House speaker gives chairs to rival’s backers
As lawmakers continue to ease slowly into this twoyear legislative session, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder released his new committee assignments Friday, paving the way for legislation to be introduced next week.
As expected, the most experienced House member, Rep. Scott Oelslager, a Canton Republican and Householder supporter, was named chairman of the powerful House Finance Committee, which soon will begin dealing with state budgets and other spending bills. Oelslager’s last session was as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee before he switched chambers.
Two Franklin County House members were named to Finance — Reps. Adam Miller, D-columbus, who served on the committee last session, and freshman Erica Crawley, D-columbus. Delaware County’s Rep. Rick Carfagna, R-westerville, also is on the committee and will lead the subcommittee on Higher Education.
In a sign of ongoing efforts to bring the Republican caucus together after a bitter leadership fight in which Householder narrowly defeated former Speaker Ryan Smith, R-bidwell, without the support of more than half of the House Republicans, of the 20 standing House committees, half will be chaired by Smith backers.
However, Smith himself did not get a committee leadership position.
“Members of the Ohio House have a great wealth of knowledge and expertise,” Householder said. “The work of the committees will be essential to us in the 133rd General Assembly as we begin enacting our policy agenda to improve the lives of Ohioans.”
Rep. Laura Lanese, R-grove City, the only House Republican left in Franklin County, was assigned to three committees that hear legislation: Armed Services, Civil Justice and Financial Institutions. She also will serve on Rules and Reference, which primarily decides what bills are on the House floor, after she was named to the No. 6 slot on caucus leadership.
Rep. David Leland, D-columbus, was named ranking minority member of Criminal Justice, while Miller is ranking member of the Federalism Committee, which last session dealt with a number of gun bills. Rep. Kristin Boggs, D-columbus, the No. 2 caucus leader, is ranking member on Insurance.
“I’m proud of the tremendous leadership and experience our caucus brings to the table on the issues that matter most to Ohioans,” said Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D-akron. “I’m confident we were able to put the right people in the right places to begin addressing the challenges facing our state.”
Democrats netted a fiveseat pickup in November, which, along with an agreement reached with Householder as part of the deal to provide him the votes needed to become speaker, gives them a bit more representation on committees. For example, the Finance breakdown is now 21-12 in favor of Republicans, compared with 22-10 last session.