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Ohio Lawmakers Push Proposal That Would Require State Agencies to be Abolished Unless Approved

photo of Ohio Statehouse
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

Among the flood of bills that passed this week in the lame duck legislature is a controversial proposal that would require state agencies to be abolished unless lawmakers approve their continued existence.  

Republican Lou Blessing III of Cincinnatiadmits it’s a divisive proposal – lawmakers will review 25 state agencies every four years to make sure they’re still doing the work they were created to do.

“That is the key here – we have to actually act in order for these departments to remain in existence.”

But Democrat Kathleen Clyde of Kent says this dangerous bill would create most extreme and radical sunset system in the country.

“Brinkmanship is a bad way to govern.  People and systems can’t function well under constant threat and constant uncertainty.”

Democrats who made up most of the opposition to the bill are calling on Republican Gov. John Kasich to veto it, since it would directly affect departments and directors in his cabinet.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.