The Ohio House Higher Education Committee has passed the “Save Women’s Sports Act” that ensures that biological males cannot compete in female-only sports statewide propelling the legislation forward towards a full House vote.
The Ohio House Higher Education Committee passed the legislation by an 8-6 vote with all five Democrats on the committee and State Representative Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville) voting against the bill.
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A Republican Ohio House Representative has introduced legislation aimed at protecting healthcare workers and patients from harmful surgical smoke exposure.
House Bill (HB) 104 sponsored by state Representative Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana County) aims to require Ohio’s hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to adopt and implement a policy designed to prevent human exposure to surgical smoke.
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Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) swore in two new members to the Ohio House to fill the vacant seats left due to the passing of State Representative Kris Jordan (R-Ostrander) and the resignation of State Representative Brian Baldridge (R- Winchester) to take a job as state agriculture director.
After the untimely passing of Jordan, Delaware County Republican Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) has been chosen to fill the remaining term for the 60th House District seat.
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Four Ohio business organizations have come out in support of the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
On Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives approved the amendment that 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 sending it to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for approval and to make preparations for an August special election to vote on it.
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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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The Ohio Republican State Central Committee has unanimously voted to support a resolution and implore lawmakers to pass the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and to allow for a special August election to vote on the amendment.
The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 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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A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to modernize and streamline the adoption process across the state.
House Bill (HB) 5, known as The Adoption Modernization Act, sponsored by State Representatives Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) and Rachel Baker (D-Cincinnati), aims to provide financial support for expecting mothers, expedite kinship care, and clarify Ohio law to help streamline the adoption process.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio Lawmakers introduced a bill prohibiting intimate examinations on anesthetized and unconscious patients without their consent.
House Bill (HB) 89, sponsored by state Representatives Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville) and Munira Abdullahi (D-Columbus), aims to require specific consent from patients before doctors, nurses, and medical providers-in-training perform intimate pelvic, prostate, or rectal exams as part of their training while patients are unconscious for an unrelated procedure.
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On Tuesday, moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) once again delayed a floor vote on the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
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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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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Former two-time candidate for U.S. Congress Brandon Lape announced on Monday that he is exploring a run for Ohio House District 98 in 2024. State Representative Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville), who is currently in that seat, will not be able to run again because of term limits which, in theory, would create an open seat, but new districts will have to be drawn again.
Lape, from Loudonville, ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio’s 7th Congressional District against Incumbent Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07) and Democrat Quentin Potter in the November 2020 General Election. He lost to Gibbs and gained 3.3 percent of the vote.
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The Ohio Senate has unanimously passed legislation that aims to require local boards of education to draft “non-exhaustive” lists of religious holidays and excuse students for up to three days each academic year.
Senate Bill (SB) 49 known as the “Religious Expression Days” (R.E.D.) Act sponsored by State Senator Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) would require schools to accommodate “any missed assignments including tests” and teachers would have to accept these absences “without question” while maintaining “alternative accommodation requests confidential.”
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A Bipartisan group of Ohio Lawmakers has re-introduced a bill to generally prohibit 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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Two Ohio Republican state senators have re-introduced legislation that aims to prohibit fees and insurance requirements from owning a gun.
Senate Bill (SB) 58, sponsored by State Senators Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), tries to protect Ohio’s Second Amendment rights by ensuring that no Ohioan will be required to possess or purchase firearm liability insurance or pay a fee for the possession of a firearm, parts, components, ammunition, or a knife.
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Supporters of legislation that aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments have told Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) that they have the support of at least 59 House Republicans who want a floor vote on the resolution.
It will take a three-fifths majority of the 99-member House to pass the resolution to put before voters House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1 requiring 60 percent voter approval for future constitutional amendments.
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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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An Ohio House Panel has passed the state operating budget including a $1 billion tax cut, higher income limits for school vouchers, and a ban on TikTok from government devices.
On Tuesday, the plan to spend more than $86 billion over the subsequent two fiscal years contained in the 5,300-page proposal known as House Bill (HB) 33 passed the House Finance Committee with bipartisan support.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Monday that he would sign a bill allowing an August special election to decide whether to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments if both chambers of the state legislature pass it.
The proposed August election would decide whether the voter threshold for initiative petitions should be raised to 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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An Ohio Republican state representative introduced legislation to protect patients from insurance companies denying or reducing reimbursement for emergency service claims.
House Bill (HB) 99, sponsored by State Representative Susan Manchester (R-Waynesfield), will require insurers to conduct an emergency physician review of a claim before denying or reducing reimbursement for an emergency services claim and prohibit insurers from denying coverage of emergency claim based solely on the final diagnosis of the patient.
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Longtime Ohio conservative Republican leader Scott Pullins announced on Thursday he is exploring a second run for Ohio House District 98 in 2024. State Representative Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville), who is currently in that seat, will not be able to run again because of term limits which, in theory, would create an open seat, but new districts will have to be drawn again.
Pullins, from Knox County, ran for election to the Ohio House District 98, which includes all of Knox County and parts of Morrow and Holmes counties, against Kick in the August 2022 Republican primary. He lost to Kick but gained 43 percent of the vote.
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Two Ohio Republican state representatives have introduced legislation to ease the financial burden on Ohio families raising children.
House Bill (HB) 118, known as the Baby Products Tax Exemption Bill, sponsored by State Representatives Nick Santucci (R-Howland Twp.) and Melanie Miller (R-City of Ashland), aims to exempt certain baby products from the sales and use tax.
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Governor Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that Ohio is providing nearly $50 million in new grants to local governments to support construction, renovation, and security improvement projects at nearly a dozen local jails across the state.
According to DeWine, “the funds will help these jails better meet the demands of our modern criminal justice system and keep both staff and inmates safe.”
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As a bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers push to move Ohio’s presidential primary elections from March to May, a Republican state Representative has introduced an amendment to the state budget to retain Ohio’s March primary for the 2024 election.
Every four years, during the presidential election season, Ohio’s holds their primary election in March. The state generally holds other statewide primaries in May but in 1996, the Ohio Legislature changed the presidential primary to March.
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The Ohio Senate advanced a Republican-led resolution on Wednesday that tries to alter how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and a bill to allow for special elections to be held in August for certain purposes.
Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 and Senate Bill (SB) 92 passed along party lines. The resolution passed 26 to 7. The bill passed 25 to 8, with State Senator Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) voting with the Democrats.
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The Ohio House introduced its version of the state budget on Tuesday, including a $1 billion tax cut, higher income limits for school vouchers, and a ban on TikTok from government devices.
The second iteration of a plan to spend more than $86 billion over the subsequent two fiscal years is contained in the 5,300-page proposal known as House Bill (HB) 33.
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On Tuesday, Ohio State Senators amended a piece of legislation 4-1 that aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
There are currently two pieces of legislation Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate are working to put on the ballot in August that would require 60 percent of voters to approve constitutional amendments.
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On Monday, The Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified that the proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour called “Raise the Wage Ohio Amendment” incorporates only one constitutional amendment and therefore advances.
The Committee to Represent the Petitioners including Prentiss Haney, Taneisha Latoya Head, Kandiss Bondurant, Mary Jo Ivan, Diane Morgan, and Andrew Ritterman must now gather over 413,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 44 counties, which equals 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election before July 5th. The number of signatures must equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race in each county.
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A Republican Ohio House Representative introduced legislation to make homeschooling approval easier for Ohio families.
House Bill (HB) 127, sponsored by State Representative Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula), aims to only require the superintendent of a school to acknowledge a parent or caretaker’s intent to home school.
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A Republican Ohio House representative re-introduced legislation that would place limits on municipal income tax late filing penalties.
House Bill (HB) 105, sponsored by State Representative Jim Thomas (R-Jackson Township), aims to put in place protections for Ohio taxpayers against excessive late penalties and notices.
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Four environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block a new law requiring Ohio to accept private petitions to drill for oil and gas beneath state parks.
House Bill (HB) 507 which Republicans passed at the end of the 134th General Assembly modified Ohio’s code so that state agencies must lease the properties they hold for oil and gas extraction, as opposed to just allowing them to. The legislation also instructed the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to create a set of guidelines for applications.
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In advance of a potential November referendum on an proposed constitutional amendment aiming to legalize abortion throughout the state, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said he wants the General Assembly to consider strengthening Ohio’s “heartbeat law.”
According to DeWine, to avoid passage of the abortion amendment, Ohio needs to revisit the heartbeat law and ensure that Ohio has sustainable legislation that voters will not overturn at the polls.
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Two Republican Ohio House Representatives have introduced legislation that would ban TikTok from government devices.
The introduction of this legislation follows a state executive order issued by Governor Mike DeWine in January 2023, forbidding the use of TikTok or other platforms and applications held by an entity located in China from state devices citing that the Chinese Communist Party employs the apps as an “intelligence gathering mechanism.”
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost accepted a petition on Wednesday which aims to amend a portion of the Ohio Constitution and raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The proposal called “Raise the Wage Ohio Amendment” aims to amend Article II, Section 34a of Ohio’s Constitution in order to raise the minimum wage to $12.75 per hour beginning January 1st, 2025 and then in equal yearly increments until it gets to $15 per hour on January 1st, 2026.
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State Representative Scott Wiggam (R- Wayne County) sent a letter on Tuesday to moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) urging him to move the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment to the House floor as soon as it passes out of committee for an August election.
This follows Stephens removing Wiggam from his position as chair of the House Constitutional Resolutions Committee and the committee all together due to Wiggam signing a discharge petition last week to accelerate the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, also known as House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has launched a new statewide public awareness campaign to draw attention to Ohio’s new distracted driving laws which went into effect on Tuesday.
The new law forbids anyone operating a vehicle within the state from using or holding a smartphone or other electronic device.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a nearly $13.5 billion state transportation budget on Friday, including rail safety measures that lawmakers added in reaction to the February 3rd train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine.
With oversight from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), among other provisions, the railway safety measures call for two-person crews for freight trains and requires the installation of wayside detectors at shorter distances, every 10 to 15 miles, to help identify issues. The Federal Railroad Administration currently permits the placement of some wayside devices up to 25 miles apart from one another.
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Moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) removed State Representative Scott Wiggam (R-Wayne County) on Thursday from his position as chair of the House Constitutional Resolutions Committee and the committee all together due to Wiggam signing a discharge petition for the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment.
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On Wednesday, a group of Republican lawmakers filed a discharge petition on House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1 which aims to alter the process of how constitutional amendments can be proposed by initiative petitions.
A bill or resolution may be discharged from committee if it wins the support of a simple majority of House members (50 percent + 1). This implies that even if the resolution has not yet been approved out of committee or finished holding hearings, it would automatically advance to the floor for a vote if 50 representatives signed on.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday supported a prospective August election as a way to change the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced resolutions to raise the initiative petition voting threshold to 60 percent to amend the state Constitution.
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The State Legislature revived Cincinnati city officials’ attempt to sell a city-owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, the same company that caused the toxic disaster in East Palestine, which stalled last month,
City leaders announced a plan to sell the rail line that runs to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Norfolk Southern at the end of last year for $1.6 billion. However, that deal could not be done without changes to state law.
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Although the “Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment” did not pass in the Ohio House and Senate prior to the February 1st deadline to be on May’s primary election ballot, state lawmakers may reinstate an August special election to consider the amendment.
House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1 sponsored by state Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) aims to alter the process of how constitutional amendments can be proposed by initiative petitions. Currently, issues proposed by initiative petitions need to meet a 50 percent voting threshold to amend the Constitution. Under this proposal, these issues would need to meet a 60 percent threshold.
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Cincinnati city officials have stalled its attempt to sell a city-owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, the same company that caused the toxic disaster in East Palestine last month.
The elements required for the proposed sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway are no longer included in the state’s transportation budget, hence Norfolk Southern cannot currently purchase the city-owned railroad.
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A recently proposed law that is now making its way through the Ohio Statehouse would lower the age requirement for an Ohioan to join the police department.
In Ohio, applicants must currently be 21 years old to become police officers, but Senate Bill (SB) 53 would lower that age limit to 18. Senators Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) have sponsored the legislation.
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Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose told The Ohio Star that he is actively considering running for U.S. Senate against Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024.
“I’m giving it a lot of thought. No announcements yet,” LaRose told The Star.
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On Wednesday, the ongoing conflict among Ohio House Republicans emerged once more when they hastily decided not to schedule a vote on filling a House seat vacancy with a Norfolk Southern train engineer.
A screening committee of the House GOP selected Justin Pizzulli, of Franklin Furnace in Scioto County to represent Ohio House District 90 above seven other candidates. If chosen, Pizzulli would replace former state Representative Brian Baldridge (R-Winchester), who resigned after being designated director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture by Governor Mike DeWine.
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The Ohio Attorney General’s Office certified the petition summary on Thursday for “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion throughout the state. The amendment would add Section 22 to Article 1 of the state Constitution.
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Ohio House Democrats are requesting an independent audit of the recent update to the state’s voter registration database, which they claim initially disqualified 16,000 individuals from casting ballots.
State Representatives Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) and Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) criticized the state’s voter “purges” in a letter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose and demanded transparency.
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A group of Ohioans wants to try again to change the state’s Constitution to permit lawsuits against government employees.
By placing the proposed amendment on the general election ballot for 2024, the Ohio Coalition to Eliminate Qualified Immunity (OCEQI) aims to close what it refers to as a legal loophole – qualified immunity. Similar measures have been rejected twice before for various reasons.
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In the wake of a railroad catastrophe that has continued to worry residents in East Palestine, Ohio, a group of Ohio House members want federal and state authorities to consult with them.
A bipartisan group of 26 state Representatives have sent a letter to the Ohio and United States Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) on February 22nd requesting that the two organizations “consult and advise” them on any additional potentially needed resources.
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Following several weeks without any measures being formally submitted with bill numbers, the Ohio House Speaker and his leadership team have announced their legislative priorities, which range from adjustments to property taxes, to adoption, to protecting the integrity of girls’ sports.
Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) was joined by his allied House Republicans as he listed 12 of the more than 50 bills that were assigned numbers and sent to committees as priorities. These bills ranged from changes to property and income taxes to an affordable housing tax credit, the “Backpack Bill” universal voucher program, and making certain that biological males cannot compete in female-only athletics.
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