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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 and Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who worked to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at OHEA dot org.

Almost exactly one year after the arrests of the then House speaker and others in the bailout law bribery scandal, another defendant makes a deal.

And Governor Mike DeWine said the new state budget is a children's budget.

To advocates for kids, weigh in.

All this weekend, the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio, I'm Karen Kasler.

First, energy will pay two hundred thirty million dollars in a plea deal ove federal charges that the Akron based utility bribed then Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Public Utilities Commission Chairman Sam Randazzo.

The U.S. attorney for the southern district of Ohio says it's the largest fine that anyone in his office can recall.

FirstEnergy admitted it paid an elected official through an alleged 501 C four millions of dollars for legislatio that would benefit the company after householder rose to power.

He pushed House Bill six, the sweeping energy law that created subsidies for Ohio's two nuclear power plants that had been owned by a first energy subsidiary.

The five oh one C for group generation now, which fought the attempt to repeal House Bill six, was named in the case and pleaded guilty in February.

The deal came a year and a day after the arrest of House holder, former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Gorgeous lobbyist Neil Clark.

And one cesspit is and householder operative Jeff Longstreth.

Longstreth and Cesspits pleaded guilty last October.

Clark died by suicide in Florida in March.

Borjesson Householder have maintained their innocence.

Householder was ousted from his leadership position not long after his arrest and was expelled from the House last month.

His attorney said in a statement that the plea deal was intended to protec first energy share price, and it was a reversal of previous claims that the money was ordinary political contributions protected by the First Amendment.

First energy, which wasn't identified by name in the initial indictment a year ago, was reported to be looking to make a deal with prosecutors.

After firing its top executives, it issued a video statement.

This is a humbling moment for our company.

And we should take this moment to recognize that this type of conduct at the highest levels in our company was wrong and unacceptable.

Sam Randazzo resigned as Public Utilities Commission chair after his home was raided by the FBI last year.

No charges have been filed against him.

But first, energy disclosed in an SEC filing that it paid four million dollars to end a consulting agreement with a company associated with an unnamed official who went on to become a state regulatory official.

State lawmakers have repealed the nuclear subsidies and House Bill six.

But the law also created subsidies for two coal burning power plants and six solar projects and cut renewable energy standards and energy efficiency standards for utilities.

Among the issues left in the wake of a hurry to pass the two year state budget and get away for a few weeks is a bill that would legalize sports betting in Ohio, which some suggest could be a billion dollar industry in the state, and it's already legal in most nearby states.

Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports on what's on the table for lawmakers when they come back after summer break when it comes to sports betting.

Throws up an air ball, Portis, the rebound.

There's a big matchup brewing in Ohio over the future of sports betting with several players looking to get a win out of the deal.

A Senate bill now sits in the Ohio House.

That would create licenses for mobile betting, in-person betting and self-service betting using kiosks in different places like bars and bowling alleys.

Republican Senator Kirk suring led the discussions over sports betting, which came out of the Senate with bipartisan support.

He says state leaders need to approve a plan that takes a free market approach to bring economic value while placing regulatory restrictions.

The Senate bill would put the Casino Control Commission in charge of sports betting and create three types of licenses.

It would allow up to 25 type A licenses, which lets the license holder host a gambling platform through mobile devices.

The bill allows 33 type B licenses, which lets the holder host gambling in person at a brick and mortar sportsbook and a type C license allowing sports betting to take place through a self-service kiosk.

While the Senate bill has put the Casino Control Commission in charge of sports betting, a previous bill in the House wanted the Ohio lottery to oversee it.

Among the major players pushing for legislation at the state Hous is a coalition representing Ohio's professional sports teams, which includes the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavs, Columbus Blue Jackets, Columbus crew and the Cincinnati Reds.

I wouldn't call this a crisis.

It's just a missed opportunity for Ohio.

And I think the legislature realizes it.

The legislature, I believe, wanted to get it done at the end of June.

They just ran out of time.

Curt Stiner is a lobbyist and spokesperson for the Ohio Professional Sports Teams Coalition.

He says allowing teams to host sports betting through mobile apps and brick and mortar sports books is being done in other state and is another way teams can engage their fans.

They're missing opportunities to do that when their fans and and those who are following their games are betting in other states.

Betting a neighboring states, betting online and offshore betting states, they're missing an opportunity for fan engagement.

So it's a it's a really it's a good business opportunity as a good fan engagement opportunity.

Other players vying for a part of the sports betting industry but mostly left out so far are restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and other hospitality organizations calling themselves the Fair Gaming Coalition of Ohio.

David Corey is executive vice president of the Bowling Center Association of Ohio and is part of the Fair Gaming Coalition.

With all the money pouring into lobbying and potential revenue up for grabs, he's asking lawmakers to remember smaller organizations that the pie is big enough.

And really all we're asking for with the kiosks is a very, very, very small piece of the pie.

But it seems like the big guys don't even want us to have a little tiny piece of the pie.

And again, we need the legislature to address the fact that this will help Ohio's small businesses, hospitality establishments.

Among Corrie's biggest concerns is the timing of it all.

He says the state should make sure the different elements of sports betting go into effect simultaneously.

We have to hit the on button at the same time for all the stakeholders Again, if you let the mobile sports apps go first before we have kiosks, OK, they're going to get the bulk of them, but the bulk of the market anyway.

We all know that between the casinos and the online gaming, they're going to capture ninety nine ninety five percent of the market.

So people will get used to going to those locations and, you know, the casinos and the casinos to place their bets and, you know, the professional sports team locations to place their bets than on kiosks in bowling centers, for example.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that sports betting was legal and that states could create the framework for gaming.

Since then, 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation that legalizes sports betting in some way including all but one state surrounding Ohio.

The Senate had tried to push through its sports betting bill last mont by attaching it to a measure to create veteran ID cards.

A move that was unanimously rejected in the House.

It was a reaction to the House's edition of.

A controversial ban on trans athletes in women's sports to the Senate's popular bill allowing college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness.

That all happened as the budget was being negotiated.

House Speaker Bob Cupps said at the time it would have been an extremely high lift to get sports betting done and that he wanted a thorough committee process.

And there remain questions about whether state lawmakers can even expand gambling or whether that would have to be a constitutional amendment approved by voters.

Andy Chow, Statehouse News Bureau.

In announcing that he had signed a two year state budget earlier this month, Governor Mike DeWine said, quote, This is a children's budget and many advocates for kids agree.

But there are also things that they were hoping to see that were missing, changed or removed.

I talked to two of them this week.

First up, Children's Defense Fund executive director Tracy Narre.

So there are a number of things that the Children's Defense Fund, Ohio and our partners in the Ohio Children's Budget Coalition are very excited about, you know, starting with our youngest Ohioans.

This budget took some bold action and took advantage of some changes made by the Biden administration to extend postpartum care for new moms on Medicaid from just 60 days postpartum to 12 months.

So that's a 10 month increase.

And this is huge because of the number of kids who are born who to women who are on Medicaid.

Absolutely.

So about 50 percent of all births in the state of Ohio are covered by Medicaid And, you know, against the backdrop of Ohio having some of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the country.

So when you when you think about it, when you look at some of the data and the research from some of our birthing hospitals, many of the postpartum complications occur after 60 days postpartum.

So we believe that this change will really do some significant positive work towards improving those mortality rates for moms and for babies.

What else?

So another thing that we're really excited about is evidence based, home visiting.

So, you know, again, new moms and babies or young children, they need extra support, especially when they're struggling financially and economically with housing insecurity, nutrition issues, et cetera.

So evidence based home visiting is, you know, a way where you have nurses or, you know, health practitioners.

Come visit the home, check on the mom, check on the baby, check on the toddler as are growing.

And right now in Ohio, those services are for children up to age three through the Help Me Grow program.

Well, this budget increases that to age five.

So that is also very significant.

You know, as we think about making sure children are thriving and there, you know when they're the toddler years and getting ready for preschool and kindergarten, making sure that their their bodies are healthy, that they're emotionally healthy and their families are healthy and stable as well, will go a long way towards that.

So that's another piece moving along.

You know, Ohio did something very significant in this budget by passing the fair school funding plan.

And this was a bipartisan effort.

You know, that was a broad coalition of education professionals, funding professionals, you know, everyday people in our communities coming together to figure out, you know, what is a fair way to make sure that our schools are funded and that we have funding equity throughout.

So just getting this into the budget was really important.

However, there's a little bit more work that needs to be done so that it only included the formula for two years for the biennium.

So the next, you know, then the next state budget, we're going to have to re deliberate a lot of this again.

The initial plan was supposed to be a six year phase in.

But I want to ask you about the wraparound services money that Governor Mike DeWine had initially proposed in his budget, which he had done in the last budget as well.

This is money for programs like mental health counseling and food services and that sort of thing.

That money was included in all of the school funding formula and wasn't set aside separately, right?

Correct.

In the last budget, it was a separate pot of dollars that school districts could use and for exactly right.

For things like behavioral health, nutrition, you know, things that some of the non instructional needs that children were coming to school with that needed to be met, for them to, you know, thrive academically.

We are disappointed that it's been folded into the school funding formula as part of the disadvantaged pupil impact aid.

They've they've tailored the purposes that those funds could be used for, you know, to be aligned with student monies and success programs before, however, because it's part of the school funding formula.

It's going to compete with other educational needs of schools.

Now, coming off of a year that we did in the pandemic with so many children, you know, experiencing isolation.

Exacerbated behavioral health issues, mental health issues, family instability.

These funds are needed now more than ever.

So we're going to be keeping our eye on this, and especially just looking back and expenditure reports and program reports from the previous year, I believe from 2019, 20, 20, 30 percent of the funds that were spent by school districts were used for behavioral health and mental health.

That was pre pandemic.

So if you can imagine, you know, everything that we know and that we've learned about what children have experienced and families have experienced.

We know that those needs exist and they are growing.

And on that note, there was funding, of course, for foster care and children's services.

That funding has been boosted in the last budget.

It was in this one.

Where do you feel it is right now?

Is it sufficient?

So I think that and the child welfare area, there was a lot that they had to a lot of ground they needed to make up for, especially in the last decade and a half where they had been.

Let's face it, they were underfunded.

They were in many ways defunded.

So I think that this is, you know, obviously very welcome.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of recruiting more foster families and really getting to root causes for why children are being, you know, being having to be removed.

And a lot of that has to do with either substance abuse or, you know, negligence or, you know, economic issues of families.

So I think that there's a lot that can be done more upstream, you know, to keep families healthy and thriving.

But, yes, we this is very welcome news that there is funding for children's services and child welfare services.

Advocates for children's issues here had been concerned about the budget, for instance, including an income tax cut that they thought should be used in other ways.

What are some other things that you want to comment on, on the budget and what didn't happen?

Maybe you wanted to see.

Right.

So one of the things that we're very we're very pleased about, and it was kind of touch and go for a little bit was the broadband funding.

So right now, the state of Ohio, according to a report, I believe in October of twenty twenty or twenty nineteen, the state of Ohio has a two point four billion dollar issue with broadband connectivity.

You know, that's how much infrastructure we need to invest in to bring all areas of the state up to acceptable levels.

And as we saw in this pandemic, you know, not having access to broadband means you don't have access to telehealth, you don't have access to work, to education, higher education, workforce development.

I mean, there's so many different aspects.

And we view this really as an essential utility for so many across the state.

So for the one million Ohioans who are lacking access, the two hundred and fifty million that was invested in this budget is, I think, a very positive down payment to making a significant dent on the needs that are out there.

So that's that's great news.

Some things that weren't done.

Paid family leave.

I don't even believe that was even discussed seriously.

And we know that in this past year and a half that we've experienced that is something needed.

It's something that, you know, me as a mom with children.

I mean, I would have needed that if I didn't have it.

I mean, I think it's really the difference between a family being able to thrive economically or suffer significant hardships.

So I think that's something, especially in this last year, that we need to look at.

And one of the thing, the Ohio Ri's program got some funding, and that's another area where there were families that were surrendering their children because of the cost of dealing with their called multi-system youth, because they're in a variety of systems.

We were also very concerned with that, especially with some actions in the Senat to kind of derail the procurement process that the Medicaid Department of Medicaid here in Ohio has, you know, very deliberately and thoughtfully pursue with a lot of community engagement over the past several years.

So with that remaining in place, Ohio rises also remaining in place.

And you're right, right now in the state of Ohio, there are so many families that because of, you know, complex behavioral health needs of their children are relinquishing custody.

So this will hopefully put an end to that practice.

It's gut wrenching to think about.

I mean, the parents that are out there that are experiencing this, you know, impossible situation and possible choices.

You know, we can do better.

We can do better for families and children.

One more thing that we didn't see in this budget that we would have liked to have is support for drooler services.

So right now in the state of Ohio, we do not have an official like, you know, state recognized licensure for doula services.

And by setting one up, we can make those services reimbursable through Medicaid.

And when you think about the work that duelist do and the you know, it's it's nonclinical.

It really is social and emotional support for moms.

And with us having as high of a maternal mortality rate as we do, those types of supports are truly needed .

So we'd like to see that pursued in the next in the next General Assembly.

I also spoke with Shannon Jones, executive director of the early childhood advocacy group Groundwork Ohio, and a Republican former state senator.

There's been some other things on the prevention side, too, that have been really good for young children.

The governor continued investments in lead poisoning prevention.

So there's another six million dollars.

They're really focused on community values that have led hazards in their housing stock.

So that's a really great a great addition, because, you know, we understand that there is no safe level of lead for our children and it causes some really bad permanent brain development problems.

So that's a really great investment.

And then continuing along with Governor Twines commitment to increase the number of families that are served with evidence base home visitation.

So these are parenting programs that really support parents with young children, helping them to be strong caregivers and their families, but also on making sure children are making and meeting their developmental milestones.

So those are some really good things that were in the budget.

When you talk about the lead abatement, there are 65000 lines in Ohio, the second most lead lines in the nation, according to the National Environmental Defense Fund.

That's a lot.

Yeah, it's a huge problem.

There is no doubt.

And and, you know, it's complicated.

So not only is it a costly for us to abate those those lead hazards, but you need trained people to be able to abate the lead hazards.

And so it is a very complicated problem.

And I think we just have to continue to be persistent in investing in solutions.

Before I ask you about some of the things that you wanted to see in the budget, I want to ask you about the changes made to step up to quality that the child care provider program for those who want to serve Low-Income Families in Ohio.

There was a period where the Senate had proposed kind of getting rid of most of the program that's been changed.

What does it look like as far as you're concerned?

So right now, the program still exists, meaning that any child care provider, whether their home based provider or in a center, those providers who take publicly funded children have to be at least one star in our quality system.

So this is the way we measure quality in the classroom and how it should impact the outcomes of children.

We still lost the twenty twenty five mandate, which was what was in place that was moving all of our publicly funde child care providers into what's known as high quality.

So at least three stars and above.

And that really speaks about the training and the credentials of the teachers that are in the classroom.

So that was a real unfortunate loss.

But we're hopeful that will continue to be able to have a conversation on quality once we get to the Joint Legislative Study Committee, which is set to have its first activity later this year with the report due by the end of the year.

The governor is early childhood council said that there are fewer child care providers in Ohio.

That number has been dropping over the last couple of years.

There are now thirty eight hundred and eighty five in Ohio, down from four thousand fifteen.

Are there enough childcare providers and especially quality child care providers in Ohio to meet the need that we've we've had a problem in Ohio, as a lot of states have a problem in creating not just quality capacity, but all capacity.

We have child care deserts that haven't gotten enough attention.

So a lot of our rural communities don't have access to child care, quality child care.

And we know a lot of low income parents work.

Second shift.

Third ship weekends.

So nontraditional hours.

We need more quality child care for those parents so they can stay connected to the workforce.

Not all people work during, you know, the typical eight to five workday, and our system hasn't really recognized that.

And I want to ask you about what you wanted to see in this budget, I know there were some child care advocates who were saying they wanted to see more investment in especially like early childhood education, but there was also this three percent income tax cut.

Would you as a former Republican state lawmaker, probably we're OK with, but I could ask you about that.

So what did you what wasn't in this budget that you wanted to see?

Yeah, I mean, we obviously would want more priority given to our youngest children.

And so when we think about all of the issues that you probably talke with others about the K-12 system, many of those challenges at the K-12 system is trying to address our challenges that are born much earlier than kindergarten.

And so we have to be more proactive in investing in developing preschool, high quality preschool for three and four year olds.

We need to really be vigilant around our quality child care system, and we have to allow more working families to get access to those interventions.

And so while there was a bright side, the Senate did increase eligibility over the governors, small increase to one hundred and forty two percent of federal poverty.

So currently we're at one hundred and thirty percent, still woefully low, still one of the lowest in the country.

But it's pushing in the right direction, making more low income families eligible for child care.

And that's it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching Please check out our website at State Newstalk and you can follow us and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

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

Support for the state wide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medd Mut.

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.

At Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online.

At OSEA dot org.