As Recreational Marijuana debate continues, House members told to stick to original to tax plan
Ohio Faces Concerns Over Marijuana Legislation Changes, Launches $150 Million Affordable Housing Initiative, and More.
The sticky icky: Marijuana users, criminal justice reform advocates, legal aid organizations, cultivators and prevention and recovery experts testified to the Ohio House Finance Committee for nearly 3.5 hours on either changes they want the legislature to make to the initiated statute, or on the Ohio House’s proposed changes to the initiated statute, House Bill 354. Laura Hancock reports that people were unhappy with changes that would prohibit sharing of marijuana or marijuana plants, shifting around revenues to help police, and the importance of expungements.
Little pink houses: Applications open next month for $150 million in state grants and tax credits for developers who buy, build or rehab existing homes and get them to the market, Jake Zuckerman reports. Those houses (about 2,150 are forecasted) must sell for less than $180,000 and go to buyers making no more than 80% the county median income who will live there themselves.
Fair play: The Ohio Expositions Commission has voted to lease additional state-owned land to the Columbus Crew professional soccer team. As Andrew Tobias writes, the team will use the nearly nine acres, which previously had been used for livestock trailers and other parking, to build two practice fields. In exchange, the Crew will pay the state more rent and make its parking facilities available during the state fair. The move comes as the state plots out its 2050 Expo Project, a planned fairgrounds upgrade for which lawmakers recently budgeted $260 million.
Vote early and vote often: Voting has begun for the 2023 Sloopy Awards, Capitol Letter’s annual Ohio politics awards. Pick among the reader-nominated options for awards such as Most Arrogant Lawmaker, Nicest Lawmaker, Biggest Windbag and more! Voting will run through Wednesday, Dec. 20 with winners announced the following day (unless we decide to do it sooner.) Click here to find out more information, including how to vote.
Diversity training: Sen. JD Vance, a Cincinnati Republican, on Tuesday joined with several of his GOP colleagues in a letter that expresses concern that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and U.S. Department of Energy have employed a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant whom they say promotes “racial hatred and violence.” Their letter asks both agencies if they’ve “retained Janice Gassam Asare or BWG Business Solutions in any capacity, as Asare and her organization claim.” It says Asare “appears to have coined the term ‘white perversion,’” and claims her retention by a federal agency might “even run afoul of federal civil rights law, which holds that workplace ‘diversity’ and ‘harassment’ training can give rise to a hostile work environment.”
Driving range: Since Oct. 5, the number of citations the Ohio Highway Patrol has written for distracted driving has been up, now that the state is enforcing the distracted diving law. On Oct. 5, 49 citations were written. Oct. 10 had 89, Axios Columbus’ Tyler Buchanan reports.
Chicken fight: The Ohio Supreme Court heard a case Tuesday over whether the seller of a product advertised as boneless wings should be held liable if there are in fact bones in the product. The case involves Michael Berkheimer of Hamilton, near Cincinnati, the local Wings on Brockwood restaurant, Gordon Food Service chicken supplier and Wayne Farms chicken processor. The ruling could include foods advertised as gluten- or lactose-free, Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler reports.
A river runs through it: Gov. Mike DeWine said that the state will measure “forever chemicals” in large rivers but will not check for the chemicals in factories, saying that’s a job for the federal government, the Enquirer’s Elizabeth Kim reports. The chemicals are toxic and can last for hundreds of years.
Lobbying Lineup
Five organizations that are lobbying on Senate Bill 109, which would require prosecutors to send professional boards charges or indictments of medical professionals accused of engaging in sexual battery with a patient during medical treatment. If an offender is convicted, the judgement must be sent to the licensing board for suspension or revocation of the license.
1. Ohio State Coroners Association
2. Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association
3. Ohio Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers
4. Ohio Association of Physician Assistants
5. State Medical Board of Ohio
Straight From The Source
“Until we have answers, the PUCO should do its job and protect consumers by putting a hold on distribution charge increases under consideration in FirstEnergy’s $1.4 billion case.”
-Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis, calling for a halt to a FirstEnergy proposal before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio reviews a request to raise rates by $1.4 billion for 2 million customers, Tom Henry reports for the Blade.
