Some topics return often in Ohio lawmaking

Guns, school funding, gay rights, vicious dogs are among the bills being reintroduced.

Revamping school funding, vicious dogs, legalizing concealed weapons without training or permits, sports betting, banning sexual orientation discrimination — these disparate topics that cross party lines are among the bills Ohio lawmakers have repeatedly tried and failed to pass year after year.

Some advocates never give up hope that this will be the time they’ll get a breakthrough.

“It remains the single top priority for the Buckeye Firearms Association. I can tell you there will be a ‘constitutional’ carry bill this year,” association lobbyist Rob Sexton said.

State Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, said bills to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons without permits or training mandates have been introduced nearly every legislative session since 1995. The value in introducing such bills is to strive for the ideal but then settle for incremental improvements to gun laws, he said.

The retread bills tend to fall into three categories: hot button social issues that address abor

tion, guns, the death penalty or gay rights; complex policies such as school funding reform or fixing the state unemployment compensation fund; and a hodge podge of ideas such as strengthening vicious dog laws or legalizing backyard fireworks.

In February 2014, two neighborhood dogs fatally attacked Klonda Richey, leaving her to die on her Dayton front yard and prompting state lawmakers to call for changes in Ohio’s vicious dog laws.

Since then, six state lawmakers have taken up the cause. All six have failed. State Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, said he is once again redrafting legislation to reform the dog laws.

Although bills on these and other topics have repeatedly failed to clear all legislative hurdles, perseverance pays off sometimes.

After years of battle, anti-abortion groups got a heartbeat abortion ban law and pro-gun advocates got a “Stand Your Ground” law when Gov. Mike DeWine signed each bill.

State Sen. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, has been a champion for two bills — repealing the death penalty and passing the Fairness Act, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity — for her entire legislative career. This new legislative session, Antonio is sponsoring the bills, yet again.

Antonio said public opinion on both topics continues to evolve and she continues to discuss the bills with her colleagues, hoping to win over support.

“It’s the right thing to do and it affects the lives of people. The death penalty, I think sets the whole road map for the state of Ohio, whether or not we have that on the books, and the same could be said for the Fairness Act,” Antonio said. “I think it’s worth the long haul and the long fight, absolutely.”

She added, “I’ve been told my whole life there are things I can’t do. I refuse to accept that.”