Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than 1.4 million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Med Mutual dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP, now with eight locations across the country.

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Moore and Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 124,000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OAG Dawg.

COVID vaccine mandates, bills on guns and abortion, and billions in federal relief money and no major movement in the first energy corruption case.

I talk about all that with Governor Mike DeWine one on one this week in the state of Ohio.

So I want to start with just a basic question, I think a lot of people thought 2021 was going to be so much better than 2020 that we had the vaccine.

We had all these things that were looking positive.

Has 2021 been better than 2020?

Sure.

2021.

We've had the vaccine the entire year.

You know, we started by vaccinating the people most vulnerable and actually the older people.

So if you look at the older age groups 70 to 74, for example, we're 91% of people who are vaccinated and we know so much more today.

We know that once you're fully vaccinated and once you have that booster shot, you're in pretty darn good shape.

And you know, the people who are ending up in the hospital today, 90, 95% of them have not been vaccinated.

So, yeah, it's a lot better today.

You know, people can go out, they can live their lives, they'll gather this Christmas together as families.

Now, the al-Muqrin variant has now been found in Ohio, which everyone was expecting.

You would even said it was just a matter of time.

It comes on the heels of some really horrible months of the Delta variant.

At the highest level of hospitalizations and ICU use, and for the whole year, one in four patients and one in three in ICUs are COVID positive.

There have been 7131 COVID deaths in Ohio since June 23rd, which was when Senate Bill 22 took effect.

That was a law that limits your ability essentially to do certain health orders.

You would veto that bill.

It became law when the Legislature overrode you.

Do you regret not doing more, knowing now what we know and how dangerous Delta was and how and still is and how Omicron?

We don't know yet.

No, I think I've done what I could do.

It is.

When you have the vaccine and when it's available to everyone and when we know what its effects are, I think my job is to get information out through the health department, Dr. Vander Hoff.

Other experts make sure that we're always telling people the truth.

We're always telling people everything that we know.

But ultimately, people have to make their own decisions about, are they going to be vaccinated or not?

And you know, I have yesterday had a little little, little press conference and I said, Look, you know, this week should be .

You got Christmas coming up.

You got the Macron coming into Ohio.

We know it's coming.

It's already here.

It's going to spread very, very quickly.

And we still got Delta and we're still losing 30 to 40 people who are dying every day.

So for those people who have been vaccinated, they've already made a decision that vaccination is OK.

This ought to be the week, the next seven days where people get that booster shot because that booster shot makes a big, big difference.

So that's really this week what we're urging people to do get the booster shot.

But you have no ability to do orders.

You have no ability to mandates or anything.

Does that does that concern you?

Look.

The obvious things are.

You no states doing no states doing this.

So it kind of tells you where we are.

And at some point, you know, we are a country that values freedom.

We are a country that values individual individual choice.

Early on in the pandemic, we had to balance the human life at the same time, working with the business community , trying to come up with the best protocols so that business could continue.

And I think we achieve that, that balance now.

It's an individual choice.

My job and our health department's job and the medical experts is to get the information out, tell people exactly where we are and urge them to take the best advice.

I mean, if you want to be able to meet with your family, look, get everybody vaccinated.

I mean, it's just it's just it's really that that that simple.

We've been able you ask about 2021.

I think what sometime has been missed is that the things that we set out to do when I became governor.

All of those have continued, we've put a real focus on the individual, and I try to say it very simply that I want for every person, Ohio, I want for every child in Ohio, what I want for my own kids, grandkids, and that is that they be happy and to be happy.

They've got to be able to live up to their god given potential and to find something they like to do.

So if there's a theme of this administration is education and by education, we mean early childhood education we need.

We mean the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Now, Fran has over 300,000 children, zero to five who are getting a book every single month.

It means also though, reaching out to a pregnant mother who might be poor, a pregnant mother who for any number of reasons has difficulty maybe getting medical care.

We have to reach them and we are reaching more of them early on.

It's education all the way through its trade schools.

It is vocational schools, it's college.

But giving that young person the options, letting them see what the options are and then giving them the ability to achieve that.

So that's all of those things, plus a focus on mental health, a focus on fundamentally changing how we are dealing the most with the most vulnerable people in society.

We got about 50,000 people, young people who are on Medicaid, who are called quote multisystem.

It's kind of a goofy term, but it simply means they've got more and more challenges and problems.

You know, we've got a plan that's going to start very, very soon to really focus a lot on that.

So all of those things have been continuing during the pandemic.

I think what's happened is the pandemic very understandably has kind of been the focus, but I want people to know we're doing all these other things and we're going to do more.

The House has passed a bill that would ban public and private entities and businesses from mandating COVID vaccines.

The Senate could take it up.

The Senate president Matt Hoffman, has said he's loathe to tell businesses how to run their operations, and there is strong support, a strong, strong opposition rather from the business community and the health care community against this bill.

Would you veto a bill that would limit a business's ability to mandate COVID vaccines?

Oh, absolutely.

I made it very clear I don't hesitate to veto things when I think they're wrong.

I have respect for the Legislature, but my eyes.

I also have a job, and that job is to veto things that that are bad.

Look, we have no business.

Government has no business telling businesses how to run their business.

And so I've opposed the Biden administration's plan to compel businesses to require vaccinations, but equally strong.

I've opposed those numbers in the state legislature.

Their plan to tell a business you can't require vaccination.

Let's leave it up to business.

Keep the government out of it.

Switching topics here a little bit.

There's a possibility that Roe versus Wade will be overturned and that the issue maybe of how to regulate abortion rights would be returned to the states.

Is it your hope that Ohio will completely outlaw abortion and wouldn't that be a problem as you're running for reelection and trying to lure in independent voters and moderate Republican voters?

Karen, I'm pro-life.

It's no shock, you know, I believe that this administration has been consistent in that we worry about those who are unborn, we worry about them after they're born.

We've worried and taken action in regard to try to keep as many Ohioans alive during this pandemic.

I think that's all pro-life.

I realize that in that spectrum, we've got some people who are mad about one thing and mad about something else.

I think we're consistent in that.

So that's our position.

But.

I think that we need to understand that when the if the let's just say the Supreme Court totally overruled Roe v Wade , look, I have I don't know what they're going to do and you don't know what they're going to do.

We're going to wait and see what they do.

But let's just say they do simply means it goes back.

It goes back to the states.

Some states, you know, New York will make one decision probably same decision.

Know you'll have states that will make the other decision.

And I think though, we cannot.

Those of us who are pro-life, those of us who believe the evidence is clear, this is a human being.

We have to redouble our efforts to reach mothers who And we need to give them a viable option so that if they choose to keep that child and have that child, we make a pathway that is easy for them.

And you know, a lot of people in Ohio are doing those things right now.

We've got to do more because ultimately, ultimately, if you can get an abortion in Pennsylvania and you can't get an abortion in Ohio, that many people are going to go crossing into Pennsylvania.

And so it's not going to resolve this issue.

This issue is going to continue on in light of what the Supreme Court does and those of us who feel that we are pro-life, we are pro-life and we care about the child.

We have to show equally that we care about that mother and that we care about her early on in that pregnancy and we want to give her those that viable option and that we have to redouble those efforts, it seems.

You started this year by signing the Stand Your Ground bill, which you had said that you would even though you were hoping for more gun regulations, like in your strong Ohio bill.

There are two bills under consideration at the State House.

one would allow for permit less concealed carry without any required training.

Another would be to allow for armed teachers in classrooms who've had 20 hours of training, down from more than 700 hours from training of training.

Do you plan to sign these bills?

I think, particularly in regard to the bill in regard to teachers and school personnel, I think there is a middle ground.

The 700 hours that you talked about or hours for a police officer, if you look at those 700 hours, they're not all about guns and they're not all about the decision of when you shoot one, you don't shoot.

The most effective training is scenario based training scenario based training.

So if we're going to have teachers in schools who are carrying guns in school, they need to have a scenario based training now.

Buckeye Firearms is, is is doing that.

You know, they have taken, I think, a responsible approach to training people.

So I think that there's a pathway there that we can find that if a teacher has that scenario based training, we can set this up.

I think that having that teacher carrying a gun, if they've had that specific training.

So you want more training on this arm teacher bill?

Yeah, it's going to be the right training, though.

It's not just I mean, a lot of the training that a police officer goes through is not really relevant to what that teacher would be doing.

So you got to you got to concentrate on what's relevant.

And I think that the concern you always have, we know from scenarios even involving police officers when they have a split second to make a decision how difficult that is, even a police officer who's totally trained.

So we need to make sure those teachers or custodian or whoever is carrying a gun in that school has that requirement .

So I believe there will be a bill that we work out with the Legislature in that regard that that I will be able to sign.

What about permit concealed carry?

You see how it's written?

The state has been spending billions of dollars of federal COVID relief funds on schools, infrastructure and water projects, broadband law enforcement, first responders in that last, when you even mentioned that it's not time to defund the police but fund to the police.

Those bills were not supported largely by Republicans, for the most part.

And you said back in March that you would even have voted against the American Rescue Plan.

Is it fair for you to be touting the use of this money now when you might not have supported if you were in Congress here?

And I think at every press conference as I've traveled around the state and announced this, I have said these are federal dollars that come into Ohio.

We have the option, along with the Legislature, to decide how to spend them.

This is how we think is the best way to spend them.

So I've been very transparent.

I've not hidden the fact that these are.

If I was in the United States Senate, that particular bill, I would vote against, for, for, for a number of reasons, the inflation that we're seeing, but I'm not the I was not in the United States Senate.

I was at one time.

But I'm not anymore.

So I'm a governor.

This money comes to Ohio.

Now we can be stupid and refuse the money, which would just be ridiculous.

And because we would send it back and it would go somewhere else, or we can take that money and be as prudent as we can about how that money is going to be spent.

And that's what we we believe we're doing on redistricting.

Auditor Keith Faber and Secretary of State Franco Rosen, you say you approve the Ohio House and Senate maps when it became clear there was no opportunity to compromise and get a ten year map, you signed the congressional map because you said it made, quote the most progress to produce a fair, compact and competitive map.

But critics of those maps have said that you could have played a bigger role in this, that you could have refused to sign the congressional map.

You could have voted no on the legislative maps.

Why didn't you?

Travel would be very careful because both of those are now in court.

I've said, you know, as we went through the hearings, I've said what I've said publicly, it's public knowledge.

I've expressed it.

You've summarized it pretty well.

I think I'm not going to comment anymore.

What I've said is that it's up to the court where I listen to what the Supreme Court tells us.

If the Supreme Court comes back and says you didn't do it right, we hope they're going to give us instructions and we will follow those instructions.

Attorneys for former first energy executives have filed subpoenas for communication records between your office and two nonprofits connected to the scandal.

Did you and your office communicate with generation now and our partners for progress?

And if so, what would the records of those communications be?

The records are whatever they are, and they've issued subpoenas and they'll get the records look.

You know, my position on nuclear energy in this state and those particular nuclear power plants was known during the campaign.

I was for it.

I said, we need to save these jobs.

And I also said, Look, these are the only.

This is a way not to have them more carbon free energy.

If you get rid of nuclear energy into Iowa on the state of Ohio today, you've only got very little that is non polluting on carbon.

So my position has been the same.

And that's why I did it.

That's why I signed the bill.

That's why I supported the bill.

You talked early on a couple of months ago about the school bus driver situation, and I asked this somewhat selfishly, the district that I'm in, Westerville has just announced they're going to redo their schedule next year because of their school bus driver situation.

Is there a possibility that the National Guard might be deployed or is there any sort of solution that you're looking into that would help?

I think it's I think it's highly unlikely that it would make sense to put the guard in in a school bus.

I mean, we have people who have sugar licenses, but you know you're pulling them from some other place.

The guard can come in for two weeks and do something.

But as a permanent solution to a long term problem, I don't think that is the answer, I think.

You know, the answer is how do we how do we produce more people, give more people the opportunities to get the particular license that they need so that they can do that.

But these are these are there's no easy answer to this.

And finally, looking ahead to 2022, you have an officially launched your reelection campaign, but you've said that you're going to run again.

You're facing at least two challengers on your right and possibly more with the direction that the Republican Party has been taking.

Are you concerned about an expensive and a nasty primary?

Well, I've had primaries.

I think throughout my career I've been involved in a lot of elections.

I think I've only had one where I didn't have a primary opponent, maybe two.

So it's to be expected we're going to have a primary and we'll go through that and we've got a general election ahead after that.

So look, it is.

It is what is I think my job is to focus on what we're doing in the governor's office to lead the state of Ohio.

I'm very optimistic about our future in this state.

We are moving forward.

We're seeing jobs and companies are the East Coast, the West Co They're looking to places like Ohio that are low on taxes where it's predictable what we're going to do.

We're not a high drama state.

This is not a high drama administration when.

We is some drama coming out of the statehouse, though.

But when that when the businesses are dealing with us, you know, one of the things that they observe, I think, is we know where you guys are coming from is predictable.

You tell us what you're going to do.

We're convinced you're you're going to carry that out.

And so there's a reason for two years in a row site selection.

Magazine picked Ohio to get the Governor's Cup, which basically means that we've got more businesses opening up and starting in Ohio, so we need to be very, very optimistic about Ohio's future.

I'm extremely optimistic.

Our goal, our job is to make sure and by the way, this is a time when we're creating more jobs than we have people to fill the job.

In the long run, what's our job as a state?

It is to focus on education and education means early childhood education, but also means a 50 year old who's working in a factory and where they need that 50 year old to get a higher level.

Oh, baby, need her him to get a higher level and be able to to get that education.

And we've got tech cred, which we're paying the companies to do that once they get that person actually gets that certificate all the way through.

If we can maximize everybody so that everybody has options and everybody can pick what they want to do in life and get the training for it, whatever that training is, not only will we be serving them, but they'll be serving and helping the state grow, and that's really the most important thing.

When businesses come in here and I've talked to enough of the CEOs, you can put a package together form.

You can do all the things.

But if they don't think that they're going to be able to find the employees in your state, they're not common.

But we're doing a great job.

We're going to continue to improve that.

And by educating workers and Ohioans, we're poised for a great future.

While we were at the governor's residence, Fran DeWine wanted to share some thoughts on her focus as first Lady, the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which got $16 million in the current two year state budget.

So right now, we are up to 300,000 kids in Ohio that are signed up.

You know, we started at about 13%.

Now we're 43% of the kids in Ohio that are eligible are signed up and every child is eligible in Ohio from the time they're born until they turn five years old.

No matter where you live, no matter which zip code, you're all eligible.

So we're really encouraging people during this season to make sure their children are signed up.

You know, you can sign up your kids or your grandkids.

We're trying to boost this to two 50%.

My goal was the end of the year, but shortly after the end of the year, you know, you can think of it as just a lovely Christmas gift that you're giving to your to your children.

And remember that these are always absolutely free to the families.

So what's the reason for this?

Why do you want to do this?

first of all, I think it's a fun thing to do, but it really helps get kids ready for kindergarten.

A Cincinnati children's study showed that the kids came up.

Kids that got the books just for three years came up 15 points on kindergarten readiness right up with everyone else.

So if you're if you start out kindergarten and you're even if you're ready, you're going to have a lot more chance of success.

So I think that's the one thing we know a baby's brain is 80% develop by the time they're three years old, so we can't waste those early years.

We need to start reading to them and and just talking to them, saying to them.

But but the books in the house really helps a lot.

And I think the bonding that goes on between parents and child, but also, you know, siblings can read the books, grandparents can read the books.

And so all this bonding and just seeing things you know that, you know, this is the first book I remember when I was like, You know, this is, you know, Dolly Parton's favorite, and it's the first book they get, no matter when they sign up.

And the last book they get when they turn five years old is, Look at kindergarten, here I come.

But you know, the books come addressed to the child.

You know, they come in this simple plastic wrap addressed to the child.

So every address labels on the inside, so the kids always know which books are there.

So that's always fun.

So I learned about it when my grandkids were getting the books and Green County because they had the program early and I didn't know about it.

And I was there the day that they got their books and they ripped up on the plastic in and read to me, read to me, grandma and I.

It was just such a moment that I thought, this is what I want for all Ohio kids.

And so that's how I got started.

Is the challenge now to get this message out?

I mean, how do you.

Refocus to get the message out and let them know that they're absolutely free?

You know, we have affiliates in each county that help raise the money and send the address, you know, a list to to Tennessee and they mail them out.

But but they're absolutely free.

So I just want to encourage people to think of it as a gift for their children and sign the kids up.

Ohio Imagination Library.

Dot org.

Or you can go to any public library, all your branches are equipped to sign you up, so it's just an easy sign up.

We leave you with images from inside the governor's residence, including what's called the redemption tree, with ornaments made by women in prison in the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.

The theme is children's books and movies, and the tree features characters such as The Lorax, Pippi Longstocking, Monsters from Where The Wild Things Are, and a giant peach from my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our web site at State News DAUG, and you can follow us on the show on Facebook and Twitter.

And please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than 1.4 million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Med Mutual dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP, now with eight locations across the country.

Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

More at Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 124,000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OAG Dawg.