Ohio House terms are two years, and members can serve four consecutive two-year terms. The salary is $63,007 a year.
Krista Magaw
Krista Magaw worked in the mental health field for 25 years, later taking that experience and transitioning into advocacy for mental health and rehabilitation systems in both government and nonprofit sectors. Later, Magaw became executive director for the Tecumseh Land Trust, a position she held for 20 years before retiring three years ago. The Tecumseh Land Trust has over 36,000 acres of farmland, waterways, and other green space protected under conservation easements.
Magaw said she felt called to step up to run after fellow Democrat Jim Duffee dropped out of the race earlier this year.
“I had never thought about running myself, but my experience in all the years of mental health and conservation work included a lot of lobbying at the state level, federal (level), and really with local officials as well,” she said.
Magaw’s two main legislative priorities fall into two categories: the first being the “household economy,” to include the prohibitive costs of health care and child care, and the second being environmental issues.
“Many people have health care issues and are not getting adequate services for those issues, don’t have access to the medical care that they need, and have sometimes insurmountable problems in terms of negotiating payment through insurance companies,” she said.
In regards to environmental concerns, Magaw’s top priority would be repealing House Bill 6, the legislation at the center of the energy scandal that landed former Ohio Speaker Larry Householder with a 20-year prison sentence last year.
Householder was convicted on federal racketeering charges for accepting $60 million in bribes to pass House Bill 6, which was signed into law in 2019.
Magaw said House Bill 6 “basically ended” clean energy standards in Ohio.
“We were out in front of other states, but within two or three years, the legislature froze almost every aspect of that legislation, and House Bill 6 killed it in the end, as well as bailing out a for-profit utility company,” she said.
Magaw also said she would pursue reinstating tax credits for green energy jobs, and protecting Ohio’s “wealth” of groundwater, she said.
Magaw said she would also advocate for education funding reform, and for simplifying Ohio’s tax system. Inefficiencies in the state department of taxation create unnecessary red tape and wasteful spending, she said.
“We have so many different kinds of taxes in Ohio; it’s confusing. It’s very hard if you don’t pay an accountant to figure out the mix of taxes,” she said.
Levi Dean
Levi Dean is a Xenia City Councilman of nearly seven years, and works at his family’s plumbing business, which he operates with three of his siblings. He said he decided to run for the statehouse office, because it’s one of the places where the most important impactful decisions are made.
“A lot of people get really concerned about the presidential and senate races. Those are important, don’t get me wrong, but the things that impact most people’s day-to-day lives are mostly decided at the state level, and occasionally at the local level,” he said.
Dean’s top legislative priorities fall into two buckets: taxes and regulation, he said, with property tax burden being the most important issue to his constituents.
“On the campaign trail in the primary, probably the number one thing was overall cost of living, whether it’s housing, or groceries, or gas, or property taxes. Property taxes probably being the number one thing that got brought up,” he said.
For example, recent property value and rate adjustments substantially increased Dayton-area property taxes, and increased revenue for property-taxing entities, including school districts, that saw a windfall of revenue. In Xenia, the majority of residents’ property taxes go towards the school district, Dean said.
“So when the rates go up, they got an additional millions into their budget that they didn’t account for,” he said. “I think some sort of cap on how much money they can just hold in reserve. What’s the point of stockpiling taxpayer dollars?”
At the same time, there are other school districts in Ohio that are strapped for cash, and so solving Ohio property taxes first requires solving school funding, Dean said.
“There’s other issues with property tax in Ohio, but usually that’s the main thing,” he said. “Having a fair way to fund schools has to be at the top of the concerns, but also just having some safeguards in there, so that you don’t have school districts that are always just asking for more, even though they don’t need it. And I think we start there.”
Additionally, Dean would advocate for reducing regulations and licensure requirements for in-demand jobs, adding that in his field he has seen regulations impact whether people wish to enter certain industries.
Dean would advocate for additional investment in infrastructure, including Ohio’s streets and bridges, as well as putting funds toward increasing local police force staffing. However, Dean said spending could be reduced in other government agencies, including the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
“I would say that the Ohio EPA is pretty much worthless, and I know this as a fact from having dealt with them on city council. They don’t protect the environment, in my opinion. They don’t protect people,” he said. “If they aren’t going to do their job at all anyways, why are we funding them?
About the Author
