment earlier this year.
Norfolk Southern said it will restore and upgrade the exterior of the building. The railway giant will turn the interior into a blank space so the community may shape the future development of this property according to its own vision. To help the village continue to improve the facility, Norfolk Southern will donate $100,000.
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The Ohio Senate unanimously passed legislation that removes hundreds of pages from the Ohio Revised Code, increasing efficiency at the state level.
Senate Bill (SB) 74, sponsored by State Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), contains over 100 individual changes to the Ohio Revised Code, most impacting government-to-government interactions. The bill eliminates 64 code sections, cutting hundreds of pages from the Ohio Revised Code.
Senate Bill (SB) 74 sponsored by State Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) contains over 100 individual changes to the Ohio Revised Code with the vast majority of these changes impacting government-to-government interactions. The bill eliminates 64 code sections altogether, cutting hundreds of pages from the Ohio Revised Code.
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The Ohio Republican Party is pushing back against a “repugnant perversion” of Ohio State Issue 1 recently published in The Columbus Dispatch.
Issue 1, if approved by voters, 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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In an official opinion from the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Attorney General Dave Yost says that the Ohio Revised Code allows managers of public restrooms to separate restroom use according to biological sex.
In December, Green County Prosecutor David Hayes requested the opinion from Yost on whether Ohio civil rights law requires local governments to permit individuals to use public restrooms according to their stated gender identity rather than their biological sex.
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A political candidate seeking to secure Ohio’s 9th Congressional District from U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09) ended his 2024 run.
Ohio Republican JR Majewski dropped out of the race on Tuesday evening just over a month after announcing his second attempt to unseat Congresswoman Kaptur who is currently serving her 21st term in Congress.
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A potential GOP contender to run for U.S. Senate against Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024 declined to run for the seat.
U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH-08) informed supporters on Tuesday that instead of pursuing the U.S. Senate seat held by Brown he will run for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Ohio Republican Lawmakers have formed a new Ohio Legislative Prayer Caucus (OLPC) of the 135th General Assembly that pledges to advocate for religious freedom and Judeo-Christian values that have been embedded in American culture since its foundation.
State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery) in the House and State Senator Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) in the Senate co-chair the bicameral caucus.
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The Ohio House of Representatives passed legislation that aims to allow wholesalers experiencing “bad debt” to claim a refund on cigarette, tobacco and vapor products from the state for the tax they pay upfront when they are unable to obtain reimbursement from a retailer.
The House passed the legislation by an 85-3 vote with all Republicans and all but three Democrats voting in favor of the bill.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt.Governor Jon Husted have launched a new statewide online portal for Ohioans to inquire and apply to become foster or adoptive parents.
According to DeWine, this online portal will help make the foster care and adoption certification process easier and more accessible to prospective families.
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Norfolk Southern announced an additional initiative to support the community of East Palestine following the catastrophic train derailment that occurred earlier this year.
The railway giant signed a two-year lease agreement for a new, closer, and more permanent Family Assistance Center (FAC) that will replace the current center located at the Abundant Life Fellowship Church. The original FAC was set up within 24 hours of the incident on February 3rd.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) claims that the new debt limit deal between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) and President Joe Biden is “bad news.”
The deal, struck by Speaker McCarthy and President Biden on Saturday, which house leaders are formally referring to as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, aims to reduce domestic spending to levels seen in the fiscal year 2022 while capping growth in top-line federal spending at 1 percent over the ensuing six years.
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The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Board of Trustees voted in mid-May to adopt a new campus free speech policy and a resolution affirming the school’s commitment to preserving intellectual diversity.
The free speech policy is an updated version of one that OSU passed last August and creates a system through which students can submit complaints of free speech infringements, a requirement set forth under Ohio’s S.B. 135.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced the appointment of Republican attorney Robert J Patton to the 11th District Court of Appeals serving Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage, and Trumbull counties.
Judge-designee Patton of Willowick, Ohio will be taking the seat formerly held by Democratic Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice, who voters elected to the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas. In order to retain the seat for the remainder of the term expiring in February 2027, Patton must win the general election in November 2024. Patton will assume office on June 5th.
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