Ohio House of Representatives
LGBTQ icon Jim Obergefell announces Ohio House bid
Jim Obergefell, whose lawsuit established marriage equality in the United States, is running for an Ohio House seat. The Sandusky native announced his bid for the 89th District Tuesday morning. In the current map, the district covers the coast in Erie and Ottawa Counties, and Obergefell put protecting Lake Erie front and center in his […]
Race theory education bill gets changes sponsors hope make it more ‘positive’
One of two bills currently in the Ohio legislature attempting to address “critical race theory” in schools has received some changes sponsors say are in response to criticism. In the last year, conservative activists and politicians have launched an attack on “critical race theory,” which generally is not taught at the K-12 level and is […]
Dems take aim at legalized marijuana
Two Democrats plan to bring up the legalization of recreational marijuana, while also trying to cancel out past criminal convictions related to marijuana. State Reps. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, and Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, introduced a new bill to decriminalize marijuana, along with creating a marijuana excise tax, commerce and licensing in the industry and appropriations for […]
Redistricting fights in Ohio begin, this time with an open records request
The redistricting process still has a long way to go, but a battle to keep track of public records during the process has already begun in a court case between the ACLU and the Ohio House of Representatives. The ACLU asked the Ohio Supreme Court to compel employees within the Ohio House and the offices […]
Ohio lawmakers reintroduce medically unproven ‘abortion reversal’ bill
Ohio lawmakers are once again proposing that patients be made aware of a controversial and unproven “abortion reversal” method. State Reps. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, and Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, are the main sponsors of a bill they are calling the “Abortion Pill Reversal Information Act.” Two-dozen Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives have signed […]
She says vaccines make you magnetized. This lawmaker invited her testimony, chair says.
After a discredited doctor’s conspiracy theories involving COVID-19 vaccines, magnetics and 5G towers made a mockery of the Ohio House of Representatives, the Health chairman blamed the sponsor of anti-vaccination legislation for inviting the doctor to testify before the committee. House Health Committee Chairman Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, said in an interview that fellow Republican Rep. […]
More efforts this fall to legalize sports betting in Ohio? A good bet.
Ohioans will have to hold off from planning their next Buckeyes-Bengals-Browns parlay, but perhaps for not too much longer. Ohio lawmakers did not finalize a proposal on legal sports gambling before departing the Statehouse for a summer break. But it’s a sure bet they will take a close look at the issue upon returning to […]
Mailbag: What’s the cost of sending Highway Patrol to the Texas border?
Welcome back to another installment of the Ohio Capital Journal Mailbag, which rank choice voting has shown is the most-read political column in the state. (Or at least is readers’ third pick.) Let’s get to it: Got a question about Ohio politics/government? Send them by email to [email protected] or tweet them to @tylerjoelb. Any new […]
History Thursday: Budget debate led lawmakers to mow Statehouse lawn
By the fall of 1971, having tried just about everything else to get the state budget passed, Ohio lawmakers turned to their next great negotiating tool: Lawnmowers. The tardy budget meant state funding cuts. Lawmakers protested by cutting the grass on the Statehouse grounds themselves. Fifty years later, the Ohio General Assembly would pass a […]
Ohio ballots will list party affiliations for top judicial candidates
A change to Ohio’s ballot rules could impact key Supreme Court races in 2022 and influence the leaning of the state’s highest court for years to come. Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Thursday that will list candidates’ party affiliations on ballots for certain judicial races. This will include races for the Ohio […]
DeWine signs budget, blocks erasure of COVID-19 health violations
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the $74 billion, two-year state budget into law, keeping in place nearly all of its signature policy positions and spending priorities while once again nixing an effort by Republican lawmakers to counter his administration’s methods of handling the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also vetoed an attempt by Republican lawmakers to […]
Budget includes $250M for Ohio broadband internet expansion
Few items in the new state budget will have as direct an impact on Ohioans’ lives as the money to be spent on improving access to broadband internet, what one lawmaker has long championed as the “great social equalizer of our time.” Lawmakers agreed to spend $250 million on broadband internet expansion projects to aid […]