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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Maude 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 OHEA.org We now know what voters will see when they cast ballots on the amendment to make it harder to change the Constitution.

But there's also a lawsuit to stop that August vote, a Republican backed bill that seeks to address concerns that conservatives have about higher education passes the Senate.

And state Parks took a hit in the House version of the budget.

I talked with the agency's director about what those cuts might cost if they're not restored this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

The language that voters will see on the Republican proposal to make it harder to amend the constitution has been approved by Republicans on the state's ballot board.

But there's a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court to stop the August 8th special election to consider that measure from moving forward.

Issue one says 60% voter approval will be needed to amend the Constitution.

The signatures from 5% of eligible voters from each county would be needed starting January 1st and that no additional signatures would be added after the filing deadline.

The ballot boards.

Democrats were not happy with that language, which doesn't know that a simple majority is needed to pass an amendment now or that 5% of voters in the last gubernatorial election are needed, not 5% of eligible voters.

It's sneaky, it's illegal.

And all these all they're doing is trying to ram their policies and ram this thing through an election that's both unconstitutional.

And in August, where no one's going to win, not more than most people don't vote on.

And it's just typical Republicans that they don't get their way.

They know they're on the wrong side of the issue.

They know that the voters of Ohio and the citizens of Ohio don't want this.

So they're trying to do it with sneaky language in an election that people aren't used to voting in that have never were.

Only once in the history of Ohio have have citizens voted on constitutional amendment in August.

And that was when this constitution in 1912 was adopted.

Undemocratic, unnecessary, unpopular, unfair move by the Ohio Republican Party.

And people need to vote no in August, regardless of what the language says.

Today is a sad day for Ohio democracy.

What happened here is it's more than just a failure.

It's a perversion of it.

It's a it's an attempt to get one over on Ohio voters, not just what Senator Damore said regarding the total misstatement by the secretary of state in drafting the provision regarding the percentage of of the voters required to to obtain to to to to qualify any future constitutional amendments.

The title of issue one reads, Elevating the Standards to Qualify for and to pass any constitutional amendment.

Opponents claim the word elevate has a partizan bias.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose refutes that.

We didn't provide an explanation of the way it currently is.

We provide an explanation of what would be new if this were to pass and we believe that it's going to be sufficient and again gives a clear explanation in as few words as possible, but a clear explanation in a way that a voter can read and understand exactly what they're voting for, which is what the law requires.

So it doesn't benefit from knowing what this current standard is.

And they understand what being asked to me.

And they will have a great conversation about that over the next few months as you all will be reporting on it and people will be debating it when they come to actually vote.

The language on the ballot that we just approved this morning says exactly what they're voting on.

There will be an explanation for and against.

It will be printed in the newspaper once a week between, you know, three weeks leading up to the election.

So there will be plenty of opportunities for voters to educate themselves prior to standing in the actual ballot.

Boxes are going.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Yes, it is.

Elevating means to raise or increase.

That's the first definition in the Webster's dictionary.

Lareau says ballot language must be short, but voters have more than two months to read the entire amendment before the special election on August 8th.

A lawsuit filed last Friday in the Ohio Supreme Court by the group.

One person one vote seeks to stop the election, claiming the resolution that created the amendment is unconstitutional because it set that election when most August special elections had been eliminated in a previous state law, and that a resolution cannot be used to change state law.

Republicans have wanted the 60% voter approval for amendments in place before November, when a reproductive rights and abortion access amendment is expected to be on the ballot.

A bill that seeks to address conservatives concerns about what they say is a lack of free speech on college and university campuses passed the Ohio Senate this week.

Supporters say the bill will ensure there's intellectual diversity, especially around controversial issues that are identified in the measure.

But opponents say it's an assault on academic freedom.

Republican sponsor Senator Jerry Serino was on this show last month talking about the bill but said it would be amended.

The substitute bill does make some changes.

For instance, most mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training is still banned except when related to accreditation, licensing and grants.

Substitute Senate Bill 83 also eliminates the requirement that universities submit a statement when applying for state funds, guaranteeing a commitment to intellectual diversity, among other things.

And it clarifies the ban on financial partnerships with China does not include tuition from Chinese students.

But the bill still adds employees of universities to the list of those public employees who are banned from striking.

That list includes police officers, firefighters and corrections officers.

It still bans ideological litmus tests in hiring and admissions, and it bans universities from taking public positions on controversial topics, though they can lobby lawmakers on issues.

Serino says his bill does not ban any topics, but it says that faculty must allow intellectual diversity to be expressed on specific controversial issues identified in the bill as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage or abortion.

Senate Bill 83 was discussed briefly in committee before it passed Wednesday morning, with protesters wearing black tape over their mouths looking on.

All four Republicans in committee voted for it.

Committee Chair Jerry Serino is the sponsor and two other committee members are co-sponsors.

Senate Bill 83 headed to the Senate floor that afternoon and passed on a mostly party line vote.

Though Republican Senators Bill Blessing Nathan Manning and Michele Reynolds joined all seven Democrats in voting against it.

More than 500 people submitted written testimony or spoke before the committee hearing.

Senate Bill 83 Last month.

After Sessions, Serino and Senate Minority Leader Nikki Antonio took questions about the bill and the strong reaction to it.

We're talking about making some significant changes here to higher education and the institutions that will be required to make those changes.

Don't always automatically embrace the changes, but we will work to implement this bill when it becomes law.

I really think this is a micromax managing a step too far that the legislature has taken into ideology.

And it's clear from what we what we heard and what the bill if you look at.

Portions of the bill, what it really says is that it's a response to.

What they're responding.

Specifically to this, you know, wokeness being in colleges and universities.

And so we're back at culture wars in our universities.

Serino says he doesn't think the bill will cause a brain drain from universities, but instead that they will attract more people in his words, who have been turned away because of the liberal bias that is incontrovertible in our institutions in Ohio.

But Antonio said critics should look at the reasons why there aren't more conservative leaning faculty at universities, and she thinks some of that is the salaries offered.

Ohio's weather may finally be consistent enough to start planning outdoor activities, including trips to the 75 state parks with another one on the way.

But the state's Department of Natural Resources didn't get a warm reception from the Ohio House.

It voted to cut funding to Ody and R by more than $55 million from Governor Mike DeWine's initial budget request, which increased funding for the agency.

Odeon Arts Director says that could hurt tourism by affecting something visitors say they want to see.

Governor Mike DeWine's budget increased funding for DNR by six and a half percent in the first year and then decreased it by a half point in the second.

So $656 million in the first year in the original budget, $652 million in the second, the House cut that by three almost three and a half percent in the first year and 4.2% in the second.

What will that cut do if it stands?

I mean, will how will that impact people who are coming to state parks?

Right.

So so most of the cut relates to state parks.

So out of that 655, some million dollar budget, a lot of that is federal funding or fees, other kinds of revenue.

So the portion of our budget that's funded by the General Revenue Fund is is just a fraction of it.

It's about we requested 175 million.

So a lot of that is about our state parks.

So our most important, our leading increase besides the Ohio program, which is our number one priority, our leading increase was for state parks.

And most of that was about law enforcement.

So when our visitors go to a state park, we've done lots of surveys, lots of focus groups, what they want, they want to feel welcome and they want to feel safe.

And we hear comments from many people where they say, I never saw a ranger.

Why did why did I go through that park?

And I never saw a ranger.

And so we want to increase that law enforcement presence.

We think people will not only feel safer, we think they actually will be safer because why you can't prevent any particular accident from happening.

We think having more of a presence will make people think twice before they go past that big sign that says dangerous cliffs don't go here.

You know, we can't have someone stationed there 24 seven.

But by having more presence in the parks, we think people will make safer choices.

We'll have quicker response time.

You know, our number of law enforcement officers has has gone down pretty significantly over the decades, and we need to rebuild some of that.

But you haven't had any incidents.

I mean, you've had a couple of things.

There was an incident in Hocking Hills where a woman died.

Some things like this.

But you haven't had any major incidents, any shootings or anything like that?

Not not shootings.

But I'll give you a couple of examples that I shared with the finance Committee the other day.

So campground disputes are pretty common.

They're like domestic violence disputes.

And just a couple of weeks ago, we had a couple with a four month old baby and there was a dispute between the parents and the father, threatened our officers, had a firearm.

He was eventually arrested and the child went to children's services.

That happens.

It's not typical.

I mean, people are usually very safe.

It's a family oriented area.

But that happens and our folks have to be prepared to respond to it.

We do have other deaths that might not get reported.

Hear that one in Hocking Hills was very tragic and had a lot of elements around it.

But it wasn't that long ago a young woman fell off a cliff at ho sex cave out at South Fork State Park and unfortunately did not survive.

You know, those are the kinds of things we need a presence and we need a response time to to prevent it.

And, you know, our officers work so closely with local law enforcement, I can't say enough about the local the sheriffs and the police departments that work with our folks, but we can't put all the burden on them.

You know, they're strapped as it is, and we don't want to burden them further.

So this law enforcement piece is really important.

One of the other things that ODNR does is work on these abandoned oil and gas wells, Orphan wells and environmental groups and the oil and gas industry are together on that issue that those wells need to be capped.

So would this budget cut potentially hurt that I mean, you just got some money from the controlling board to try to go in there and find there's like 19,000 of these orphan wells around the state and you don't even know where they all are.

Right.

At least 19,000.

And we expect to find more.

This budget cut will not impact that.

So our biggest obstacle to making progress in plugging these wells is the availability of contractors to do the work.

So we have been hitting the pavement hard trying to find contractors over the last few years.

I mean, and I'll share with you, this wasn't a priority before.

So when you looked at a five year period before this administration, in that five year period from 2013 to 2018, 120 some wells were plugged.

So since we came in and made it a priority, we have plugged over 600 wells.

We have another 250 in contract.

But it's finding the people that do it at this point with the state money and the federal money that's coming in, the federal money just started flowing this year.

We have the resources now.

We need the contractors to do the work.

I mean, I'd like to get to a place where we're doing 1000 or 2000 a year.

That's that's where we need to be to really make progress on this issue in Ohio.

What's the danger of not capping orphan wells?

So methane, methane releases.

And, you know, you can look at any one well, and that might not be an issue.

But when you have 19,000 or more.

Right.

We're still looking for more.

You know, that is one of the things you know, there are some other dangers as well.

And what we find with these wells, you know, if it's in a cornfield, it might be a fairly easy capping project.

But sometimes we have one that was under a gymnasium in a school.

That's not okay.

Right.

So and so we prioritize based on safety.

Some are in suburban neighborhoods.

Someone will discover one in their backyard because, you know, smells and and things are happening sometimes that are underwater.

So the cost to cap them varies a lot based on that.

Let's talk about drilling or fracking on state lands.

And Governor Mike DeWine signed into law a measure that will make it easier for those who want leases to drill on public lands to get them by changing the language, to say that a state agency shall accept a lease rather than may accept a lease.

And also, in that same bill, it categorized natural gas as green energy, though as you just said, there's methane is a major component of that.

But DeWine is also said that as long as he's governor, quote, we will not we are not going to drill in state parks.

So what does that law actually do?

Can we expect to see any sort of drilling in state parks?

I think I think we will see drilling under state parks.

So so there's a lot in that.

So so that law that changed the words from May to Shell only applied during the period of time when we didn't have rules in place.

That law went into effect, you know, a handful of weeks ago.

Our rules go into place May 28.

So we have gone through the whole process.

And and really what we want to do with the Department of Natural Resources is be responsible.

And when we bid out these leasing projects, we think they should be bid that we're talking about a lot of money, a lot of opportunity.

It's an important program.

We want to do it right.

We want to follow what the Ohio General Assembly set forth in the law, which is a bidding process.

So so that's why we haven't proceeded just to, you know, give out an on bid contract.

I mean, these are high stakes contracts and I respect the companies that are going to bid on them, but we want to follow that process.

So those rules go into effect on May 28th and we'll see who nominates property and who wants to bid on it.

I think the governor's comment was we would not have drilling on the surface of state parks.

So what I expect will happen is that companies will bid and they will locate off the state park and they will engage in horizontal drilling that will go under state parks.

Yes.

I mean, fracking is a part of vertical drilling as well.

But but it's not horizontal drilling.

I expect that will happen.

And and I'll make a connection here with our budget.

So so there's been a lot of discussion out there of what kind of revenue is this going to bring to the state.

Is this a windfall for Odeon Park in this cover your budget.

And we don't know yet.

Maybe may maybe we find out in a year from now that revenues are flowing and it can pay for fantastic things to, you know, contribute to conservation in Ohio's parks.

But we don't know yet.

The earliest any project will go out to bid is in October.

So the the the the time frame the legislature set up, it would first go out to bid in October, even if that happened, it would be next year before we know what those revenues are.

So we've tried to share with people for this budget where decisions are going to be made by July 1st.

We don't know.

And and when that leasing occurs, you know, there's lots of projections on royalties.

And, you know, an oil and gas company will say this is what we project will happen.

But they can and they should follow the market.

So when prices are going to go down, they're going to produce less.

And when prices go up, they're going to produce more.

And they should not be required to to not follow that, just to give us revenues to keep the doors open.

So we're trying to decouple that for now and say, you know, a year or two from now, that's a discussion we should have.

And if we see royalties flow into the state, the General Assembly and the governor need to be running that conversation and helping us understand what we do with the money.

So so our goal has been to sort of decouple that for now.

Let us responsibly look at what leasing is, how it works, what it means.

And separately, we have great state parks, we have great forests.

We are so proud of them.

And we've spent years now trying to make them the best in the country.

We were we were just named one of the four finalists in the country for best state parks in the United States.

And we all know who wins till the fall.

But but just being in that group, I think, really says something about Ohio and how much we care about it.

And I want people to be proud every time they go to one of these places.

Proud proudly in Ohio.

We've heard even Senate president, about half of them talking about how this could bring about enough money for an income tax cut.

But you're saying that there there needs to be a period of waiting to see what would actually happen.

We need to find out and and we need to deal with whatever restrictions that might exist on on the expenditure of those funds, whether those are in state law or federal law, and figure it out together.

What we do with that.

When you talk about going under state parks, will people who come to state parks see that?

Will there be an impact on people who are hiking or fishing or camping or doing whatever they're doing in state parks?

So it's all answer that this way.

We have hundreds of wells on state parks now.

So we purchased parks that had old vertical wells.

So right now, if you hike around in our parks, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if you saw one.

We also own surface property where we don't own the mineral rights underneath.

And so there's drilling going on there right now where that occurs.

So this isn't new.

It's not different.

You know, I think what's important is how we regulate it, how we control it, how we keep it out of the public view and how we do it safely.

Let's talk about algae blooms here.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting a moderate algae bloom on Lake Erie this year.

But there are other lakes in Ohio that do have algae blooms.

And the H2 Ohio program, which you referenced earlier, was designed to try to eliminate some of that phosphorus runoff from fields to stop those algae blooms.

How is it working or is it too early to tell?

You know, it's still too early to tell.

For the most part, it's know a long time in the making.

It'll be a long time in the solving.

I can tell you, you know, my sister agencies were all working together on this.

Our particular role at Natural Resources is using natural infrastructure.

So we have been building wetlands across the state, focused on northwest Ohio because, you know, this this effort led with the algae bloom on Lake Erie.

But but we have focused on other lakes and waterways where nutrient runoff is making a difference.

And we're using these wetlands, right?

So the water flows through and the soils or the phosphorus, the plants uptake the phosphorus.

And we have stacks of research that show when it comes out the other side, it's cleaner.

So we know the modeling shows that should work.

And we have partnered with an outfit called The Lake Erie Aquatic Research Network, called it an outfit, but it's really it's a consortium of water quality experts from our institutions of higher education.

So the LSU Sea grant kind of leads it up, but we have excellent scientists from all these universities.

So so we are giving them the money for the equipment and the work, but they are truly independent and they are out there and have been for the last three years taking water samples, measuring they are in the mud, in the muck they are.

And they are going to tell us whether it's working, you know, and they're going to tell me which style is working.

There's a lot of different styles of wetlands, and so I'm looking to them for some adaptive management advice like this one worked, but not as well as this one.

We need to do more of these.

We need to focus here.

We you know, I'm looking forward to that.

I don't think today they can put an array of data in front of you that shows, you know, we're making a difference.

We're not winning the war yet, but we're winning a lot of battles.

And, you know, we see it coming.

Our farmers buying into it, because obviously, farmers are a key element of this.

They are.

And so that's the part the Ohio Department of Agriculture, my colleague Brian Baldridge is working with.

And millions of acres are signed up for this program.

So so that, you know, we need to look at some edge off field testing and see if that is making a difference.

But so far, I think people are pretty happy with what we're seeing on a volunteer basis.

And finally, those who fish competitively should be warned that Odie and our takes this stuff very seriously.

Jacob Runyon and Chase Kaminski will each serve ten days in jail and six months probation.

They have to forfeit their boat and trailer.

They have to pay a fine because they cheated in a fishing contest.

And it was an O.D.

in our investigation that found these fish that were stuffed with fish filets and weights.

Yeah, we do take it seriously.

I mean, people may not know, but Ohio hosts thousands of fishing tournaments every year across the state.

It's pretty stunning.

We have a website where people can see in sign out form.

But, you know, this is supposed to be good fun.

This is supposed to be a healthy, healthy thing to do with your family and friends.

And tournaments are just a way to add a little competitive edge to it.

And, you know, I think it hurts all of us to see that turn to crime.

So there's a point to.

Make money in some of these tournaments.

These folks were standing to win about $28,000 if this hadn't been caught by O.D.

and our A.D. in our investigation.

And I don't know if they're more concerned about the time in jail or the forfeiture of their boat, Those boats are very expensive.

So.

Well, we'll see.

Senate budget amendments were due this week.

The Senate budget is expected to pass by the first full week of June, so it can go back to the House for changes before going to the governor.

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 dot org and 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 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 right 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 OHEA.org