Lawmakers focus on disrupted school year, postponed election

COLUMBUS» The fate of the remaining school year, including graduation requirements and state-mandated testing, are among the top issues before lawmakers planning a return to Columbus this week to address challenges posed by the coronavirus.

Concluding the March 17 primary — currently rescheduled for June 2 — suspending evictions and foreclosures, prohibiting utility cut-offs and creating a grace period for people unable to renew their driver’s license with almost all BMVs shut down are also high on the priority list of lawmakers and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

The GOP-controlled House and Senate are both scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday. Lawmakers

would have to suspend rules to pass legislation on an emergency basis without the normal schedule of committee hearings.

Lawmakers in the 99-member House will be divided into rooms around the Statehouse to create distance between them.

On the Senate side, senators feeling sick are encouraged to stay home and those having had contact with anyone testing positive for COVID-19 must stay home, according to a Senate memo released Tuesday afternoon. The Senate is also discouraging business attire, “which is cleaned less frequently than casual clothing,” the memo said.

Much of the coming legislation will involve flexibility in dealing with the pandemic, DeWine said Monday. “It’s different ways we can get things done as we deal with this crisis every single day,” he said.

Senate President Larry Obhof said lawmakers must deal only with “issues that are time-sensitive or directly address needs created by the pandemic.”

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has proposed a plan by which postage-paid absentee ballots would be sent to every Ohioan who hadn’t already voted in the March 17 primary, along with return postage. LaRose also wants continued discretion to allow in-person voting on June 2 if DeWine’s “stay at home” order is no longer in place.

A proposal in the GOPcontrolled House would limit the remainder of the primary to absentee balloting concluded by April 28. LaRose, a Republican and former lawmaker, said June 2 is the earliest date to manage such an undertaking.