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DeWine to Announce Reopening Plan

Statehouse Preview

Week of April 27, 2020

Statehouse work continues online this week (see below), but House Speaker Larry Householder has informed House staff to return for in-person work beginning next week.

The House has scheduled sessions on May 5 (if needed), 6, 7, 13, 14, 19 and 21st, and plans tor resume committee meetings in some of the larger hearing rooms with accommodations made for social distancing.

The Senate, for its part, has a session scheduled for Wednesday but is widely expected to cancel it in favor of a meeting date later in May. The chamber and its leader, Senate President Larry Obhof, have not indicated when or if they plan to resume business as usual. 

Today, Governor DeWine will continue his series of daily COVID-19 briefings with a much-anticipated update about the state’s plans to allow the limited resumption of certain businesses and activities. Briefings are expected to continue daily.

The House of Representatives’ Economic Recovery Task Force will continue to hear from (mostly) business owners about their economic hardships. Only one representative of workers has appeared before the panel in its three weeks of almost daily hearings.

Also today, the state Controlling Board, a panel of legislators empowered to approve spending outside the normal legislative process will consider proposals from the DeWine administration’s Office of Budget and Management and Department of Job and Family Services related to the state’s COVID-19 response. The hearing will also be streamed online.

Statehouse Meetings and Events

Monday

  • 10 am – Economic Recovery Task Force – Speakers include representatives from Stark County Minority Business Association, Mechanical Contractors Association of Ohio, Chillicothe Fireworks, Brumbaugh of Garner Trucking, cityBRANDS Holdings, LLC, Lake Erie Shores & Islands, Allen Company, Lakota Sports Organization, BASEC Management, Inc., DBA Wendy’s and Body Alive Fitness. Virtual meeting streamed live online at ohiochannel.org. 
  • 12 pm – Controlling Board – Senate North Hearing Room and streamed live online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – streamed live on ohiochannel.org.

Tuesday

  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – streamed live on ohiochannel.org.

Wednesday

  • 1:30 pm – Ohio Senate (if needed) – stream lived on ohiochannel.org.
  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – streamed live on ohiochannel.org.

Thursday

  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – streamed live on ohiochannel.org.

Friday

  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – streamed live on ohiochannel.org.

Kasich, PUCO have lost their way when it comes to Ohio consumers, businesses

In Gov. John Kasich’s first budget, he slashed the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel in half, laying off 30 employees and severely injuring the agency from fully representing 4.5 million Ohioans against the well-financed utilities. When the top consumer cop asked to meet with the Governor to explain how this would hurt the average person, he refused. Kasich has since appointed Todd Snitchler to run the PUCO. Snitchler is a former politician with no significant background in public utilities. Snitchler recently gained national attention for using his Twitter account to negatively portray the renewable energy industry and climate science. But it is not the tweeting that should concern Ohioans. Kasich’s appointees at the PUCO are getting a reputation as not adequately protecting the interests of consumers and businesses, siding all too often with powerful special interests like FirstEnergy. [Read more…]

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