The Ohio Senate has approved a transportation budget increasing the state's gas tax by 6 cents a gallon, down from the House's planned increase of 10.7 cents a gallon and just a third of what Republican Gov. Mike DeWine proposed to maintain roads and bridges.
Senators have said they’re going to change the 10.7 cent gas tax increase that the House passed in the transportation budget. Gov. Mike DeWine says that’s too low, and the state needs an 18 cent hike. But one Republican senator has an idea that he says would eliminate the need for a tax increase.
The president of the Ohio Senate doesn’t think lawmakers infringed on cities’ rights with legislation that supersedes local gun ordinances and gives citizens the right to challenge those local laws in court.
Republican leaders in the Ohio Senate released their version of the transportation budget bill Tuesday. Their proposal makes dozens of changes to what the Ohio House passed in HB62, although the gas tax increase went untouched for now.
The federal government says Ohio can require non-disabled Medicaid expansion recipients to work 20 hours a week unless they’re caregiving, in job training or college or over 50-years-old. One state lawmaker is disappointed, because he wanted that age limit to be higher.
Republican leaders in the Ohio Senate have hinted at some possible changes to the transportation budget plan that could spark a debate among the Senate, House and governor's office.
The Ohio Senate has passed the so-called “Heartbeat Bill,” SB 23, which bans an abortion when a viable heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks. If passed, it would be one of the most restrictive abortion measures in the country.
Ohio is among 15 states that have asked the federal government for permission to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. Ohio’s request would cover people up to age 50, but a state senator has proposed a bill that would go further.
State lawmakers are now considering Gov. Mike DeWine’s 18 cent gas tax increase, to plug a hole of more than a billion dollars in the Department of Transportation’s budget. However one legislative leader says they’re also looking for ways to cut taxes again.
A report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says nearly one in eight bills introduced by state lawmakers either creates a new crime or expands sentences. But the leader in the Senate is pushing back on claims that lawmakers are to blame.
A spokesperson for Republicans in the Ohio Senate says caucus members have unblocked people on their official social media pages as part of an effort to avoid further legal action.
A southwest Ohio man has settled a lawsuit he filed against his Republican state senator, who he says blocked him on Facebook during a heated debate about the “Heartbeat Bill” abortion ban in December.
Minority Democrats in the Ohio Senate say they’ll be focusing on jobs, the economy and education in bills they will present in the new general assembly.
Two state senators say Ohio needs to join all other states in developing a comprehensive plan to deal with rising numbers of residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia that are likely to come in the next few decades.
