The final days of the lame duck session were very busy for the members of the 127th General Assembly. The Ohio House concluded its work on Wednesday, December 17th, and sent
- ver two dozen bills to the governor for
his signature, while the Ohio Senate concluded its business on Thursday, December 18th. This was the last session as the majority caucus for the House republicans. The democrats took control of the House in the general election, and will control the House in the 128th General
- Assembly. Republicans used the lame
duck session to address some policy initiatives that were important to their
- members. One such issue was election
- reform. After several failed lawsuit
attempts during the campaign season, republican legislators addressed areas of concern regarding the early voting
- period. SB 380 changed from 35 to 20
days before the election for absentee balloting, to address the overlap of the start of absentee voting and the deadline for voter registration; increase standards for the verification of absentee ballots; and direct the secretary of state to advise local election boards of mismatches between registration information and motor vehicle records. Current Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner believes the bill is flawed. The governor continues to review the bill, and has not stated whether or not he will veto the bill. In addition, the House passed bills to codify definitions of pharmacy technicians and qualified pharmacy interns in SB 203; SB 320 toughens penalties for organized retail theft; SB 279 alters certain licensing procedures and other state Medical Board oversight and was amended on the House Floor by
- Rep. Shannon Jones (R-Springboro) to
remove provisions related to recommendations for rules on hospital quality; SB 277 provides for public nuisance-based foreclosures of blighted parcels in environmental courts. The House also agreed with Senate amendments on the following bills: HB318 allows townships to declare roads as "nonmaintained"; HB458 clarifies how townships pay for health insurance coverage and allows the entities more flexibility in spending revenues on road and bridge upkeep; HB525 finally establishes standard document formats for county recorders; HB79 provides for the continuation of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation rating system; HB420 increases transparency in state government contracting with additional discloser requirements and became a vehicle for additional legislative initiatives including state property conveyances, clarification of franchise agreements between beer and wine manufacturers and wholesale distributors, and Tax Increment Finance law changes; HB 130 modifies sentencing procedures for post release control, which included Senate amendments to broaden eligibility for the homestead tax credit to seniors in housing cooperatives and provisions regarding the distribution of earnest money in real estate transactions; HB 450, a military personnel handgun permit measure amended by Sen. Keith Faber (R-Celina), gives the Bureau of Motor Vehicles more time to comply with a program that allows the application of a veteran star on state identification cards; and an amendment from Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) grants qualified state employees up to 20 hours of leave time per year to provide honors detail services at military funerals. There were several measures that did not succeed in the final days, including the asbestos legislation SB 370 which was defeated 48-45. Opponents feared it was a proposal to minimize the ability of asbestos contamination victims to obtain
- compensation. In addition, HB446,
which would provide protections against "puppy mills", was killed in the Senate after a letter of opposition from the National Rifle Association was sent to Senate members. During the Senate's final session day, they passed HB649 to provide compensation to veterans of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The Governor, however, has indicated he will veto the bill because it utilizes the rainy day fund. The Senate also passed SB 391 to permit an alternative form of county government in a county having a population of 1.2 million or more, allowing it to have an elected chairperson, at-large members, and members from districts on the board of county commissioners. In addition, the Senate concurred House
OHIO'S 127TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY WRAPS-UP BUSY LAME DUCK SESSION
December 22, 2008