Ohio GOP lawmakers back off ballot proposal to extend redistricting deadlines: Capitol Letter
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stopped at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, as he traveled around Ohio promoting tourism. (David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com)David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
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Rotunda Rumblings
Not happening: Ohio Republican legislative leaders have abandoned a plan to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment in August extending deadlines for Ohio’s new redistricting process. As Andrew Tobias reports, Senate President Matt Huffman, who floated the plan in light of delayed census data, had said he wouldn’t go forward without bipartisan support. Democratic leaders expressed concerns about a rushed process.
Nathan Hudak's April 14 post of an image reading "West Park Backs the Blue" has activists and a civil rights attorney concerned that Gov. Mike DeWine's pick to be a Cleveland Municipal Court judge will be bias in favor of police officers.
Gov. Mike DeWine, lawmakers look to police reform bill: Capitol Letter
Rotunda Rumblings
Police action: In the wake of Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction and the Columbus police shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, Republican state lawmakers (with Gov. Mike DeWine’s support) are preparing to introduce a police-reform bill that would create a police licensing board, increase training requirements, require independent investigations of police shootings, and set up state use-of-force and disciplinary action databases. But as Jeremy Pelzer reports, no Democrats or lawmakers of color were consulted about the bill.
Thank you, next: The Ohio House voted Wednesday to approve a two-year, $74.7 billion budget bill, sending the bill to the state Senate. As Andrew Tobias reports, Senate President Matt Huffman expressed skepticism over the amount of spending in the bill, including the school funding overhaul that it contains. “It’s easier to make decisions that can be catastrophic