Rotunda Rumblings
Drug money plan: Attorney General Dave Yost’s office is distributing a proposed Ohio constitutional amendment that would funnel a large portion of potential opioid lawsuit settlement cash into a new state fund to distribute across different areas of the state. As cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports, one of Yost’s deputy AGs argued it would ensure the money goes to fighting the drug crisis. But the proposal caught many by surprise, and a spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine called the idea “premature.”
Recharging Lordstown: Ohio officials welcomed Tuesday’s news that General Motors and LG Chem plan to invest up to $2.3 billion in a new factory to produce battery cells for electric vehicles in the Lordstown area. The project will bring 1,100 new jobs to the area, which was devastated by the shutdown of GM’s Lordstown car plant, which once employed more 4,500 people.
Pot, pardons and plastic bags: Those are a few of the topics we analyzed in the latest episode of This Week in the CLE, cleveland.com’s weekly podcast. Give it a listen.
Crunch time: Lobbying is intensifying around Senate Bill 3, the criminal sentencing-reform bill, as the long-pending legislation approaches a vote before the end of the year. As cleveland.com’s Andrew Tobias reports, that includes 60-second TV ads that promoted the bill during last week’s big football games.
Try again: Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to create a Nursing Facility Patients’ Bill of Rights will have to head back to the drawing board, as Yost rejected their proposed summary language that would appear on the ballot. The suburban Cleveland real-estate agent behind the effort replied that “Nothing’s going to stop this initiative from moving forward," Pelzer reports.
SNAP shot: Up to 45,000 adults who receive food aid via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program need to work or participate in job training if they want to keep the benefit. Cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock reports the number, which was previously unknown, represents able-bodied adults without children or other dependents.
Jordan supports impeachment? Well, yes. The Ohio Republican congressman and ardent defender of President Donald Trump has twice vigorously sought to impeach federal officials – an IRS commissioner and a deputy attorney general, cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton reports. While Jordan calls the current proceedings against Trump a “sham inquiry,” in the past he called impeachment an “indispensable power that Congress has for holding government officials accountable.”
Crowning achievement: U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge is part of a coalition of lawmakers backing a bill that would ban discrimination against hair textures and hairstyles that are commonly associated with a particular race or national origin, Eaton reports. The Warrensville Heights Democrat joins New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and others in introducing the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act.
Trouble breathing: Eighty-one vaping-related illnesses have been confirmed by the Ohio Department of Health, Hancock reports. The federal government believes illicit THC e-cigarettes are at least partly accountable.
AIDS appeal: Cleveland city officials appealed an Ohio Department of Health decision to not renew $1.5 million in grants for an HIV/AIDS program. Cleveland.com’s Peter Krouse reports that the city claims the money was cut off without explanation, but the state says the decision was made after months of talks over how the city’s public health department was administering the program.
Softer option: Politico reporters Burgess Everett and Melanie Zanona interviewed Republicans in Congress about possibly censuring President Donald Trump, instead of doing nothing or going the impeachment route of House Democrats. Included was a quote from U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, who said there wouldn’t be Republican support for censure.
Striking out: Gov. Mike DeWine, who owns a minor-league baseball team in Asheville, N.C., is criticizing MLB’s plan to cut 42 teams, including the Scrappers in the Mahoning Valley. His team has been spared but he notes minor league game attendance last year in Ohio was 2.3 million, the Dayton Daily News’ Laura Bischoff and Marcus Hartman report.
Battle of former legislators: Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune is endorsing former state legislator and one-time gubernatorial candidate Connie Pillich for the Democratic seat he’s vacating due to cancer, the Enquirer’s Scott Wartman reports. Meantime, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and former Mayor Mark Mallory are endorsing former lawmaker Alicia Reece.
Revved up: Officials with the Ohio Office of Budget and Management trumpeted Ohio’s November tax collections in a Thursday release. OBM Director Kim Murnieks singled out taxes collected from auto sales, which exceeded state estimates by $12.6 million, or 12%. Overall sales tax revenues came in at $804.1 million, or 2.4% over estimates. Meanwhile, personal income tax collections were $603.5 million, or 5.7% below estimates. Murnieks said in an interview this was due to fluctuations in when people file tax returns.
Viral story: As the story about the Ohio bill that suggests doctors would have to perform a procedure that hasn’t been developed – re-implanting ectopic pregnancies – goes viral, the Associated Press explains how the bill works. The bill was introduced last month and hasn’t yet gotten a hearing.
Seconds, please: State Rep. Susan Manchester announced on Twitter she’s seeking a second term. She represents House District 84 in Mercer, Auglaize, Darke and Shelby counties.
Getting Frank: Secretary of State Frank LaRose and the Ohio Department of Public Safety are holding a 2020 election security briefing in Columbus later this morning for elections officials from all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Ohio Adjutant General John Harris also is speaking.
Buckeye Brain Tease
Question: This Marietta native is the only U.S. vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner to have co-written a number-one Billboard Hot 100 single. Name the person.
Email your response to capitolletter@cleveland.com. The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next week’s newsletter.
Thanks for responding to last week’s trivia question:
Preceding the Ohio State University/University of Michigan rivalry was a bitter dispute among the two states dating back to the 1700s over a swath of land both claimed as theirs. What is the name of the land?
Answer: Toledo Strip. According to the Ohio History Connection, Ohio and Michigan each claimed the 468-mile area, in part due to limitations of map-making during the era. After President Andrew Jackson intervened, Ohio won the Toledo Strip, and Michigan got statehood and the Upper Peninsula in exchange in 1836.
Capitol Letter reader Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was again the first to send in the correct answer. Thanks to everyone who responded!
The 2019 Sloopy Awards
That’s right, the Sloopys – Capitol Letter’s politics awards – are back once again, just in time for the holiday season.
We’re asking for nominations in more than 30 categories on everything from best dressed to the biggest windbag. This year, we’re including a new reader-suggested category: Lobbyists’ Best Friend.
Nominating is simple. Just fill out the as many categories as you want in the form at this link and hit submit. Nominations are open all this week, with voting starting next Monday.
Birthdays
Bill Beagle, former state senator and senior director of policy and program administration for the Ohio Treasurer’s office.
State Rep. Tom Brinkman
Straight From The Source
“We have a system designed by our own Democratic National Committee that is not in any way intended to elevate the most qualified candidate but designed to elect the person with the most money or most access to it. That’s why you’re going to see an all-white debate stage.”
-U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights, who was a supporter of former White House hopeful Kamala Harris, to the New York Times on the lack of diversity among presidential candidates in her party.
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