Ohio Legislature

The Human Rights Campaign estimates there are 1.8 million LGBTQ Ohioans and their allies. And there’s an effort to get those voters to the polls next month, with key statewide races and Ohio’s Congressional delegation on the ballot.

A Republican state representative has been tapped to fill a judicial seat in Montgomery County. 

There is something millions of Ohioans take for granted that hundreds of thousands of others dream about – broadband service. All of Ohio’s major cities have it and some communities even offer it free to residents. But in some parts of Ohio, it is limited, cost prohibitive or isn’t even available. The Legislature is considering two bills that are meant to provide broadband services to areas of the state that don’t have it. But even though they have bipartisan support, the bills appear to be stalled. 

The Ohio House has passed controversial payday loan legislation meant to close loopholes those lenders use to charge high interest rates - as a reported probe into activities involving the former Speaker and payday lending lobbyists continues. 

A bill will be introduced later this week that would change the rules under which lawmakers accept gifts and would ban international travel. This comes in the wake of the resignation of former House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, who has hired an attorney to deal with inquiries from the FBI. 

A new bill has been introduced that would require health classes cover fetal development and offer students information on where they can find prenatal care. But it doesn’t include other related information.

Lawmakers have sent to Gov. John Kasich a bill that would make a permanent sales tax holiday one weekend in August, replacing the temporary one Ohioans have seen for the past three years. The bill also includes a provision meant to make schools safer.

A so-called “red flag” bill introduced in the Republican-dominated Ohio Senate would allow guns to be confiscated from people thought to be safety risks to themselves and others. Within two weeks of that seizure, a court would have to decide whether the person could get his or her gun back. 

Ohio’s child support system hasn’t been updated since 1992. Some Ohio lawmakers say it’s high time to do that.

Talks continue between majority Republican lawmakers and some of those who oppose their proposed redistricting reform ballot issue. 

It’s crunch time for state lawmakers who must consider whether to pass their new Congressional redistricting plan and put it before voters in May. It’s been revised to encourage Democrats to buy into it but those changes haven’t been enough for them, or for citizens’ groups that plan to put a different redistricting issue before voters this fall. The battle has been heated at times.

State lawmakers and some backers of a citizen-led initiative to change the way the Congressional map is drawn continue to hammer out an agreement on a new plan behind closed doors. 

Supporters of a redistricting plan that might be on the November ballot are critical of a bill being considered by Ohio lawmakers that would let them retain control over the process of drawing Congressional district lines. 

A bill designed to help protect victims of dating violence that lawmakers said was a high priority is on its way to the Senate. 

Today’s shootings at multiple locations in Northern California, including an elementary school, are prompting more conversations about gun control. The debate happens daily in nearly every part of the country and today, it was front and center as a gun bill was debated at the Statehouse. But can common ground be found? 

An Ohio lawmaker says more needs to be done to help Ohioans who suffer from diabetes so he’s proposing a bill he thinks will develop a foundation for progress to battle the disease. 

The Ohio House has put the state a step closer to becoming the third to pass a ban on abortions after a diagnosis of Down Syndrome has been made. 

A controversial white nationalist says he’ll sue two state universities if they don’t agree by Friday to let him speak on their campuses. The request is raising concerns about safety if the speech is eventually allowed. The sponsor of a so-called “campus free speech” bill says it could set rules for situations like this in the future.

Ohio lawmakers are considering a bipartisan bill that would keep dangerous felons behind bars and increases monitoring of them once they are released. It comes after the kidnapping, rape, and murder of an Ohio State student from northwest Ohio earlier this year.

Gov. John Kasich has formally signed what’s become known as “Judy’s Law.” It is legislation named for a Columbus woman that imposes longer prison sentences on attackers who intentionally disfigure their victims by using accelerants to set them on fire.  And this law might not be the last to crack down on domestic violence.

Child enticement charges against a convicted sex offender in central Ohio were recently dropped because an Ohio Supreme Court ruling had thrown out part of the statute. Now state lawmakers are trying to fix that part of the law.

Along with the overall $65 million budget, this week the state legislature also passed a $581 million budget for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. 

State lawmakers are considering a new bill to reform the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. It would make key changes to the program, like reducing extended injured worker benefits for retirees. And it would also change the name of the agency.

A controversial abortion bill that Gov. John Kasich vetoed at the end of last year has been reintroduced in the Ohio legislature. 

A bill to combat and prevent fraud against senior citizens is being considered by state lawmakers.

Some Ohio lawmakers are pushing a bill that they say would save consumers, and in particular women, about $4 million a year. 

Every two years there are more than a thousand bills introduced in the Statehouse that never get enough support to pass the House and Senate and are left to die at the end of the session. But this was the year many of those controversial bills actually passed. There are still plenty of bills left on the cutting room floor.

A bill that would ban abortion at the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected was passed late last night in the Ohio House. That vote came a few hours after it was suddenly approved in the Senate. And it got through the legislature in an unexpected way.

Ohio law currently prohibits concealed carry permit owners from carrying their weapons into public or private spaces that are clearly designated with signs saying guns are not allowed on the premises. But a new bill under consideration at the Statehouse would change that.

Controversial police involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota are raising a lot of questions about the racial discrimination by law enforcement. One state lawmaker says it’s time for her colleagues in the Ohio Legislature to take action.