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10 Ohio bills that could become law soon
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Abortions would be restricted, concealed guns could be allowed on college campuses, and local efforts to raise the minimum wage could be quashed under legislation passed by lawmakers during the final days of their two-year session.
There also was legislation aimed at making sure more Ohio-born babies are healthy – both inside and outside the womb – during the first years of life.
In total, dozens of bills were finalized by the Ohio House and Senate during the final three voting days of the 131st General Assembly last week.
Most of the bills likely will see final enactment, but there are questions on a few as the law changes head to Gov. John Kasich for his review and signature or veto.
Here are 10 bills that could eventually become Ohio’s newest state laws:
111Senate Bill 127 would ban the procedure about 20 weeks after conception – at the point when the unborn child could feel pain.
House Bill 493 would ban abortions about six weeks after conception, when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The latter includes an appropriation, so the governor has line-item veto authority and could strike sections of the bill.
Republicans mostly voted in favor of both. Democrats mostly voted against them.
Expect legal challenges on either, if they’re signed into law, as opponents say they are unconstitutional.
111But the legislation was amended to include the contents of HB 48, which could allow permitted individuals to carry concealed firearms into day-care centers, on the campuses of public universities and in unsecured governmental buildings.
Universities’ governing bodies would have to authorize concealed carry, however.
111SB 331 included language regulating the sale of dogs at pet stores if the animals are obtained from sources other than rescue groups or qualified breeders or retailers.
The bill specifies it is the intent of the General Assembly to “pre-empt any local ordinance, resolution or law adopted to regulate the sale, delivery, barter, auction, broker or transfer of a dog to a person from a pet store.”
Opponents say the language is directed at ordinances adopted in Grove City and Toledo to restrict the sale of dogs from puppy mills.
SB 331 was amended by the Ohio House to include other measures to pre-empt local laws, including language blocking communities from establishing a minimum wage higher than the rate set in the Ohio Constitution and state law.
Cleveland voters were set to decide next year on a $15 minimum wage. The state’s rate, as of Jan. 1, will be $8.15 for nontipped employees, up from the current $8.10.
111The review process would include studies of departments’ activities, workloads, staffing, budget needs and other issues.
The key: Lawmakers would have to act after each review for the offices to remain in operation.
Labor and other groups opposed the bill, and Democrats in the chamber mostly opposed the law changes.
111Backers of the freeze said the standards were higher than those in place in other states and would lead to higher energy bills for businesses and consumers.
Opponents, however, said SB 310 would reverse course on green-energy advancements that are needed to protect the environment and hurt manufacturers of wind turbines and solar panels and other related green industries.
The freeze instituted under SB 310 required lawmaker action before the end of this year, or the former renewable energy and efficiency mandates would take effect next year.
The resulting legislation, HB 554, passed on split votes in the Ohio House and Senate. It would make the former energy mandates voluntary. The bill also would soften annual energy-efficiency targets.
“I’m a little more worried that this freeze is permanent,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd. “We’re not kicking the can down the road for some study commission or some dumb subcommittee that we’re going to do. We’re kicking the can down the road, [and] we’re talking about jobs for Ohioans, and that’s a major concern.”
Bill proponents, however, argued the market should dictate investments, not government mandates.
111SB 332 is lengthy legislation that includes a ban on the sale of crib bumper pads. The legislation capped several years of work by lawmakers, who toured facilities and programs around the state and gathered information as part of a Commission on Infant Mortality. The latter released a report with recommendations. SB 332 codifies those recommendations.
In 2014, the state’s infant-mortality rate was 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Black babies died at a rate of 14.3 per 1,000 live births, more than triple the rate for white births.
Last year, the state’s infant mortality rate – that is, the number of babies who died during their first year of life – remained among the highest in the nation.
111The bill also would increase regulations on facilities that provide treatment and prescriptions involving opioids, implement registration requirements for pharmacy technicians, and limit drugs provided to a patient at a given time.
11111Among other provisions, the bill would require businesses wanting to sell goods and services to the state to formally declare they are not boycotting or reducing an investment from covered countries. Such language would have to be included in state contracts.
Backers say the legislation will help bolster Ohio’s trading activity in countries such as Israel. Opponents said the bill amounts to a restriction on Ohioans’ First Amendment right to criticize.
2222The legislation calls for a two-year freeze on unemployment benefits starting in 2018, a slight increase in taxes paid by employers into the system, and the elimination interest penalties paid by employers when the state has to borrow from the federal government to cover benefits.
Those measures could be short-lived, however, as lawmakers eye passage of another bill by April.