Innovation Ohio

What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy

Bills Introduced in Response to Ohio House GOP Scandal

Ohio House Has a New Speaker But No Plans To Legislate

Last week, Ohio Republicans selected the man who would become the next House Speaker. Lima Republican Bob Cupp was selected as Ohio’s newest House Speaker following a 90-0 vote to remove Larry Householder, who was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier in the day on charges of orchestrating a $61 million pay-to-play scheme, the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history.

In remarks to the press after the vote, Cupp indicated he had no immediate plans to call the Chamber back into action, suggesting that the scheduled session date in mid-September might be the next time they would be back in Columbus. The Senate, likewise, has no scheduled meetings before mid-August, so, as a result, there are no committee hearings to share this week.

Today we’re sharing the new bills introduced since our last dispatch, many of them a response to the Householder/House GOP scandal and the controversial FirstEnergy bailout legislation at the center of it.

New Legislation This Week –

Below are some of the new bills lawmakers introduced in the last several weeks. You can also view the complete list of bills we’re tracking.

How Ohio’s Secretary of State Can Ensure a Safe & Successful General Election

Innovation Ohio Calls on Secretary of State Frank LaRose To Act

In the face of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio must work aggressively to provide multiple ways for Ohioans to vote in the November election that are safe and convenient. The problems that surfaced in the delayed March primary — a complicated process of requesting and returning a ballot, difficulty securing postage and lack of awareness of vote-by-mail procedures – all remain unaddressed. With the legislature at a standstill thanks to a federal corruption probe, it is up to Ohio Secretary of State LaRose, working with local Boards of Elections, to ensure that all modes of voting are easily accessible to all registered voters.

Read The Full Report

We urge the Secretary of State to exercise his authority and use funding already available to:

  • Include and pay for return postage on all absentee ballot applications and ballots
  • Allow voters to submit an absentee ballot request online
  • Establish multiple secure drop boxes for absentee ballot return
  • Commit to resist efforts to close polling locations, which only results in longer lines and more crowded indoor spaces.

You can download the full report by clicking the orange “download full report” button in the sidebar of this page or by clicking the blue “Read the full report” button above.

Click here to sign the petition from All In For Ohio urging Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to take these four actions to save our November election from chaos and voter suppression.

New Report: With Ohio Legislature In Chaos, Frank LaRose Must Act

We’re back with a mid-week update to give you the backstory on Innovation Ohio’s latest analysis, outlining four actions Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose can take today to make the November election safer & more accessible.

Ohio Senate Refuses to Pass Bad Voting Bill, Calls For More Hearings on HB680

Now it’s up to Secretary of State Frank LaRose to make sure the November election is safe for all Ohio voters.

In Monday’s update, we wrote about an Ohio Senate hearing and possible vote on a bill (House Bill 680) to move up the deadline to request an absentee ballot in November. The bill would also unnecessarily tie the hands of the Secretary of State, disallowing him from doing a number of things to make it easier to vote by mail. A lot has happened since then.

Many Senators and witnesses, including Sec. LaRose, support the idea to move up the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot to ensure mail delays don’t result in voters receiving it too late to return it by the deadline. However, other provisions in the bill — revoking the Secretary’s authority to provide return postage for ballots and failing to explicitly authorize a way for voters to request their absentee ballot online — appear unpopular among Senators on a bipartisan basis, and the Chairman held the bill over for future hearings.

If the Senate makes any changes to the bill, it would need action by the House in order to become law – a 90-day process that already puts us in late October.
On Tuesday, as HB680 was being heard, news broke of a $60 million corruption scandal involving the House Speaker.

Larry Householder has resisted calls to step down and members of his leadership team continue to oppose calls to expel him. Until the House replaces the Speaker — who as a condition of his release on felony charges — cannot travel or be in contact with any potential witnesses in the case — it cannot function to do the work of the people.

Innovation Ohio Calls on Secretary of State Frank LaRose To Act

Read the full report here

In order to have a safe and accessible election, Ohio voters have only one hope left and it’s Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Today we published an analysis showing that the Secretary has the authority, without an act of the legislature, to:

  • Include and pay for return postage on all absentee ballot applications and ballots
  • Allow voters to submit an absentee ballot request online
  • Establish multiple secure drop boxes for absentee ballot return
  • Commit to resist efforts to close polling locations, which only results in longer lines and more crowded indoor spaces

Read our analysis of Frank LaRose’s legal authority to protect the November election

Take Action

Sign All In For Ohio’s petition

Sign the petition

It’s time for LaRose to act with or without the assistance of the legislature. All In For Ohio has created a petition you can sign to send a message to Secretary of State LaRose that our elections are too important to be held up thanks to a dysfunctional legislature. 

Sign the petition today to send a message to Frank LaRose that it’s time to act.

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.

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