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The battle over Ohio House leadership rages on, with some Republican committee chairs removed from their posts, and several animal protection bills are proposed each session but often don't pass.

A sponsor of three such bills introduced this year share some thoughts.

This week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

As a legal battle over who has control over the Ohio House GOP campaign fund continues in court, Speaker Jason Stephens is taking action against fellow Republicans for their donations during the March primary.

In a memo to members, Stevens announced six committee chairs were removed.

All had donated to primary campaigns of GOP challengers to incumbent Republican lawmakers, including some who had supported Stevens for speaker over Representative Derek Merrin.

Stephens was elected with votes from 22 Republicans and all 32 Democrats.

Marin had the votes of 43 Republicans.

Stephens told reporters this week that he has worked for unity in the Republican caucus.

You know, there was a lot of Republicans in our caucus spending money against other Republicans in the caucus, which is exactly the thing that they accused me of going to do.

And they turned out to be the ones who were the ones who actually did it.

Among the removed committee chairs is Representative Phil Plummer, who's part of the lawsuit to gain control over the House GOP campaign fund.

Stephens spent about $1 million from that fund on the primary, half on incumbents who had supported him for speaker.

Plummer says he found out he had lost his committee chairmanship from the news media, not from Stephens.

And Plummer says removing the six from their leadership roles for their donations is, in his words, childish behavior.

And he says it's also illegal.

You can't mix policy with political donations.

And he's obstructed policy by removing us as chairs.

And his excuses what we did with political donations.

So it's number one.

It's election interference.

Number two, if he's a dictator that won't let conservative members do their jobs.

Plummer says the six donated to the campaigns of candidates who were not among the 22 Republican incumbents who were censured by the Ohio Republican Party for voting for Stephens.

Four of those 22 Republican incumbents lost their primaries, including Representative Sarah Carruthers, who is coming up later on the show.

A judge has extended an order blocking a statewide ban on gender affirming treatment for minors and on trans athletes competing in girls sports in Ohio.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook extended the stop to House Bill 68 until May 20th after a hearing on the law on May 16th.

The extension was requested by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which has sued over the law on behalf of 212 year old transgender girls, arguing House Bill 68 would prevent them from receiving critical, medically necessary health care.

Republican Attorney General Dave Yost is defending the law, and said in a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court that attempted to stop the order that Holbrook exceeded his authority in blocking the law, which was supposed to take effect on April 24th.

Federal funding will be coming to people in 11 western Ohio counties devastated by tornadoes and storms on March 14th.

President Biden has approved a request from governor Mike DeWine for the disaster declaration for the area that includes Indian Lake, which means money for temporary housing and home repairs, and low cost loans for uninsured losses.

Three people died, 24 were injured, and hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed or seriously damaged.

And this week, the only two time director of the Ohio Department of Transportation was laid to rest.

Jerry Ray died on April 23rd.

He headed up Odot in the 90s under Governor George Voinovich, and then again in the 2000 under Governor John Kasich, and was one of the longest serving state transportation directors in U.S. history.

Jerry Ray is being remembered by local and state officials for pushing forward many big and small projects, even as he warned of a coming financial crisis for the agency because of rising construction costs and falling gas tax revenue.

Jerry Ray was 78.

This week, the Humane Society of the United States released its annual horrible 100 report, listing the 100 worst puppy mills in America, with 20 of them in Ohio.

Putting this state as number two in the country.

Attempts to crack down on puppy mills have been going on for years, both aimed at the puppy mills themselves, which are overwhelmingly located in Amish country.

In eastern Ohio, but also at the retailers who buy from puppy mills.

But a big 2016 law included, among many provisions, a ban on local regulation of pet stores, which has become known as the Pet Land Law.

A two page bill seeks to overturn that preemption.

Representative Sarah Carruthers is the sole Republican sponsor of that bill.

Well, this legislation really isn't saying much about puppy mills.

I tried to do that my first year.

When I came in, I, I made the broad statement that I was going to get rid of all of the puppy mills.

because that was my mission coming in and was met with, complete.

well, I, I met one of the men in charge of puppy mills.

He came to my office almost immediately with his cohort, and, I asked all the right questions because I grew up with show dogs and, you know, I had the background and, we he respected me as much as he was going to respect a woman.

Let's put it that way.

but I find that it is very difficult.

they regulate themselves, and it is in the ag area, and, you know, I, I trust our director of agriculture.

Brian Baldridge is a good friend.

I think he does what he can.

it is a huge black eye for Ohio.

Huge black eye.

But they they rule with fear.

it is an Amish community.

And they they threaten a lot of things.

I'm being brutally honest about that.

There was a constitutional amendment that was proposed for the 2018 ballot that did not get to voters because of a compromise that resulted in a law that was supposed to do things like limit how many times a female dog could be bred, allow dogs to have space to move food, water, medical exams.

Is that lobbying file followed.

From what I am told?

Yes.

I was they offered me to come see.

However, they offered me to come see on the caveat that I would let them know when I was coming.

It's not a surprise visit.

No.

I would prefer to go in and see it, you know.

when they didn't know.

However, I, I think they're better, I will say, I think that they are better than they have been.

It's not changing the practices.

it's not changing the fact that they're turning out an unreliable product, let's say.

And an expensive product to fix.

I mean, the bills, not only the veteran bills.

You know, the veterinarian bills are tremendous.

And the heartache I mean, I think that's well, you can tell that's what's in like my last season lot, 379.

The heartache that you suffer, that family suffer, constantly having a sick animal and, that's, you know, business is their number one priority.

So, now, in in that bill, 443, which is the, pet landfill that I believe, the representative that, that I work with mentioned that they were puppy mill dogs.

I don't know that I think that some of them might purchase from from puppy mills.

I have no proof of that.

She may I don't know, and I think stores can purchase from other vendors.

That's fine.

I think a way to to fix that, and unfortunately, we're getting close to the end of the GA is a lemon law, much like we do for cars where they would have to pay the veterinary bills.

Is that something that you would be considering doing?

I had considered that a prior GA and now I am swamped with other bills, but I I'm more than happy to hand that over to another representative to do.

Yes.

One of the questions that I think is often asked is everybody's seems to be opposed to puppy mills.

Nobody likes the the terrible stories that come out of them.

Why is this?

Why is this still the way it is?

And your.

Guess is as good as mine and I think, Is it the lobbying effort on behalf of some of these?

I think there is definitely I think there's definitely a strong thing with that.

And also, as I said, most of it is Amish and there's a huge Amish country.

and there's no doubt that it can impact voters.

I have to ask, is there a connection with, for instance, the lobbyist Mike on advocacy, who works for, he lobbies for Petland.

He's the also the president of Ohio right to life.

Is that a connection there with Petland?

But not with the puppy mills?

No.

Not with with the legislator stuff.

Oh, I think so, but that would have nothing to do with the puppy mills.

No, no, he would be against puppy mills.

He.

No, no.

Well, let me talk about Lassie's law here.

This is the one that requires road crews who are finding dogs and cats have been hit by cars to scan them after picking them up and then notifying the pet's owner if there's a microchip.

I'm very.

I'm very passionate about this, though, I really am.

I want this.

Work in in practicality.

Well.

You know, road crews find dead animals on the road.

You have dogs that run out and get hit by cars daily.

Our dog within the first week that we got her, she's alive.

But she was dragged for a while.

Had road burn in everything.

Oh, it was terrible.

But she survives everything.

She's amazing.

But, if they find this animal, they have a scanner, and it's really such a low cost.

We've priced it out.

It can be as low as $30 to as high as 300, depending they scan.

If there is a chip, then they take the animal to a an area that is cool to, you know, a clean environment to wait for 24 hours.

Let the people know, let the owners know that they have the animal and they get to choose how they want to dispose of the animal, but just let them know that they have this animal.

And, I just think it's the kind and right thing to do.

Is it going to pass?

You told my statehouse newspaper colleague Joe Ingles that, there isn't a lot of support to move it forward right now?

And I, we are at the end of the General Assembly coming up in a couple of months.

I think there's no reason for it not to pass, but I'll be honest.

animal bills, for some reason, even though people love animals, they don't get a lot of support.

And for some reason, also, they really are not a huge Republican issue.

And I don't know why, because I don't have a friend in my party that isn't an animal lover.

I don't know why.

It's something that I'm always passionate about, so go figure.

And I was just going to ask you about that.

When I think about some of the laws that have been proposed over the years, you've got a humane cosmetics law that would ban the sale, make Ohio the 13th state to ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals.

You've got other Republicans who have, proposed legislation on.

Collie.

You know, calling the Senate Bill Foley.

Yeah, yeah.

Laura Lani's, former state representative, that Sharron Ray, representative from Indiana, who has a bill that would, provide tax credits to landlords with pet friendly, units.

Why are these not moving forward?

Well, I think for some of us, we have other bills that that matter.

and and honestly, there's not a lot of money in it.

to be blunt, there's not a lot of money.

In protecting animals.

Yeah, there's there's not.

But I think, you know, I'm on my last term, and it's a passion of mine.

It's something I wanted to get done.

And I'm at the point now where there are things I see that need to be changed.

I would have done it my last term in two years anyway, so why not get it done now?

but there are a lot of things that we see.

Everybody comes into this position with different passions, as we all know.

And, you take those passions and, and you focus on those things immediately, and then you get sidetracked and you think, no, you know what?

This is really important right now or this is really important right now, and then you do those and, so now I'm looking at this as you know what, let's get these finished too.

Well, let's talk about the humane cosmetics bill.

Yes, again, Ohio would be the 13th state to ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals.

There are some are going to say this is for the market to decide that major cosmetics makers and and even smaller ones that are coming up are advertising some products as being cruelty free.

Let people decide rather than the government deciding.

Right?

And I would agree with that.

In many cases, however, most cosmetics these days are going to natural sources and things like that.

The the cosmetics that are using animal products and things like that are for the most part, I find coming from overseas, not very many anymore are really being made in America.

So it's sort of stopping, your China products, your, your products from overseas that maybe are not safe.

I find I use a lot of, and this is name dropping for Gucci.

I use a lot of Gucci Western products, and I love her products, but they're natural and, they're better for your skin.

I had I had actually told a colleague of yours that there is a test that they do on rats.

Now, I personally hate rats.

Okay, I am not a fan of rats, but when you keep testing and you call it the death test, I think that's what they called it.

And you keep testing something to find out how much of this is going to kill them.

And you do it until they die.

That's just sick to me.

And I think this is something that I think legislators can get behind also, because let's face it, not many people like Fauci anymore.

And look what he did to people's right.

this is just something that makes sense to me.

I had an eyeliner from, I had an eyeliner that I didn't realize.

It worked great, was fabulous.

It lasted forever.

But I noticed that my eyesight wasn't so great.

And, but the eyeliner was perfect.

The women's problems.

Right?

But it came from China.

Well, what do you think was in that there were no listings of what the ingredients were.

I could have been gone blind if I'd kept using.

Well, that immediately went out the door.

So I think it just makes sense.

Are there any other pieces of legislation that you'd like to see in this area pass for instance, Ohio does not have an anti tethering law.

there was an attempt to try to crack down on vicious dogs.

there's no law banning deploying for cats.

Some of these other things that, humane advocates have argued for.

Do you think that some of those I think.

Some of those are looking at, I, I work a great deal with my local sheriff who is a huge animal lover.

And, we talk a lot about it.

We just found, a puppy that had been tied up in a bag.

The stories are horrendous, tied up in a bag, and the knot was so tight that people that found this bag with this puppy in it could not open it.

They had to cut the bag open to get this poor baby out.

I mean, it, there are some sick things happening in the world today.

I have to ask you're a Republican.

A big story in the last week was about the actions of fellow Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who wrote in a new book that she shot a 14 month old dog that her family had named crooked.

So it's assuming that it was a pet saying it was untraceable and that she hated it, but that this is the kind of thing that happens on farms.

So I got to ask you, what what do you think of that story?

I thought it was the dumbest thing you could write in a book.

I think she, her editor, should have talked to her about it.

I do think that happens on farms.

I have known people that have had to shoot a pet.

however, there are veterinarians that have euthanasia.

it was stupid to write.

I was stupid to write.

I do know that there are people that that have on farms, especially in a very rural area, that have had to shoot, put down a horse or something like that.

I, I've had to, put down horses.

Euthanasia, not not shooting.

I can't imagine I watch Yellowstone.

there was a line that one of the characters.

I don't know if you watch it, but rip said, if I ever have to shoot another horse, it'll be too soon.

And I think I agree with that.

I think, I think we've come too far for that in a lot of areas if you are so far from everything else, perhaps.

But, it was, it was bad form and, I suppose she was trying to look strong.

She is a very strong woman, but.

And to say you hate the dog, I mean.

Oh, it's bad.

It's just not something I would have ever.

She had been talked about as a possible running mate for Donald Trump.

So now don't think so.

Now I like I like her.

I just think that was really bad form.

I got one more question.

One more question.

I also want to ask you about something you hinted at before.

I want to ask you about your plans.

You were a supporter, speaker Jason Stevens, you lost your primary.

What will you do.

Going next year, going forward?

And what do you think is going to happen with the speaker's race?

Oh, well, that's a lot of questions there, Karen.

That's that's a whole bunch of what, what will I do going forward?

I'm going to take my time.

I'm going to relax.

My children are headed there.

juniors now.

They're going to be seniors.

I'm going to enjoy their senior year with them, hopefully, if they'll let me, because they're going to be so busy.

I'm going to see what God has in his plans for me.

I certainly never planned on doing this.

I enjoyed every minute of it.

there were some tough times, for sure.

I still, you know, Jason is still a friend.

I've made some wonderful friends here.

Both, both in the House, in the Senate and actually in the lobbies.

I don't expect those to end, because friends to me or friends for life.

would.

You want to come back at some point?

I don't I don't know, I don't, I don't know, I really don't I haven't thought about it.

it was it was a really ugly race for me.

with some really evil doers, as far as I'm concerned.

as far as the speaker's race.

I, I couldn't guess what's going to happen.

I, I know, I know, the party's that I don't want for speaker.

Let's put it that way.

I think Jason's Jason's done a good job.

you know, people say, well, not enough has been passed.

Not enough has been passed.

But I think you have to look at the quality instead of quantity.

I mean, you could pass bills all day.

And if they're crap bills, right?

Who cares?

I think.

I've been in a house that passed a ton of legislation.

was proud of that.

I've been in a house that passed legislation that wasn't worth anything.

not so proud of that.

couldn't even tell you what we passed, to be honest.

So, I think this house, when you have a speaker that's constantly looking behind his back to see who's going to stab him in the back next.

What can you get done?

I think if you just let a man do his job.

You can pass a lot more.

so I don't know, but I intend on enjoying my life.

I had a pretty good life before I came here.

I think I'll have a pretty good life when I leave.

A bill on animal abuse.

Named for longtime Cleveland TV meteorologist and animal activist Dick Goddard, passed in the last session in 2022.

Some updates to that law were added last year, including a ban on using gas chambers to euthanize pets.

This week, we got a look at what the first Intel manufacturing plant in Licking County, east of Columbus, might look like once it's done.

According to the microchip maker, which released this video on its website, the company says it's committed to spending $20 billion on two chip plants, or fabs, the largest private sector investment in state history.

There are 7000 construction jobs on the Intel side.

Now, the company has delayed the timeline for the completion of the first plant, which was initially planned for 2025.

Intel said market challenges and the slow movement of government grants are the reason Intel announced earlier this year that the Fab won't be finished until late 2026.

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

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

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

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

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from a 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 Porter.

Right.

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

Every child deserves more at O'Hare airport.