What’s on tap in Columbus?

COLUMBUS

It’s hard to tell what lawmakers have up their sleeves for the few weeks that remain before the holiday break.

With a half a dozen or so potential voting sessions between now and mid-December, when they’re scheduled to leave town for the year, the Republican leaders of the Ohio House and Senate aren’t making it sound like there will be a whirlwind of activity.

“I’m not sure that there’s anything that we feel that we have to do before the end of the year,” House Speaker Bill Batchelder told reporters earlier this month. “We have a couple of matters pending, and I don’t want to get into them at this point, that might command that kind of attention. ... We’re looking at a fairly intensive calendar [next year] again. Perhaps not quite as intensive as passing 80 bills in the first six months [of this year] ....”

Not that there aren’t unresolved issues. The list includes workers’ compensation reform, revamped congressional redistricting maps, turnpike privatization and new mechanisms for helping local governments better control their costs.

That’s not to mention a potential new mid-biennium budget bill, which Gov. John Kasich has said will need to be completed.

But there are a few other items that could see action in coming weeks, including:

JobsOhio: Earlier this year, lawmakers OK’d the creation of the new private nonprofit to handle the state’s economic development programs. But they still have to finalize a package of law changes to officially transfer incentive programs currently housed in the Ohio Department of Development.

Lawmakers earlier indicated that the resulting legislation would be on their plate before year’s end, but a bill has not yet been introduced.

Video Slots: Senate President Tom Niehaus said legislation is in the works dealing with the state’s four new casinos and video lottery terminals at horse racing tracks.

Niehaus said a joint committee of the House and Senate would hear testimony and consider the bill, a setup aimed at moving it through the process quickly.

“We have some cleanup language for the casinos, that’s the primary thrust of the bill,” he told reporters earlier this month. “But there was a suggestion we may need to look at something on VLTs. I haven’t seen any draft yet to tell me what those items are.”

Asked about a timeline for the state receiving revenues from video slots at horse tracks, Niehaus responded, “I’ve had no discussions with the administration on their expectations on that revenue or what they intend to do with it once it does start coming in. From a personal standpoint, I hope we get the VLTs at the tracks sooner rather than later and it would be a pleasant problem to have ... revenue coming in that has not been appropriated.”

Exotic Animals: A working group has submitted its recommendations to the governor for changes to state law related to exotic animals. That document would ban most private ownership of bears, tigers, lions and a number of other animals as of 2014 and implement licensing and inspection requirements for zoos and other permitted facilities.

Given the national attention Ohio has received over the past month following the incident in Zanesville in which deputies were forced to kill dozens of wild animals let loose by their troubled owner, it’s a safe bet that the resulting legislation will receive immediate attention.

Whether lawmakers are able to compile the bill, hold hearings and pass it before the end of the year remains to be seen.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.