Republicans moved to label natural gas a green energy this week, change who is in charge of Ohio’s public education system and restrict how transgender girls play sports.
We break down what it all means in this week’s episode of Ohio Politics Explained. A podcast from the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau that catches you up on the state’s political news in 15 minutes or less. This week, host Anna Staver was joined by reporter Nolan Simmons.
1) Drilling for gas in state parks
A bill making it easier for students in 4-H to buy baby chickens got a couple of controversial amendments this week.
The amended House Bill 507, which passed the Senate on a party-line vote, would make it harder for the entities that govern public lands to say no to drilling underneath their properties. It would also label natural gas a green energy and restrict the types of pesticides that local governments could ban.
Republicans say the changes will make the process of drilling underneath public lands (which has been in place for a decade) more efficient. But Senate Minority Leader Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, said the change “cuts out the public and the important process of deciding if and how drilling occurs in our state parks.”
2) Transgender athletes
Republicans in the Ohio Senate made some big changes to a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams.
House Bill 151 came over to the Senate with a controversial provision that would have required physicians to verify a player’s sex by conducting a pelvic examination. That got removed this week along with the part that would have made this law apply to public colleges and universities.
Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters that “there were a lot of things in there that I didn’t like.”
The bill now would require athletes to show a birth certificate if their gender is questioned.
Huffman expects to pass the new version next week.
3) Who controls public education
A major change to how public education works in Ohio passed the Senate this week.
Senate Bill 178 would take control of education policy away from the State Board of Education and give it to the governor’s office. It would create a cabinet-level director position that would oversee this newly re-named Department of Education and Workforce.
Republicans say this change is a long time coming, but Democrats say this is a major restructuring that’s moving through the legislature too quickly. They would prefer to see this debated next year when there’s more time to hear from interested parties.
“This is going to happen…,” Huffman said. “If people say you need more time to study it, well, then we will study and probably lose a little bit of time in getting the reforms done.”
4) The new political battleground
A growing number of states are voting for the laws they want to see enacted. From abortion access to recreational marijuana, sports betting and casino gambling, statewide ballot initiatives have increasingly become a way to legislate major changes.
Here in Ohio, Republicans want to make it harder to amend the state’s constitution. A proposal, which would go before voters as early as next spring, would change the rules to require a 60% majority to pass an amendment instead of the current simple majority of 50% plus one vote.
Listen to “Ohio Politics Explained” on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts and TuneIn Radio. The episode is also available by clicking the link in this article.
The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau serves The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
