But the order of those priorities often depends on the party, and the chamber, of the lawmaker you ask, given that Senate and House leadership are increasingly at odds with one another over their chamber’s legislation stalling in the other’s chamber.
Shared priorities
There are some shared priorities among Democrats, Republicans and the House and Senate.
Capital improvement funds
Senate Joint Resolution 4, if passed, would put a statewide measure on the ballot in May 2025 to ask voters to approve the issuance of an additional $2.5 billion of general obligation bonds to fund local infrastructure capital improvements.
“The bill for public works to be able to re-appropriate funds and continue those funds for sewers and roads that communities count on,” said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood. “It’s a bipartisan bill, both in the House and the Senate, so we definitely want to see that go through.”
S.J.R. 4 is also a priority for Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, who told reporters that it’s imperative for the bill to pass before the end of the year in order for the issue to make it onto the May 2025 ballot.
The measure passed the Senate Wednesday by a 30-1 vote, with only state Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miami Twp., dissenting.
“The General Assembly’s thirst to spend taxpayer dollars is seemingly unquenchable,” Antani said when asked for comment. “This bill would authorize more spending, which I believe is unsustainable for Ohio’s future.”
It now goes to the House for consideration.
Adoption modernization
House Bill 5, a bill to modernize the adoption process in Ohio, is another issue that the Ohio House and Senate seem to have come to accord on.
Stalled in the Senate for over a year since the House passed it unanimously in June 2023, the bill passed the Senate on Wednesday and is now headed to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for a signature.
Parents Bill of Rights
Republican leaders of both chambers have called House Bill 8 a priority, but the buck is with the Ohio Senate, which has been vetting and altering the bill since House Republicans passed it in June 2023.
Huffman told reporters last week that “a lot of work” has been done to change the bill in the Senate but he hopes to pass it before the end of the year.
The bill, known as the Parents Bill of Rights Act, mandates Ohio public schools to inform parents about significant changes to their child’s mental health and has been castigated by LGBTQ+ advocates as effectively a “forced outing” bill for LGBTQ+ students who have not yet come out at home.
Intoxicating Hemp
Ohio lawmakers are also interested in regulating intoxicating hemp products but seem to be in disagreement on the solution.
The Senate is pushing a bill that would effectively ban all sales of intoxicating hemp products in Ohio, wiping out the legal market for delta-8 and other marijuana alternatives that can be found in smoke shops and gas stations throughout the state and can be bought by minors.
But there’s disagreement in Columbus over whether outright banning intoxicating hemp products is preferable to placing age restrictions on those products — two options presented by Gov. DeWine when he brought the legislature’s attention to the problem earlier this year.
Weighing in as leader of the Senate recently, Huffman told reporters that he thinks states “should ban” intoxicating hemp products.
“It’s a pretty complex issue,” Huffman said, “but I simply boil it down to: It’s a dangerous product with no regulation of any kind and I think we need to do something before the end of the year.”
Stephens, talking to reporters Tuesday, lent the House’s point of view: “I think it’s very appropriate to look at age limits, similar to other products, whether it’s tobacco or alcohol. I think that’s something that’s worth talking about. But an all-out ban, that’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge.”
Varying priorities
List of frustrations
Stephens vented his frustration with Senate leadership Tuesday over a list of bills passed by the House earlier this term that have now stalled in the Senate, including a measure sponsored by local Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, that would put $35 million toward infant and maternal health in Ohio.
“I want to point out some bills that we want to try to get across the finish line,” Stephens told reporters. “These are bills the House has passed that are just languishing in the Senate.”
The list of legislation, many coming from Republicans who have aligned themselves with Stephens, includes a bipartisan measure to increase the penalties for repeated domestic violence; a bipartisan bill to create a foster-to-college scholarship program; a bipartisan bill to increase the Ohio Department of Transportation’s responsibility over village highways; a bill to require contractors to use English-proficient workers on certain projects; and an omnibus road naming bill that the Senate recently gutted.
Higher education reform
But the House, too, has doubled down on blocking Senate GOP priority legislation, including Senate Bill 83, a longstanding point of contention between the two chambers that would place significant regulations on Ohio’s institutions of higher education, like banning any mandatory training courses regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.
Stephens has consistently opted not to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote and confirmed to statehouse reporters Tuesday that the bill won’t get a vote before the end of session.
“We’ve got a lot of other things that are a lot more important than that,” he said.
Democratic priorities
Having little control over what bills actually pass the House or the Senate, Democrats are entering into a potentially busy lame duck session with both trepidation and hope.
On the House side, Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told reporters Tuesday that she hopes the chamber will make progress on longstanding goals of lowering housing costs, alleviating property tax burdens on homeowners and increasing access to affordable child care.
But she also noted that House Democrats “probably will be playing some defense on things as we move through the rest of lame duck,” given that significant pieces of legislation are often fast-tracked and rolled into other pieces of legislation as the shot clock dwindles.
When asked about what she’d like to see come out of lame duck, Senate Democratic leader Antonio touted housing initiatives and a bill to abolish the death penalty in Ohio, but she also referenced some of the business already completed by the chamber: Its passage of a House bill that will bar transgender students from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender in all Ohio schools from preschool to college.
“I can tell you what I don’t want to see: I don’t want to see any of the people of Ohio have their rights taken away by this lame duck session,” Antonio said.
Other bills to watch
Other noteworthy bills moving through the General Assembly in lame duck include:
- A proposal to increase local governments’ contribution to Ohio police officers’ pensions from 19.5% to 24% by 2027, bringing it even with the state’s firefighters, passed an Ohio House committee Tuesday. Local governments have expressed concern about the cost of such a mandate.
- A bill in the Ohio House would provide money to update school buses and increase penalties for illegally passing a school bus. This bill is backed by state Rep. Bernie Willis, R-Springfield, after an 11-year-old Clark County boy was killed in a school bus crash on the first day of school for the Northwestern school district in the 2023-2024 school year.
- The “Ohio Fairness Act” would specify that all of Ohio law’s prohibitions of discrimination based on sex would also apply to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It has the backing of Democrats as well as some Republicans and Ohio business groups.
- A bill sponsored by Sen. Antani proposes cutting the sports gaming tax rate back to its original 10% after the state bumped it to 20% last year.
- The Ohio Senate unanimously approved a bill to grant civil immunity to any individual for causing injuries while defending themselves or other members and guests of nonprofit corporations like churches and synagogues. That bill is now pending in the House.
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