Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) expressed his displeasure with the Senate last week, telling reporters, “We’ve got bills over in the Senate that we’d like to see the Senate move. We’ve got several priority bills that we’ve waited for quite some time on and don’t really understand why we’re having a problem over there getting bills to move.” In response, Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina) discussed his priorities with Gongwer.
“I’d like us to dig into SB3 [Senate Bill 3] over the next month and try to get that done before the end of this calendar year – at least through the Senate process,” he said. And regarding House Bill 1 – a measure aimed to develop and enact legislation to reform Ohio’s drug sentencing laws – he added, “We’ll see if we can find a good landing spot for both of those, but my anticipation is that one, or perhaps both, will become law by the end of this General Assembly.
House Bill 1 is sitting in the same Senate Committee as SB 3 – Judiciary. The House bill’s intent is it, “Broadens the scope of continuing law intervention in lieu of conviction [ILC] by requiring an eligibility hearing on an application for intervention in any case in which the offender alleges that drug or alcohol usage was a factor leading to the underlying offense.”
Another aspect of HB 1 is it, “Narrows the scope of continuing law ILC by making an offender charged with a felony sex offense ineligible for ILC,” among other things.
The Speaker was referring to more than one bill when he criticized the Senate. His most pressing legislative issues, in addition to HB 1, are the first fourteen bills introduced in the House. Of those, only House Bill 6, the “nuclear bailout” bill, passed.
House Bills 2 and 10 were specifically mentioned by Householder.
“That’s [HB 2] something that the people of Ohio have waited on for years, and I don’t understand what the holdup is,” the Speaker stated. “Let’s get it moving. You know, people need to have jobs out there. We’ve got a tremendous amount of jobs in this state that these people that are unemployed can fill. But we got to get off our ass and get it done.”
House Bill 2, if passed, will, “…create the TechCred Program and the Individual Microcredential Assistance Program and to develop a grant program to support industry sector partnerships.” The bill also will reimburse certain employers for training, require the development of a grant program to support industry partnerships and an annual report to the General Assembly.
The other bill specifically mentioned by the Speaker was House Bill 10. It, “Establishes the Governor’s Office of Drug Policy and Appropriates $5,500,000 in both FY 2020 and FY 2021 to the Office of the Governor to
provide funding for the Office of Drug Policy’s initiatives.”
Both HB 2 and HB 10 have passed their assigned Senate Committees. They now await assignment to the Senate Calendar for a floor vote to become law.
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
[…] discussing the bills the House wanted to pass, as reported by The Ohio Star, Senate President Obhof mentioned that his chamber also intended to get working on […]
[…] discussing the bills the House wanted to pass, as reported by The Ohio Star, Senate President Obhof mentioned that his chamber also intended to get working on […]