This week a dangerous one in Legislature
For Ohio taxpayers, this new week is this year’s most dangerous week: The Ohio General Assembly is antsy to go home. And that means not everyone pays attention to what the Legislature passes — including the Legislature itself.
At the Statehouse, Recess Week is a little like Black Friday, when American retailers supposedly rack up nice margins thanks to early Christmas shoppers. The differences is that Recess Week extends over several days, not just one. And the people striving to make budget are lobbyists.
Several measures are especially likely to keep people who are tactfully called “the interested parties” very interested. One is House Bill 123, which — as introduced — is intended to rein in payday lenders. Almost 10 years ago, in 2008, by an overwhelming margin, Ohio voters tried to do that. But the lenders found loopholes and have been flouting 2008 referendum ever since.
House Bill 123, sponsored by Reps. Kyle Koehler, a Springfield Republican, and Michael Ashton, a Toledo Democrat, would not drive payday lenders out of Ohio, despite what lenders imply. The Koehler-Ashton bill would let payday lenders continue to make nice profits in Ohio — just not the obscene profits they rack up now. Ohio’s Republican-run House passed HB 123 in a 71-17 vote on June 7. New House Speaker Ryan Smith, of Gallia County’s Bidwell, was among those voting “yes” on the Koehler-Ashton bill.
At this writing, HB 123 is pending in the Senate Finance Committee. It’s an open question whether the Senate will butcher the bill to please the payday loan lobby. If the Senate does that, it could put Ryan Smith in an interesting spot. Smith was elected House speaker because Republican thenSpeaker Clifford A. Rosenberger resigned in April. Federal investigators are said to be interested in a Rosenberger junket to London. The junket included payday loan lobbyists.
Given that background, could Ryan’s House Republican caucus politically afford to go along with a Senate rewrite of HB 123 — if, that is, the Senate weakens the consumer safeguards for payday loan borrowers that House members Koehler and Ashton want?
The House’s agreement is unlikely. That’s why people who support what Koehler and Ashton wanted HB 123’s to do may have to keep their eyes glued to the Statehouse over the summer recess. A bill the Senate and House can’t agree on goes to a Senate-House conference committee.
A conference committee in Ohio is composed of six legislators — three state senator, and three state representatives. And those six conferees can do some ... amazing ... things in trying to meld competing legislative proposals into one hybrid (to use a nice word for it) bill.
Ohio’s only political feast day: Today in Greene County is as close to a feast day as political Ohio’s calendar has: The DeWine Family Ice Cream Social, which will be from 1 to 5 p.m. at their Cedarville homestead.
The hosts are Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee for governor, and his wife, Fran DeWine. The social will offer live music ( Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers); games and face-painting for children; and the feast — ice cream from Young’s Jersey Dairy plus Fran DeWine’s pies.
Mike DeWine’s running mate, Secretary of State Jon Husted, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and the rest of the statewide GOP ticket are expected at the social. The formal program will start at 3 p.m. Sure thing, there’s Republican politicking, but the social is also a kind of Ohio folk event with a statewide draw.
A visitor’s never quite sure whom he or she will run into.
House Bill 123, sponsored by Reps. Kyle Koehler, a Springfield Republican, and Michael Ashton, a Toledo Democrat, would not drive payday lenders out of Ohio, despite what lenders imply. The bill would let payday lenders continue to make nice profits in Ohio — just not the obscene profits they rack up now.