COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Ohio Statehouse had its last official session for the year on Wednesday. In the session that lasted until 2:15 a.m. Thursday, lawmakers said goodbye to outgoing members, sent several bills to the governor, and approved a measure for the May ballot.
House Joint Resolution 8 passed with bi-partisan support. It will ask voters to authorize $2.5 billion in spending for infrastructure come May.
The $2.5 billion would be allocated over 10 years and is an increase from the current $2 billion, which is expiring on July 1, 2025.
The resolution was approved with bi-partisan support to renew the grant loan program that was first created in 1987. The money goes to local governments for projects on things like roads, bridges, and water supplies.
House Bill 8 passed with only four Republicans between both chambers voting against it. would allow parents to opt their students out of “sexuality content,” would require that parents be notified about changes in their child’s mental, emotional, or physical health, and prohibit school personnel from encouraging a student to withhold information from a parent, unless it would result in abuse, abandonment or neglect.
“In the end it is parents who should get to make the decisions concerning their children’s education,” Senator Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) said. “Schools should not have the broad authority to keep secret information about some else’s child.”
“This bill has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, is unnecessary and is another example of solution looking for a problem,” Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said.
The bill was amended in the Senate to also require public schools to allow students to leave campus during the day for religious instruction. The bill has a provision to require that background checks are performed on those implementing religious release programs.
“You’re mixing religion and education in public schools, I mean I’ve seen unconstitutional stuff come our way, it just continues,” Representative Joe Miller (D-Amherst) said.
“If you continue to push back and if you continue to tell parents that they can’t choose just a few minutes a day of release time religious instruction, you’re going to leave them with no choice but leave for the entire day and go to a private school, a charter school,” Representative Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said. “This is a better option for public schools.”
House Bill 206 could result in indefinite expulsions for students who pose an “imminent and severe endangerment,” to the health and safety of other students or staff. It received a mix of support from Republicans and Democrats.
The bill allows an expulsion of 180 days, during that time the student will still receive schoolwork at home. The student must also be assessed by a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or licensed school psychologist to determine whether the student poses a danger.
At the end of the expulsion period, the student’s superintendent assesses the student to determine whether they have shown “sufficient rehabilitation,” and may extend expulsion for 90-day periods thereafter.
The bill now also increases the appropriation authority for school choice program administration in fiscal year 2025 from up to $4 million to up to $8.14 million to help with ongoing lawsuits regarding school choice.
“This is just another example of universal vouchers being out of control,” Representative Phil Robinson (D-Solon) said.
That bill also allows for easier access to prescribe seizure medications to student during the school day and has provisions regarding school closures for poor-performing schools.
House Bill 7 passed with bi-partisan support. It is a measure to support mothers and babies. It originally had a multi-million-dollar appropriation in it, but all the spending was stripped before passing the statehouse.
The bill now has several policies in it, to do things like update the Medicaid program’s coverage of “evidence-based mental health and dyadic family therapy services for young children and their caregivers.”
“This is just providing the codes, you all will make the decision next term as to how to provide the funding,” Senator Matt Dolan (Chagrin Falls) said.
House Bill 49, a hospital price transparency bill, made it across the finish line in a last-minute move. The bill was amended in to House Bill 173; the bill’s sponsor said a middle-ground was found between the Senate version, which largely gutted the bill, and the originally introduced bill.
“It sounds absurd, but we never knew the price and your vote today will allow us to know the price for non-emergency services,” Representative Tim Barhorst (R-Fort Loramie).
House Bill 315 was amended with several bills and was the big hold up of the night. The bill has provisions regarding name image and likeness (NIL) provisions for college athletes. The bill also includes Madeline’s Law, which requires health benefit plans to provide coverage for the cost of one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear up to $2,500. It passed both chambers with bi-partisan support and now heads to the governor’s desk for consideration.
“We’re not pulling a fast one here in the dark of night,” Representative DJ Swearingen (R-Huron) said during his 2 a.m. floor speech on the bill.
“The only complaint of this this bill is that it didn’t do enough,” Representative Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake). “But this is a good bill.”
Senate Bill 326 would have banned the sale of Delta-8 products but in a last minute decision two weeks ago, the effort was dropped in Senate committee.
Delta 8 is a low-level THC that can give the user a high similar to marijuana and Governor Mike DeWine has been calling for its regulation for a year. Lawmakers are likely to bring the issue back up at the start of the new year.
House Bill 79 was an energy efficiency bill that narrowly passed the House. The bill was poised to have a Senate committee vote on Wednesday, but that committee was ultimately cancelled. The bill’s sponsors say it would have, in theory, helped consumers save on their bills and help reduce excess energy use.
Senate Bill 75 was meant to allow the creation of joint economic development districts, but was amended with several provisions on Wednesday, and ultimately failed. One of the provisions put into the bill would have prohibited homeowners’ associations from restricting political yard signs on private properties. The legislation ultimately failed to pass the House 38-53. The sponsor of the HOA yard-sale bill said he will re-introduce his bill next year.
House Bill 296 would have increased contributions to the Police and Fire Pension Fund after a lot of deliberation in the House, and passing that chamber, it ultimately did not get taken up by the Senate. Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it would have been “extraordinarily difficult” to get that done in a compressed time period.
Property tax legislation has been debated for the past two years extensively at the Ohio Statehouse. Despite the debate, nearly two dozen bills being introduced and a study commission, efforts to bring Ohioans relief stalled, and will likely become a consideration for next year’s operating budget. The budget typically passes in June.
Pay raises for public officials, including state lawmakers, were on the table for a few weeks and being debated behind the scenes. Lawmakers ultimately decided not to move forward with giving themselves a raise. Senate President Huffman said there was not the political will to get that done.
Senate Bill 83 was an overhaul to higher education, it stalled back in June. The bill’s sponsor, at the time, said if it did not pass by the end of 2024, he would reintroduce it with none of the compromises that he made throughout the past year.
School bus safety legislation was mulled over by lawmakers for more than a year, but ultimately did not make it across the finish line. Leadership said some sort of school bus safety measure is likely to be re-considered next year.
