House Speaker Bill Batchelder has a brief assessment of the first year of the two-year General Assembly over which he presided.
“The goal was not re-election. The goal was to put Ohio back to work and create jobs for our people.”
And as he stood surrounded by many of his 59 member Republican caucus, Batchelder said the economy and jobs are still a top priority in 2012. High on the agenda are workforce development – including getting more data from businesses, “one stop shops” where Ohioans can receive jobless benefits and retraining, and the possible requirement of an internship or work experience to get a college degree. Also leading the list – workers compensation reform, and a bill that Rep. Mike Dovilla of Berea near Cleveland calls “JobsOhio 2”.
“The JobsOhio 2 bill will continue the process of restructuring state government to make it more efficient and effective in supporting Ohio’s businesses and attracting new enterprises to our great state.”
Rep. Christina Hagan of Alliance says the JobsOhio 2 bill will establish a new focus for the state.
“We’re not here to act as government any more. We’re here to act as a service agency and that is a remarkable thing.”
When pressed for details, Speaker Batchelder said he’d rather Gov. John Kasich release them, and hinted that might happen in the governor’s State of the State speech in the next few weeks. And while the collective bargaining reform law known as Senate Bill 5 was overwhelmingly rejected in November, Majority Floor Leader Matt Huffman of Lima says there is interest in passing parts that did well in polls, such as requiring unionized public employees to pay more for their health care or their retirement.
“Those things need to get addressed at some point. I think that they can’t get addressed unless we have local jurisdictions – of which there are, I think, 2200, including school districts and villages, counties and cities – stepping forward and saying, ‘we want this particular proposal to be adopted’.”
Trying to pass any part of the soundly rejected Senate Bill 5 would be a risky move, says Democratic leader Armond Budish of Beachwood in suburban Cleveland.
“They chose to do an extreme, radical overreach that simply attacks working people, and if they come back with another attack on working people, we’ll respond the same – we’ll fight like hell against it.”
Budish blasted Republicans for their efforts at job creation and specifically for JobsOhio, which he says has serious constitutional issues that his caucus has tried to fight in court.
“They took away accountability for taxpayer dollars, they took away the ethics rules for taxpayers dollars with JobsOhio 1. They haven’t made it clear what they’re going to do.”
And Budish says his 40 member caucus will be releasing its own priorities in the next week or so.
“Our list will do what Ohioans are looking for, which is protect middle class Ohioans, protect good jobs.”
There was no mention of so-called social and moral legislation, such as bills having to do with abortion. But a widely-discussed ban on dangerous exotic animals is expected this year, though Senate President Tom Niehaus has raised concerns about its constitutionality. There are also plans for legislation on casinos, as critics have complained about administrative delays, and a measure to finalize the Great Lakes Compact. A bill to do that was the one piece of legislation Gov. John Kasich vetoed last year.