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No Senate session on developmental centers before summer recess
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
The Republican head of the Ohio Senate said Tuesday he doesn’t expect to call his chamber back into session before the end of the summer recess, but he is seeking assurances of quality-care options for families affected by the closing of state facilities that house residents with developmental disabilities.
Senate President Keith Faber, a Republican from Celina, also said there has been no movement by lawmakers to overturn a veto by Gov. John Kasich of a provision in the state budget to postpone the closing of developmental centers in the Youngstown and Dayton areas.
“Any veto override has to start in the House,” Faber told reporters Tuesday. “Right now I haven’t heard from the House any willingness to work on that issue.”
Brittany Warner, a spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, said she was not aware of any plans to overturn the governor’s vetoes.
Families, workers and other supporters of the Youngstown Developmental Center have continued to call for lawmakers to return to session and push ahead with the creation of a closure commission to review the Kasich administration’s earlier-announced plans to close the Austintown facility in the next two years.
Lawmakers included the commission in the biennial budget that was signed into law late last month, but the governor used his line-item veto authority to strike the language from the final version of the two-year spending plan.
Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, and other lawmakers from the Mahoning Valley have publicly called for the Legislature to override Kasich’s veto of the closure commission.
Faber acknowledged Tuesday the difficult nature of the planned closings.
“I’m pushing the administration to give assurances that everybody will be able to have the quality of care that they’ve come to expect and they need for their family members,” he said.
“That is the first priority. While I’m sure it’s important and also a priority that family members have access to care where they want it and as local as possible, when you talk about maximizing state resources, making sure the care’s available is the first priority. That’s the discussion that’s going to be had.”