Waiting on the Court

Tomorrow, the Equal Districts Coalition — a group of over 30 Ohio advocacy organizations and labor unions engaged in the redistricting process — will hold a press Q&A at the Statehouse to provide an update on the current status of Ohio’s redistricting constitutional crisis. A decision on the 3rd set of GOP-authored legislative maps is expected from the Ohio Supreme Court as early as this week, a month after candidates were required to file for districts that are still not final.

  Elsewhere, the legislature will be holding hearings on new unemployment compensation reform bills, changes to Ohio's medical marijuana laws and a new two-year state capital budget.

 

Some of the new bills and hearings we're watching this week can be found highlighted below.

 

New Legislation This Week

Below are some new bills introduced last week that we will be closely monitoring. You can keep an eye on all the bills we're tracking here.

 

House Bill 593 (Humphrey) - Campaign Funds - to allow a candidate to use campaign funds to pay certain child care costs.

 

House Bill 594 (Seitz) - Elections - to make changes regarding the Ohio Elections Commission and the campaign finance law.

 

Senate Bill 308 (Antani) - Russian Restrictions - to prohibit state and local governments from investing in, granting incentives to, or contracting with Russia or companies based in Russia, to require Ohio's pension and other investment funds to divest from any such holdings, and to declare an emergency.

 

Senate Bill 310 (Craig) - Discriminatory Covenants - to address discriminatory covenants in recorded real property documents.

 

Statehouse Meetings & Events

 

Tuesday

 

11:00am - Equal Districts Coalition Press Conference Regarding Redistricting - Ladies Gallery, Statehouse.

 

11:30am - Senate Local Government & Elections - 1st hearing (sponsor) on HB458 (August Special Elections). Senate South Hearing Room or watch online.

 

Wednesday

 

11:00am - House Finance - 1st hearing (sponsor) on HB568 (Unemployment Compensation Law). Statehouse Room 313 or watch online.

 

1:30pm - Senate Session - agenda TBD - watch online

 

2:00pm - House Government Oversight - 2nd hearing (proponent and interested party testimony) on SB281 (Medical Marijuana). Statehouse Room 121 or watch online. 

 

2:30pm or after session - Senate Insurance  1st hearing (sponsor) on SB302 (Unemployment Compensation Law). Senate Finance Hearing Room or watch online.