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Marijuana sellers and buyers are counting the days till sales begin.

In Ohio, lawmakers decide how they want to spend $700 million in extra money.

And there's another bill that would make big changes in voting laws.

That's this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

Some of Ohio's medical marijuana dispensaries are likely days away from the government green light to sell recreationally.

But state lawmakers have not ruled out tweaking the voter approved law that allowed for legal recreational marijuana in Ohio.

As discussed on this show last week.

Medical dispensaries and new marijuana businesses have submitted their applications.

But a new Republican backed Senate bill would require home growers to register with the Division of Cannabis Control and would limit them to six plants per household, down from a dozen that voters approved an issue to last fall.

The bill would also move certain hemp products, like Delta eight THC, under the umbrella of licensed retailers, and limit sale of them to adults 21 and older.

Republican Representative Jamie Callender has been a chief negotiator on possible changes to the law, which the House has yet to consider.

I'm proud to be a member of the House, which has slow rolled any legislation and reaction, and really listen to the will of the voters.

I think we're going to see some legislation in the next couple of weeks that will, take care of some of the loose ends, maybe the Delta, Delta nine thing, maybe transportation, that type of thing.

but we are going to we have fought for and have maintained and will maintain the right for home grow without being registered, without being licensed.

What you grow in your house was voted on by the people and I'm proud that the house has stood with us and protected that right.

House and Senate are both set for sessions on June 26th.

Senate President Matt Huffman said this week that he expects action on marijuana legislation, which he calls complex.

He also said he's hopeful that Senate Bill 83 will pass the House.

That's the controversial legislation that seeks to address concerns that conservatives have about higher education by banning most D-I training and requiring what's called intellectual diversity on topics spelled out in the legislation.

The list is climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage or abortion a ban on faculty strikes.

It was in an earlier version of the bill was removed.

The Ohio Senate unveiled $350 million worth of allocations for regional and local projects this week, the second part of a $700 million package of one time funds that come from excess money during the latest fiscal year.

The biggest item by far for the House and Senate is $46 million for the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati, which will cover nearly a quarter of the facility's estimated $200 million cost.

The chambers also teamed up to allocate $27.5 million for the Cincinnati Open professional tennis tournament, more than $16 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Village in Canton, $7 million for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

$18.5 million for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

$11 million for a park and pier at Buckeye Lake.

$24 million for the Transportation Research Center, a partnership between Honda and Ohio State University, and $20 million for the Columbus State Community College backed Ohio Center for Advanced Technologies.

Other big money items the Senate funded include $7.5 million for John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, $10 million for the Lima Veterans Memorial Hall, $1.5 million for the Little Brown Jug grandstand renovations in Delaware, $2 million for the Mount Vernon Police Station and Knox County.

$3 million for the Toledo Innovation Center, $3.8 million for the new Franklin sewer project in Scott County, and $2.1 million for a safety service and training complex in Cortland in Trumbull County.

A rainy day fund is maxed out in terms of what the law allows us to put inside, and it's at its highest level ever right now.

I think that's one thing, which doesn't mean you can't always plan for rainy or days in the future.

and, when, you know, when when we considered this, last year during the budget, there was a lot of extra money.

And we've all talked about the effect of the federal stimulus, how income tax, sales tax, all the taxes record revenue to in Ohio and all 49 other states, I might add, by the way.

So we created this budget plan in the June 30th operating budget.

And there were a number of, things at each of the chambers.

And the governor wanted, and what what the there was actually towards capital projects.

And we did we did want to call these one time strategic community investment funds, things that would really allow, long time problems, other things like that, to get solved, things that, were extraordinary.

Some notable House appropriations include $20 million for the North Coast Connector, and $3.5 million for development in the flats, both of those in Cleveland, $10 million for the downtown Columbus Capital Line, $3 million for future plan sanctuary in Brown County, $2.9 million for a drug task force building in Columbiana County.

$5 million for a welcome center in Wayne National Forest, and $5 million for a visitor center at the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park in Ross County.

I mean, I think the Senate, you know, I trust their their ability to figure out what their communities want.

And, you know, with the house, we I know we put a lot of effort into, figuring out how to, manage the process, but also manage the, the communities throughout the state of Ohio.

And I think, you know, when you when you have that that's, that's the, the the interesting thing about having a body camera legislation is you have two different approaches and two different views.

And the, the people, I think in the end will.

Benefit from it.

The House and Senate are likely to vote on that money on June 26th.

More than a dozen of the most conservative Republicans in the Ohio House have signed onto a bill that would make changes in state laws regarding required voter ID, early voting, and voting by mail all to increase security in the system.

It sponsors say while Ohio is the gold standard when it comes to election systems, there are improvements to be made in cybersecurity and other protections.

But the 256 page bill includes other provisions that have raised concerns.

This week, I sat down with one of its sponsors, Representative Bernie Willis.

Let's talk about House Bill 472.

You and your joint sponsor, representative Bob Peterson, have said it's about cybersecurity concerns.

Now, we've heard for years that voting machines are not connected to the internet.

So what are the cybersecurity concerns that you're trying to address?

Cybersecurity is such a deep topic that we have not addressed appropriately.

I think even from the first institution of these machines, you know, close to 20 years ago.

And one of the things we have to start understanding is just how deeply the cyber actors, the threat actors that we have in the world have moved toward everything.

That includes going all the way back to the original chip set build.

So when the individual components of something are being built, there's a possibility there.

If you are not in control of your supply chain, that someone could put malicious code in an individual chip set that goes into the build of other larger components.

And what you end up with eventually is a back door that's open to that threat actor to be able to come in and do those things.

And we have not instituted the proper checks and balances, the risk management framework and the method that you would do things that we consider to be critical infrastructure and protect them properly at this level.

And it's one of those things that we are just realizing.

And that's a shame, right?

It for us to be this far along and then realize while we are really, you know, far in arrears, not just with thinking about the ways that they could be attacked, but the ways that we should be protecting them if we are going to accept the fact that our national, you know, institutions have called our election systems critical infrastructure for me and my background.

You're coming from the military side.

I understand the ways that we have to protect that, having, you know, built out high level security places and, and understand the very simplest rules like, and these are things that I just learned within the last five years that you can't by any normal component, like a monitor on your wall.

for something that's critical infrastructure or for classified processing, because any chipset that's in there can be accessed if it's available.

And the only way that you get around that is by removing things that aren't needed.

And so when someone asks, how do you, you know, ensure that you're not connected or don't have the ability for someone to connect to?

It doesn't matter whether you're connected to the internet, it's about whether someone can connect to it.

Even a disabled chipset in the software that tells you a slider, maybe that tells you that it is off.

If it's in there, it's accessible.

Now, the state does have a voting machine, examiners board and county board of elections can purchase their own machines.

They make those local decisions on which voting machines to purchase.

Would this bill require all counties to buy brand new voting machines?

No.

Not necessarily.

So the way the law is stated now, it says that we will have those systems certified to the most recent standards.

And one of our issues right now is the fact that we just certified new standards from the standards that currently were in place from 2005.

And so cybersecurity, anyone who understands how things have changed knows that cybersecurity changes on a moment's notice.

And anything that we did yesterday could be hacked today.

And they will have to be changed and fixed.

And so it's an active process.

And so as these, the standards have changed, we have now gotten to the point where especially, you know, even in this election year, we've now certified voting systems that are going to be available and still purchasable on a 2005 standard when a brand new standard that's, you know, effective 2023, is the actual level that would need to be at.

The County Commissioners Association of Ohio has voted to oppose this bill because of cost.

And the president of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials has said it's going to squeeze taxpayers burden voters, and is an unfunded mandate in search of a problem.

What do you say to that?

So I would say the funding issue is real.

What we haven't quantified is how much out of how much we've spent already, if and if assuming that we are able to look at some point at all of those systems and say, yes, they are indeed as secure as we need them to be, whether we will need to replace them is another issue that the frankly, our legislature has to figure out and figure out.

How do we then fund it as critical infrastructure.

And so I think their their concerns are absolutely valid.

And we certainly do not want to put any unlevel, you know, some levy, some unfunded requirement upon them without them telling them, hey, when we know how much of that cost, we're going to make sure that the funds are there to do it, because our state again, should accept this as critical infrastructure, should protect it at that level and not just ask them to do it.

I think that's our job to actually do that for them.

You've talked about, outside actors getting involved in and controlling chips, and certainly we've had some concerns about other countries accessing our voting system and things like that.

There was a group of election security experts that sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last year saying there's a real concern about an effort to access voting system software by allies of former President Trump.

Does this bill address any questions about citizens looking into voting machines and trying to access that voting software, and maybe messing it up?

I think it literally covers the gamut of, protecting the databases that are created from all of this information, the inputs, outputs going all the way back from, you know, voter registration and being in the registries all the way up to the final tallied votes that come out of that.

What we have now are databases that we really do not have any insight to, and we don't have any control over and may best parallel I would say to that is, you know, the databases that hold your financial information every day are secured by the highest level of blockchain technology.

And that allows you to not only be flagged to any issues going in, but you have a continual record of not only how it was done, but who did it, and the ability to rebuild that database by taking out the bad, you know, inputs that may have happened to be there.

we have nothing even close to that at this point.

And so it's very difficult for us to even know who and where there might be bad entries or, you know, exits, things that are taken out of the database, put in the database.

And that's really what we're asking for, is to elevate it to a standard where we have control over that, and we know exactly what's going and what's coming up.

To me, it's a completely nonpartisan issue, right?

We're talking about election integrity, whether that you know, what I think that is to the benefit of the Ohio people, to know that what's going in is exactly what they intended, and what comes out of the result is is true.

The bill would also allow for boards of elections, county commissioners, or voters to require hand-counting of ballots.

Doesn't that open the system up to more human error when ballots are counted by hand, as opposed to by a machine?

No, I think it's a bit of a misnomer that, folks are very worried about a county or board of elections saying, hey, our system is potentially corrupt and we have to do something different.

one of the big misinformation campaigns I think, going on right now is that we're just trying to get back to hand counting, and that's just not true.

I think what it is, is, self-determination by those, either boards of elections or the county commissioners or the electorate in that county to say that we're not sure.

Right.

We may have had some strange activity that happens around, you know, one of the vendors that leaves them wondering whether their system is secure and it should be their option to say, hey, you know what?

Until we figure this out, we're going to hand count our ballots.

So that's something that we did for a really long time.

does it other does it give us other issues to have to deal with now with getting more people and the possibility of, you know, having human error?

And I just tell people what we to have two human beings sitting next to me and watch what they're doing versus looking at a machine that I have no insight into what's going on inside of that.

I actually trust the humans a little better.

So this is not about 2020 election deniers trying to push for hand count.

Not at all.

Not at all.

No.

This is really about ensuring that those systems are secure.

And to give again, in a case where we find out one is potentially not secure.

If that county says we want to back out and we want to hand-count our ballots, we've already talked to boards of elections that said, yeah, we could do that, and it's actually cheaper to do it that way than to continue to upgrade and build more into these systems.

So it gives them the option.

I think that self-determination and that home rule makes sense.

Another thing the bill does, it would require nearly all voters to have a valid Ohio driver's license with a photo, of course, or a state ID with a photo to register to vote by mail, as well as to vote to register and to vote by mail.

Right now, you can vote by mail with just the last four digits, the Social Security number.

That's a change for people who have been voting by mail for many years.

Is that going to be a problem?

We don't think it'll be a problem.

But again, it may put an additional burden.

That's the thing that we're really trying to figure out.

If there is an additional burden, we want to ensure that we resource to that to figure out, you know, how do we help to ensure that anyone who says, well, you know, the other ability that I might have to get a, a and then ID done, let's say remotely or to have someone come out to my location because I'm homebound.

Are those things great?

as a former military member, I got to vote absentee.

And so that's something that we don't want to, you know, interrupt.

But we are at a point now where we know that there are the potential for people to go and look and say, hey, well, we could, you know, and enter ballots as absentee ballots with someone's name on them and not have any ability to determine whether that person actually did that vote.

Do you have any evidence that this is happening?

Is this a solution in search of a problem?

No.

But what it does is give confidence to the fact that we actually are giving vote to each person who wants to vote and has voted before or is registered to vote.

Now, and the person who shows up to the polls, who has to produce identification and is put through that is not now unduly burdened.

And it's the same protection for them as it is for the person who's voting absentee.

The person who shows up to vote.

There's another provision in here that would allow, actually, what would require poll workers to look at the photo ID and compare it to the person in front of them to make sure that this is actually the person who's voting.

driver's licenses can last for eight years.

You can change a lot in eight years through aging and illness and whatever else life throws at you.

Is this going to be a a potential problem here for the poll worker to have to say this isn't you, or for the voter to say, no, that is me.

I think there's enough provision in the law currently that allows someone that has a question about the voter to then, you know, put a provisional flag on that vote and just say, hey, we're because we have a disagreement here, right?

And there's there's always there should always be room for us to disagree and then go, okay, well, we have a method, though, by which we can then substantiate the claim that you are who you say you are, understanding that this really doesn't look like you, right?

I think I think that would make sense to a person.

but then to say, hey, we're just going to put it in a provisional status so that we can get some additional information to ensure that this is available.

Governor Mike DeWine, when he signed House Bill 458, which was the one that required photo ID, at for voters and limited counties to one ballot, Dropbox and all the other things that it did.

He said when he signed that bill or afterwards that he didn't want to sign another election bill.

So how do you convince him that this is needed when we keep hearing that Ohio is the gold standard for elections, that Ohio's elections are very secure, how do you convince them that this is needed?

Well, I would say that, you know, as a freshman representative, I learned early on that we are working on the revised code all the time.

And so there's going to be constant revisions to everything.

I mean, it would be very nice if we could come up with a bill every year that just satisfies each portion of our law.

But it's just not feasible.

And so, especially in the case where we've, you know, now found that the systems are, you know, potentially open to some kind of cyber actor, you know, inside those systems doing something to that we don't want at this point to then say, well, we couldn't do anything.

And then the Ohio voters are looking at us going, but now something has happened.

And you you did nothing to, you know, defend against those things or prevent the upfront.

And this would make some changes during a big election year.

We've got presidential and U.S. Senate, the entire House, third of the Senate, the members of Congress.

there are a lot of potential, votes coming up here.

Is this the time to make big changes to Ohio's voting system, when you're going to have a lot of voters this fall?

I think both myself and Representative Peterson.

And, you know, on the other side, there's the companion bill in the Senate now, I think Senator Brunner, Senator, Gavron, both understand that this is a very big ask ahead of a larger election and that there are a lot of things that we are that we have in this bill that would not be implementable in the time that we have between now and then.

And so what we're looking at now is what are the pieces that we can move, not only just in policy to help ensure that the system works a little better, but we want to make sure that the message is that we're not going to then just wait.

Right.

This could be something that, even if it's settled and satisfied before the end of this GA in law, it wouldn't even come into effect until after the election is done.

But it gets us postured to then move from being a gold standard.

And I ask people, well, if it's if it's gold and what carat are we talking right.

What we're looking for is the platinum standard.

We're looking to be the national leader in election systems and lay that out for the most secure possibilities for everyone else to follow.

So changes could be coming in terms of when these things might take effect or things that might be dropped out.

Or.

By the way, 12 Ohio counties use equipment from Dominion Voting Systems, which secured a $787 million settlement with Fox News and a lawsuit that claimed the network defamed the company with lies and conspiracy theories about their voting machines.

The County Commissioners Association of Ohio is opposed to the bill, as is the group that represents elections workers.

The Ohio Association of Elections Officials.

We agree with the sponsors that we want to have safe and secure elections in Ohio, but unfortunately, we also recognize that many of the provisions that are contained in the bill actually move us in the wrong direction.

So while we are certainly committed to working with the legislature to improve our election system and make it more safe and more secure, I think we have to start by acknowledging that Ohio already has the gold standard for secure elections, for safe elections, for accurate elections, and we need to start with that premise and find real solutions to real problems, not create more by passing a bill that just is not well conceived or well vetted at this point.

And obviously, if where ever sees everything.

And this week, mark the first ever Mojo Nixon Day in Ohio with the House voting to honor the Cincinnati DJ, satellite radio show host, satirical singer, songwriter and occasional actor, the self-described court jester of the cow punk and psycho Billy movements.

You probably wouldn't think that those words would be spoken here, right?

that fuzed country and roots music with punk rock.

Mojo Nixon burst on the scene in the 1980s with hits like Elvis Is Everywhere, Don Henley Must Die, and Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with my two headed love child Mojo Nixon said his goal was to go too far, too fast.

He pushed every boundary, stood up to censorship, and fought for free speech.

He used his platform to challenge the status quo and to give a voice to those who felt marginalized by mainstream culture.

Ohio was a big part of what he was, and he.

Would.

Probably.

Be more entertained than this mojo in Wonderland, down the rabbit hole stuff that's going on here today.

Than than, than anybody.

he was an uncompromising individual, and nobody asked for any sort of compromise to make this day come together, and that people embraced him for the total boundary pushing nutjob that he is.

We all know that rock and roll isn't one sound.

Rock n roll is streetcorner harmony.

Rock n roll is doing rock n roll is garage rock.

It's punk rock.

It's electronic music, it's dance music, it's cal punk, it's heavy metal, it's death metal, it's hip hop, it's rap.

It's all of that.

And Mojo had all those sounds and energy rolled together, and the hallmark of it all is that it has attitude and spirit.

And he had a hell of a lot of attitude and spirit.

Neil Kirby McMillan, who became Mojo Nixon, died in February on the annual cruise he hosted in conjunction with his Sirius XM satellite radio show.

And that is 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 news.org or find us online by searching State of Ohio Show.

You can also hear more from the Bureau on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts, and please join us again next time here for the State of Ohio.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans as well as dental, vision, and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP Porter Wright, is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at Puerto Rico.

Com Porter Wright inspired Every day in Ohio Education Association, representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.