Rotunda Rumblings
GOP’s war on coal? A bipartisan group of state lawmakers rejected an amendment backed by a handful of House Republicans that would have delayed the repeal of an ongoing bailout of two coal-fired power plants. As Jake Zuckerman reports, the bailouts have cost ratepayers $679 million over the past decade ($174 million last year alone), all paid via customers’ electric bills. The subsidies are one of the last vestiges of the scandal-ridden House Bill 6 from 2019.
Scholarly endeavors: The Ohio Senate on Wednesday OK’d changes the Ohio House made to Senate Bill 1, the sweeping higher education overhaul. This vote sends the bill to the desk of Gov. Mike DeWine, who has said he’ll likely sign it. The bill largely bans DEI, which is not defined in the bill, along with faculty strikes, and requires professors to honor the intellectual diversity of all students, even if they have views that are largely disproven. Lawmakers in support of the bill said conservative students shouldn’t fear being canceled. Opponents said the bill will discourage talented faculty from working in Ohio, Laura Hancock reports.
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Doubling down: Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday made his most forceful public comments yet in favor of his proposal to help pay for stadium projects (like a proposed new suburban Cleveland Browns stadium) by doubling Ohio’s tax on sports-betting companies. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the governor said it would be “poetic justice” to tax out-of-state gambling companies that “don’t give anything to the (state) economy” and create a permanent source of revenue so future governors and lawmakers don’t have to choose between funding stadiums and funding things like education and mental-health initiatives. However, DeWine’s comments come as lawmakers are preparing to erase his plan from the state budget bill and swap in the Browns’ preferred way of obtaining $600 million in stadium aid: issuing state-backed bonds.
No sale: U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown on Wednesday filed a formal objection to the federal government’s plans to sell the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building, urging the agency that manages federally owned real estate to reconsider its decision, Sabrina Eaton writes. A spokesman for the Warrensville Heights Democrat said representatives of the General Services Agency (GSA), which manages federal properties, told her it plans to get rid of the building within three years and instead rent office space for the more than 4,000 federal workers it houses.
Ghost guns: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Biden-administration restrictions on “ghost guns” that Ohio Republicans, including Attorney General Dave Yost, argued was overreach, Eaton reports. At issue was a rule that former President Joe Biden announced at the same time he nominated former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steve Dettelbach to head the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It clarified that so-called “ghost gun” kits qualify as “firearms” under the 1968 Gun Control Act, and that commercial manufacturers of the kits must therefore become licensed and include serial numbers on the kits’ frame or receiver.
More money, more problems: The State Teachers Retirement System says it would need more contributions (money) in order to meet the goals lawmakers have set for pension reform. Anna Staver reports that STRS would like an addition 4% but did not specify whether it should come from teachers or school districts—both of which say they don’t have more to give.
Colombia delegation: A commission of eight Colombian congressmen met with Colombian-born U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican, Colombia One reports. Efrain Cepeda, President of the Senate, headed the Colombian delegation. During the meeting, the Colombian congressmen, all of them of conservative and members of the opposition, denounced “pressures” from President Petro’s government towards their legislative work. At the end of the visit, Cepeda announced that a U.S. congressional delegation will visit Colombia in August.
On target: The Emily’s List political action committee on Wednesday named Ohio Republican U.S. Reps. Max Miller of Bay Village, Mike Turner of Dayton and Mike Carey of Columbus among the 46 House Republicans it will target for defeat in the 2026 midterm elections. “Democratic pro-choice women will be at the heart of the fight for the majority by flipping competitive seats across the country,” said a statement from EMILYs List President Jessica Mackle. “House Republicans beware; we are coming for your seats.”
Meeting canceled: A closed-door meeting between members of a House subcommittee and officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was cut short on Tuesday after the top two lawmakers – South Russell Republican U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce and Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer – clashed over the terms of the gathering, The Hill reports. The invitation said the meeting was an “off-the-record briefing,” but Hoyer said he told Joyce at the beginning of the event that he would not abide by those terms because he believed it was important for his constituents and others to be aware of what OPM has been doing. Joyce confirmed the episode in a statement to The Hill, accusing Democrats of attempting “political posturing instead of fact finding” when they rejected the off-the-record terms.
Faculty union: The Ohio Employment Labor Relations Board certified last week a vote for the faculty at Ohio University to unionize. The vote was 453 in favor to 189 against. About 800 professors will be represented by the United Academics of Ohio University, part of the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers. Twelve Ohio college campuses belong to the union, according to a news release by the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
Getting schooled: A new website allows Ohioans to look up their school district and discover how much money it currently receives, and how much it will get with and without the additional dollars from the Fair School Funding Plan, which was a bipartisan education funding reform. It also includes links for people to write lawmakers that represent each school district in hopes that people will demand lawmakers fund under the Fair School Funding Plan. The information was put together by All in for Ohio Kids, a coalition of labor unions and left-leaning research and activist groups.
Full Disclosure
Here are five things we learned from the Feb. 20, 2024, ethics disclosure form filed by state Rep. Munira Abdullahi, a Columbus Democrat, about her 2023 finances:
1. Besides Abdullahi’s 2023 legislative salary of $76,208.66, she made somewhere between $25,000 and $49,999 that year working as program director for the Muslim American Society. She also earned somewhere between $1,000 and $9,999 serving as a trainer for New American Leaders, a nonprofit that recruits people of immigrant heritage to run for political office.
2. Abdullahi listed having no investments in 2023 worth more than $1,000.
3. At some point in 2023, Abdullahi owed more than $1,000 to Discover, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and Hyundai Motor Finance.
4. New American Leaders paid for a plane ticket for Abdullahi in June 2023 (costing $391.82), as well as her hotel bill ($280). The nonprofit also covered more than $100 worth of food and beverages for her during the year.
5. Abdullahi listed no real estate that she owns, though state lawmakers are not required to list their personal residence or any properties used for personal recreation.
Birthdays
Ex-state Rep. Jeff Rezabek
Jennifer Tock, Ohio House page resource officer
Straight from the Source
“You’ve got the wrong guy. I’m not Jon Husted. I’m not Bernie Moreno. I’m Mike DeWine. I have enough to worry about here. ...I don’t have to air an opinion about everything that the president does or Congress does.”
- Gov. Mike DeWine, at a Columbus Metropolitan Club event Wednesday, responding to a question about President Donald Trump’s tariff policy from moderator Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Media. Husted and Moreno are Ohio’s two U.S. senators (the same job DeWine held from 1995 until 2007). However, the governor then answered the question, saying that it still remains to be seen whether, in the long term, Trump’s tariff hikes will result in lower tariffs or a trade war.
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