Lawmakers craft bills as if in shrink’s waiting room
The best thing that can be said about Ohio’s 134th General Assembly is that the inmates haven’t done too much damage — yet. The real test will come in June in the always-frantic rush to pass a state operating budget on or by July 1.
True, the Republican-run legislature has baited, or tied to bait, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine over anti-COVID-19 orders DeWine has issued. An Ohioan who sincerely thinks legislators would be better than DeWine at fighting COVID-19 should attend a daily state Senate or House session. What she or he sees will look more like a shrink’s waiting room than a legislative body.
True also, some legislators are pushing what charitably may be considered publicity stunts. Pending, for example, is a bill sponsored by Republican Reps. Reggie Stolzfus, of suburban Canton, and Jon Cross, of western Ohio’s Kenton, to designate June 14 as “President Donald J. Trump Day.” The bill asserts Trump “accomplished many great feats and addressed issues that have led our state and nation to unparalleled prosperity.”
Then there’s a bill to declare Ohio a Second
Amendment Safe Haven, sponsored by Republican Reps. Mike Loychik of suburban Warren and Diane Grendell of suburban Cleveland. Their bill would outlaw federal “infringements” on gun ownership by Ohioans and declare any such federal laws “null, void and of no effect in Ohio,” the Legislative Service Commission found. Perhaps the sponsors don’t know that attempts by Southern states to “nullify” federal laws touched off the Civil War (the “nullifiers” lost).
Median household income in Trumbull County is $47,280. Statewide, it’s $56,602. Maybe Glock or other gunmakers, seeking asylum, could make up for job losses at General Motors’ nowclosed Lordstown plant.
The plant’s site is in Loychik’s Ohio House district.
The legislature does have a serious to-do list. Item No. 1 is a constitutional school funding package. On March 24, it will have been 24 years since Ohio’s Supreme Court ruled Ohio’s school-funding “system” unconstitutional. And the legislature has never passed a constitutional replacement.
Last year, the GOP-run House fashioned a funding package said to address the matter. But the Senate, also GOP-run, refused to act.
The key factor in crafting a plan is which Republican — Speaker Robert Cupp, Senate President Matt Huffman or DeWine — will take ownership of the issue. Cupp has the broadest school funding knowledge. And politicking may not entangle Cupp because he must leave the House in 21 months
As to school funding, there’s something that needs saying — about ex-Speaker Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican. He was indicted last summer on federal corruption charges in connection with passage of House Bill 6 to make consumers subsidize Ohio’s two nuclear power plants. Householder is presumed innocent unless convicted. Come what may, though, it’s hard to imagine Householder again becoming a major political player.
Last summer’s indictment gave critics — some afraid to knock Householder when he was in power — a license to denounce him. Still, it’s always appeared Householder sincerely believes Ohio’s school-funding “system” short-changes pupils in poorer counties.
Sure, maybe that was just good politics if Householder aimed to someday run statewide. But a Perry County lawsuit led to the Supreme Court’s ruling. And Householder, who coaxed Democrats to help him become House speaker, might have the deal-making moxie to pass a fair school funding plan.
A good plan may come together anyway. Still, a bystander has to wonder what might have been.
Thomas Suddes is an adjunct assistant professor at Ohio University. Previously, he was a veteran Statehouse reporter for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.