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At O H E A dot org, Gov.

Mike DeWine bets on a new approach to boost vaccines.

Ohio companies are deciding whether to chance bringing workers back to the office or leaving them at home.

And a Republican senator talks about the odds of sports betting in Ohio with a somewhat complicated proposal all this weekend, the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio, I'm Karen Kasler everyone can now control their own health.

Everyone can now control their own destiny, so.

It is time.

It's time to end the health orders, Governor Mike DeWine announced this week that most of his statewide health orders, including the mask mandate that's been in place since July, will be lifted on June 2nd.

And arguably, that wasn't the biggest news in his state.

One address on Wednesday, starting on May twenty sixth, he announced there will be five weekly drawings among vaccinated Ohioans for a million dollars each.

I know that some of you now are shaking your head and say that Mike DeWine is crazy.

This million dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money.

But truly.

The real waste at this point in the pandemic when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it, the real waste is a life that is lost.

Now to covid-19.

DeWine also announced weekly drawings for covid vaccine recipients from 12 to 17 for a total of five fully paid for year scholarships to any Ohio public university.

This was the first week that people 12 to 17 could get the vaccine, while health orders will end in June.

For most, they will remain for nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

In the last week, new daily confirmed covid case numbers have averaged around eight hundred and seventy, with ninety seven new resident deaths and one hundred and two new deaths in Ohio between May 6th and May 11th.

As of Thursday, the number of cases per one hundred thousand Ohioans is it one hundred nineteen point nine?

That's the fourth week of declining numbers, but it's still more than double the 50 cases per one hundred thousand Ohioans that DeWine had set in March as a goal to end statewide mandates.

Reaction to the covid shot lottery, or Qaderi, was swift, House Minority Leader Muleya Sykes said in a statement.

As elected leaders were obligated to take seriously our duty to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, using millions of dollars in relief funds and a drawing is a grave misuse of money that could be going to respond to this ongoing crisis.

Ohioans deserve better than this, but twines fellow Republicans in the legislature who had already said they intended to lift the statewide mandates on the law they passed, allowing them to override women's health orders takes effect in mid-June, were not impressed with the shot lottery either.

Republican Representative John Cross has been critical of divines orders and says while it's good they're going away, he doesn't like the shot lottery.

We should be treating our health care needs like a game show and using game show gimmicks with our federal tax dollars.

It's my understanding the governor is going to be using specific money from the American Recovery Act as designated for marketing efforts of the vaccination.

So instead of putting out advertising, they're going to turn it into a raffle.

I think that's just not the proper use of money.

Whether he can legally do it or not, I'm not sure.

Republican Representative Harold Gambari went a bit further, saying in a statement, enticing five young Ohioans with full ride college scholarships for commencing the vaccine and one million dollars for five Ohio residents 18 and older who have started the shots is unethical and unacceptable.

I spoke with Speaker Copp following the governor's address to express my concerns and call in the legislature for additional accountability.

In this latest decision from the governor, DeWine also announced this week that the state will stop sending three hundred weekly federal benefits checks to jobless Ohioans starting June.

Twenty sixth.

If you look at why jobs are not being filled, I'm sure it's a multiple.

Reasons, but.

Whenever you go in and you know, the market is distorted in that sense, you have you have certain consequences and you can do that and should do that, you know.

When you're in the crisis and we're coming out of the crisis economically, we still have covered, but we have the way to to deal with it today.

So this couldn't go on forever.

The federal government was going to end this, at least unless they changed their mind.

They're going to end this in September.

We're moving it up a little bit.

We think that's the that's the appropriate the appropriate thing.

I've actually talked to individuals who've said to me, it doesn't make sense for me to go back to work because I make more on unemployment than I do working.

And I don't blame them.

I mean, I don't cast any blame on the individual because the government made a policy that said we'll pay you more not to work than to go back to work.

And and we just have to correct that policy when when things have stabilized and now I believe it's time that we do that, things have stabilized.

A few days earlier, the state reinstituted the requirement for all Ohioans getting unemployment benefits, that they prove that they're looking for work.

That was waived a year ago when hundreds of thousands of Ohioans were jobless because of the pandemic.

It was reinstated in December for new jobless claims.

Nineteen thousand nine hundred and twenty six Ohioans filed first time claims for unemployment in the last week.

One hundred and seventy eight thousand five hundred and eighty three Ohioans got federally funded pandemic unemployment assistance last week.

A year ago, fifty one thousand one hundred and twenty five Ohioans filed first time unemployment claims, and that was way down from two hundred and seventy two thousand one hundred and seventeen initial unemployment filings in mid-March of last year, the highest point of the pandemic.

As summer approaches and more Ohioans are getting vaccinated, many businesses are thinking about what the new normal will look like.

Post pandemic.

Certainly not everyone can work from home.

And a new poll for morning consult last month showed two thirds of employees who can want to return to the office as soon as possible.

But that same poll also showed eighty four percent enjoyed working remotely.

Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles takes a look at working from home and what's next for companies and for employees who have been doing that.

Johns is the leader of a group that represents doctors in northeast Ohio, and she says her work from home experience during the past year has been good.

Eliminating that commute time, I think really helps from a stress perspective and a work life balance perspective.

And so I think it's nice that we're not having to drive in every day of the week.

But I do think we miss the camaraderie of being together and being social with one another.

Katrina Boylan of Columbus says working from home has proven to be successful.

A lot of corporate managers and things were skeptical about work from home because, you know, it was a fear I had what I was productive at home.

Would I be able to to balance the work and the life without having a separation?

And I know for me personally, I've been pleasantly surprised at how productive I am to the point that my manager actually doesn't necessarily want me back in the office.

Both Johns and Boylen think their new normal will involve splitting hours of work between home and the office.

Work from home is not a new concept for nationwide insurance.

The Columbus based company has been allowing some employees to do that for years.

But the new normal will have half the workforce coming in each week.

But in that week, where associates are coming back into the office, there will be some flexing.

They can come in three days a week, four days a week, but there is still going to be that hybrid approach.

And so in that we are also looking at more of our associates having the ability to stay at home and work at home permanently.

And so all in all, when it's said and done, we'll probably look at 50 percent of our workforce that will remain permanent and work from home environment.

And with so many people working from home, the company is able to be more efficient by not having to lease as much corporate space we actually saved on the brick and mortar in November twenty twenty when we moved to the four main facilities.

So we have already reduced our footprint from a facility perspective.

And so I don't you never know what the future may hold, but we are already ahead of that game.

In terms of the facility strategy, other companies are following suit.

Recently, Chase, which has twenty thousand workers in the Columbus area, announced it would vacate the majority of the space that surrounds Capital Square.

Almost one in five office spaces in central Ohio are vacant, the highest rate in a decade, according to commercial real estate company CBRE.

And a report from the University of Cincinnati's Economic Center predicts many workers won't come back to their downtown offices.

But that's not the case in Cleveland, where office space leasing was up last year.

Businesses that depend on big companies have had to adapt to employees working from home, such as Bernies cheesecakes in Delaware.

I actually thought, since most of my business is providing cheesecakes for small independent restaurants and taverns, that I probably would not have any business during this time.

I was very surprised when the businesses reached out to me because when people were allowed to do takeout, they wanted absolutely everything that was on the menu.

At their beck and call for takeout, people did not skimp at all in what they wanted to order.

She wonders how things will change once people return to work.

So does the head of the Ohio Restaurant Association.

So I think it's going to be a little bit different.

But we are anticipating a slow return into the urban centers by employers, which will affect two things breakfast and coffee and all those things that people do in the morning driving back and forth to the office.

That's probably changed pretty significantly, no question.

And then business lunches, clearly nowhere near what it was before, right?

That doesn't mean that people still don't order out or maybe go out of their house.

I mean, when covid continues to get better, but it's different than taking a three or four days a week and going out to lunch within one half mile radius that you can walk to from your office, things like that.

Those things do feel like they've changed.

Another thing that's changed, there's now a shortage of restaurant workers, 98 percent of them talk to us about staffing challenges they're having.

So it's become now the number one issue.

It was for the longest time trying to keep restaurants open.

And then it was to try to get financial support to to make up for the government shutdowns.

And now it's Andy Chow staff.

And so it just it keeps shifting through this pandemic.

But workers and groups that advocate for them have said the staffing shortages in the restaurant industry are related to workers wanting better pay and safer work environments because they cannot choose to work from home.

There are also long term questions about taxes.

The conservative Buckeye Institute has filed suit over the municipal income taxes paid by employees who live in different cities, then their offices, and were ordered by the state to work from home last year and have Republican sponsored bill would require that employees pay income taxes where the work is performed.

City say that would be devastating to their budgets, especially to safety forces.

Jo Ingles Statehouse News Bureau hearings continue on the new two year state budget, with senators expected to put forward their proposal in early June.

And it will include a school funding formula overhaul, since virtually everyone agrees that the current funding model is broken because at least 80 percent of districts either get more or less than the formula says they should.

But this week, one key senator revealed the funding overhaul in the House budget will likely cost a lot more than expected.

The House version of the school funding overhaul would need an extra one point eight billion dollars to fully fund it beyond what the state already spends on K through 12 education over the six year in of that funding formula that was brought up by Republican Senate Education Committee Chair Andrew Brunner in a call featuring school and elected officials put together by the Ohio Organizing Collective, which is among many groups that supports the school funding overhaul.

The bill that came over to the Senate was over six years, one point eight billion short.

It also analyzed salary data from twenty eighteen.

We updated it a couple of weeks ago and the salary data is now three twenty twenty, but that added another four hundred fifty four million dollars short.

So we're closer to about two point to two point three billion short over the six year period.

That's about three to four hundred million per year.

Three years ago this week, the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports gambling, opening it up to any state.

Since then, all the states around Ohio legalized sports betting except for Kentucky and Ohio.

This month, Republican Senators Niraj Ontogeny and Nathan Manning introduced a bill steered by Republican Senator Kirk Suring, the chair of a committee investigating sports gambling options.

The bill sets up two types of licenses and allows a split control over the industry by both the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the Ohio Lottery Commission.

That potentially resolves the dispute between the House and Senate over which agency will control sports gambling.

But it's also raised other concerns, including questions about its constitutionality.

I spoke with freshman Senator John Tarney of Miamisburg near Dayton about his bill this week.

So you've said before that you are an opponent of expanded gambling, but you've been supportive of the vaccine and you've been vaccinated.

So I want to start out by asking you, what are your thoughts on Governor Mike DeWine chattery announcement?

There's one of your former colleagues in the House, Representative Orascom Barr, who says it's unethical and unacceptable.

What do you think?

Well, you know, just first to clarify, I believe that people should have a choice to get vaccinated and they should get vaccinated if they should be vaccinated.

I plan to.

I believe that, frankly, US legislators shouldn't be cutting the line for anybody.

And I believe the elderly and those in need should.

Have opportunity to get a first, there are still people who are looking for the vaccine, so I plan to, but I have not yet.

You know, look, you know, let's let's first focus on the fact that the governor is lifting the health orders.

I'm very happy he is doing that.

I think that the timing is right.

I, of course, would have wanted to do it sooner.

But, you know, I think we should commend the governor for lifting the health orders, even if a little later than perhaps some of us would have wanted.

And look, I think he's trying to find ways to get folks to be incented to take the vaccine.

A lottery idea isn't a bad one using taxpayer dollars.

Probably not something that we should be doing for this.

I'm sure there are private companies who maybe would step up and participate in some sort of lottery to incentivize the vaccine, but I don't think that we should be using taxpayer dollars for it.

Let's move on to the sports gambling bill at first hearing this week before testimony even began on it.

The bill did change a little bit.

You changed the type A licenses for casinos and Recinos to allow for mobile bets and then also the Taibe license, which is for brick and mortar stores to be awarded on first come, first serve basis.

And the bill also allows the Casino Control Commission to use a regional factor to determine economic growth.

So why these changes so soon after the bill was first introduced and even before testimony started on it?

Well, you know, look, this is obviously a huge issue that many people are interested.

I can tell you that Ohioans want it.

They want now.

And frankly, when you have such a big issue with so many people interested in it, you're going to see lots of changes because we want to ensure that it's a good bill.

And so I think that you saw round one of changes yesterday.

You're going to see a multitude of further changes as this bill develops.

You know, when we really look at this, we're talking about standing up a multibillion dollar industry in Ohio.

The last time this happened was half a decade ago with medical marijuana, but that's only a billion dollar industry in and around.

And before that, I can't even tell you when.

The last time we stood up a new industry in Ohio, probably the casinos, but we didn't do that.

The casinos did that for themselves by buying their way into the Constitution.

And so, you know, really, if you look at this, this is a pretty remarkable thing that legislatures around the country only get to do from time to time.

And so you think you're going to see lots of changes?

Look, I think we want to make sure that it's Ohio businesses who are benefiting from it, whether those are the lottery retail agents, whether those are the sports franchises that are domiciled in Ohio and, yes, whether it is the casinos in Recinos in Ohio.

And so I think that you're going to continue to see changes that that seek to benefit Ohio businesses.

How big an influence were the major league professional sports franchises and what happened and why include college sports in this when they said they didn't want to be a part of it?

Well, I think including college sports is incredibly important.

Part of the reason to do this and you said I oppose an expansion of gambling.

That is true.

But I also understand that if we don't do it, the casinos will once again buy their way into the ballot.

That's unacceptable.

And I'd rather have we as the people's representatives do this than have them do it through the ballot.

So I think that's important.

But look, I think that the sports franchise in Ohio are a huge driver of economic growth and stability in Ohio.

They are major employers.

They pay a lot of payroll.

They pay a lot of taxes in Ohio.

And frankly, they're the ones that are developing the product that people are betting on.

And so, of course, I think we want to make sure that they are included.

I think we have a little bit of a ways to go to get there, but I think we will.

And then on college sports, you know, part of the reason to do this is to lift people up out of the black market.

If you don't include college sports now, I will say the bill authorizes the Casino Control Commission to make that determination.

It doesn't ban it or require it, and it gives the casino control commission that authority.

But if you don't include my personal opinion, if you don't include college sports, people will then just bet on that in the black market.

And so, you know, I think we have to be very careful now.

I think there are safeguards that I've asked the university counsel about, which include not being able to bet on a single player.

Right.

Which creates a very pressurized situation around that player.

And if they're amateurs.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, they're college students.

But I will say that college sports is a multi, multibillion dollar industry, not just across the country, but in Ohio.

So while the the students are amateur athletes, you know, certainly the teams are profiting to an enormous extent.

You're your co-sponsor or your your fellow joint sponsor, Senator Nathan Manning, said in testimony this week, we want a free market, but we also don't want the wild, wild West.

When you start bringing in the lottery retailers into this, doesn't that run the risk of creating a wild, wild west?

No, I don't I don't think so at all.

I think first, it's important to understand that those lottery retailers employ thousands and thousands of jobs.

Sports gaming should seek to benefit them.

They already have these machines or lottery machines, whatever you want to call them, in their stores where they have different lottery games on there.

This can be a simple addition of a lottery game onto their machines and and they can easily do it.

We can limit the size of the bet, which we've done in the bill.

And frankly, I think Senator meaning as major sponsor said it correctly, we want a free but regulated market.

Right.

And that's what this is.

And so they're going to be held to account just as the casinos and Recinos would.

But no, I think especially when you're going to be able to bet on your mobile phone.

Right.

Why can't you bet at a lottery retailer, smaller communities that specifically wanted that, saying they felt like they were left out of the casino monopoly, since those are the four casinos and seven Recinos.

And they also said that they felt like the casinos hadn't delivered on the promises of all the revenue that they had said that they would bring in when they were when they were agreed upon two thousand nine.

So do you think that this does enough to satisfy what local communities had wanted, smaller communities who really want to be a part of it?

Yes, absolutely.

Look, I think that that's why lottery retailers need to have access to sports gaming.

If you're in a rural community, know you're not going to be able to get to a casino, know to bet on sports.

And then also I think that's why this regional language that was included yesterday about the type B in person sports books is so important because we don't want every sports book just going to the big cities.

Right.

We want some to be going to mid-sized cities like Dayton, which I represent, or even perhaps a few, you know, maybe one in Marietta for southeast Ohio or what have you.

And so I think that is very important.

The Legislative Service Commission, which does research on every bill and puts out analyzes, put out analysis this week that said, quote, A reviewing court might find that the bill unconstitutionally expands gambling in Ohio.

Does that concern you?

No, I don't.

I mean, I think that the twenty eighteen U.S. Supreme Court decision was clear.

That gives us the authority.

And frankly, I think we've seen all of these bills get legalized across the country without a problem.

But in Ohio's constitution, we were allowed gambling only through the lottery, through casinos and through I believe it's charitable gaming.

It will.

Will sports gambling fit into those categories?

I do.

I do, because I think it's going to be through those entities.

Right.

I mean, we're talking about doing the lottery component through the lottery.

We're talking about doing the type A and B licenses largely through casinos, or they're going to be through casino partners.

Right.

I mean, frankly, the teams will partner with someone to to do this.

So I do think that we're within the guise of the Constitution.

One of the other things that this bill does is it expands EA Bingo and also the lottery.

You said that these are ways to reach younger players, but you've also said that you're concerned about expanding gambling.

Why do you want to reach younger players if you concerned about expanding gambling?

Well, again, I think that if we're going to do it, we have to do it in a free and regulated market.

And again, if we don't do this, the casinos will come in and do this for us.

And so, you know, we are in a little bit of a pickle.

But, you know, if we're going to do it, I think it has to be done in a safe and regulated manner, which, you know, this will and the bingo concept will help the veteran and fraternal organization.

So if we're going to do it, we might as well help folks in the free market and also our veterans instead of just the casino and Recinos.

And finally, Ohio is an island among all the states that have expanded sports gambling since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that to happen.

Is Ohio too late to the game, if you'll pardon the pun, here?

Well, I don't think we're too late to the game.

I think we're about to be so.

I think that we should act very swiftly and come together to pass a bill very quickly.

The anti gambling group, the Ohio Roundtable, says it doesn't appear sports betting will be constitutional unless it's allowed at all lottery retailers and that mobile apps under the Casino Control Commission may be unconstitutional as well.

And Vice President Rob Algate says he also thinks the wine may run into problems with the covid shot lottery he announced this week.

And that is it for this week.

Please check out the Ohio Public Radio and Television State House News Bureaus website at statenews.org.

You can also follow us and 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 one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medda Mutual dotcom slash Ohio by the law offices of PorterWright Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country, PorterWright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community, Morad PorterWright Dotcom 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 O H E A dot org.