Here’s What to Expect From Ohio’s State Legislature

With term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, set to leave office in January, power will switch from a Republican to a Democrat, Gov.-elect Amy Acton. Acton defeated Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy in a blue wave that hit Ohio as well as other parts of the country. While Republicans can look forward to still holding their majorities in the state legislature, the situation will still look a bit different with a Democratic governor in charge.

In the meantime, there is “much to be done” in the upcoming lame-duck session.

Before the Statehouse races were called, a question remained over how much power Acton, who had previously served as DeWine’s director of health during the COVID-19 pandemic, would have. If Republicans maintained their supermajority, she might have a tricky time getting what she wanted if her vetoes were overridden, with no bipartisan cooperation needed.

Democrats managed to break through the Republican supermajority in the House, as was known the next morning, given how quickly Ohio produces results. It’s a supermajority the GOP had held since 2013.

Among those House members who lost reelection was state Rep. Mike Dovilla, who was heavily involved in investigating home healthcare fraud in Ohio, particularly in Columbus, and who testified before Congress on June 3. A bill of his combating Medicaid fraud was merged into Senate Bill 315, which DeWine signed, also in June.

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Although Democrats came close to breaking that supermajority in the Senate, they ultimately were not successful. They managed to flip the seat held by outgoing Republican state Sen. Kristina Roegner, and Democrat Stacie Baker beat Republican state Sen. Michele Reynolds. Democrats needed to flip three seats.

Full floor sessions are scheduled for this week for the lame-duck session, starting Nov. 10 in Columbus. Ohio State Director Hilary Jackson for Heritage Action told the Daily Signal there’s much to get done.

“Ohio’s lame-duck legislative session is shaping up to be an incredibly busy one. Conservatives are working to get as much legislation across the finish line as possible while we still have a Republican governor in office,” she shared, also pushing a particular bill. “At Heritage Action, we are putting our energy and resources behind House Bill 693, the Affirming Families First Act, which would protect parental rights and prevent parents from being deemed abusive or neglectful simply for affirming their child’s biological sex rather than their gender identity.”

“You lose 100% of the battles you refuse to fight. And with a change in leadership approaching, Ohioans have a very narrow window to make their priorities known to their elected representatives,” she added. “The next several weeks will be critical. We’re going to make every day count before Ohio trades conservative leadership for a governor whose priorities fundamentally misalign with needs of the Buckeye State.”

The blue wave affected not only recently red states Ohio, but also ones long considered more red, including Texas. Both Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Ken Paxton, lost to their Democratic opponents. There’s been chatter as to whether outgoing Republicans will thus agree to limit the powers of their successors, with calls being made for Abbott to do so after losing to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

DeWine appears to be very much against that idea, given his comments to reporters last Thursday. He also told News 5 Cleveland when asked if he would veto bills limiting Acton’s power that he didn’t want to speculate.

“I don’t think any governor is going to approve anything, whether you’re Democrat or Republican, that would dramatically change the powers of the governor,” DeWine said. “I just don’t think that’s appropriate.”

“No governor is going to sign a bill that dramatically took away powers of the governor,” DeWine added. “I don’t know that that’s been proposed or that even will be proposed.”