A look back at Assembly

Random thoughts after lawmakers’ marathon pre-recess sessions and on what might happen when they return to the Statehouse near year’s end:

Getting It Done: The Ohio House and Senate showed that their members can put the pedal to the metal when they want to, moving dozens of bills in a two-day period.

After years of balking, they agreed to legalize medical marijuana, via a state-regulated system that should be in place within two years.

They finally signed off on online voter registration, but they postponed its effective date until next year.

They agreed to allow paramedics to treat dogs and cats at accident scenes, to remove the alcohol content limit on beer and to require quicker public notification of lead contamination in drinking water.

There was some other controversial stuff thrown into the mix — namely a ban on communities requiring contractors to hire local residents for public works projects and requiring bonding for those who want to seek court intervention to keep the polls open late.

Kumbaya: A handful of bills prompted some floor debate and split votes, but lawmakers mostly were in lopsided agreement on the law changes they finalized.

More than 50 bills in the Ohio House had 81 supporters or more, with similar results in the Ohio Senate.

Most of the time, Republicans and Democrats passed legislation without any real opposition, despite more public disagreements on hot-button issues.

ABORTION FLURRY

Abortion: Speaking of the latter, the Ohio Senate passed its version of legislation requiring burial or incineration of aborted fetuses, sending it to the House for further consideration.

Curiously, comparable legislation has already worked its way through the committee process in the House, but no floor vote has taken place yet.

Also on the abortion front, the House has declined, to date, to take a final vote on legislation to ban abortions solely based on prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome, despite a committee sign-off a year ago.

Another bill, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Act, which would ban abortions about 20 weeks after conception, passed the Ohio Senate but awaits action in the House.

That could mean a coming lame-duck session heavy with abortion-related bills.

Lame Duck: Don’t expect to see lawmakers too active at the Statehouse until after the general election.

The Ohio Senate does have some session days scheduled in September and October, but the bulk of activity in the Ohio House and Senate likely will take place in late November and early December. The Ohio House has only five scheduled session days before the end of the year.

Depending on how the election turns out, that could make for an interesting few weeks, with controversial bills hitting the floors and potential late-night votes.

Quack, quack: One state lawmaker has formalized his opposition to such lame- duck sessions. Rep. Terry Boose, R-Norwalk, recently introduced HB 577, which would prohibit the General Assembly from coming back into session following even-year general elections.

Boose has made his thoughts on lame-duck sessions clear in the past, saying lawmakers should take the time necessary to fully vet legislation and not push “Christmas tree” bills through the process at the last minute, without ample time to fully understand the contents.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent.