We’re halfway through the 130th General Assembly, which is the second half of John Kasich’s first term as governor. There were 59 bills and two resolutions passed in this first half of this session. Jo Ingles talks about the big measures that passed - including the huge state budget. And while those bills were signed into law, many more were proposed: 387 in the House, 257 in the Senate. Some of those have made it partway through the legislature, some haven’t even started to move, and there are plenty that have absolutely no chance of passing. Andy Chow runs down a few of those measures.
In the category of both “bills that passed” and “bills that have no chance of passing” are measures related to Gov. Kasich’s quasi-private jobs creating entity JobsOhio. There were many major developments in JobsOhio's second full year of existence, including the law banning the state auditor from conducting an audit of JobsOhio, Auditor David Yost's audit from subpoenaed records, and several bills proposed by Democrats, who are likely to use JobsOhio as a major campaign theme next year. And we still await a ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court on whether a coalition of liberal and conservative activists have standing to sue over JobsOhio, which could open the door to a final decision on whether it was constitutionally created.