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At OHEA.org Now that the election is over.

All eyes turn to what current lawmakers are doing before they leave office at the end of this year.

We'll take a look at what's going on in the lame duck session.

Ohio is even redder thanks to the November election.

So what will that mean for lawmakers and state leaders in the future?

That and more this week on the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Joe Ingles sitting in for Karen Kasler, Ohio lawmakers wasted no time jumping back into session after the election.

Ohio's House will have new Republican leadership come January.

Current speaker Bob Cupp will be leaving at the end of this year.

Republican Derek Marin will serve as the leader of the House in the new General Assembly.

Senate President Matt Huffman will remain as leader of that chamber next year.

On the Democratic side, Senator Niki Antonio will be the minority leader when senator akin a yuko leaves at the end of this general assembly.

And democrat alison russo will remain as the house minority leader.

The Ohio House passed a bill this week that would allow police agencies to pull over a driver if they're observed holding and looking at their phone.

Backers of the bill had initially written the legislation as a hands free bill, but a late amendment allowed the driver to hold a phone as long as it is up to their ear.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

Senate President Matt Huffman says when senators come back after Thanksgiving, they'll look at clarifying Ohio's existing law that bans abortion at the point fetal cardiac electronic activity can be detected.

Doctors have claimed it is too vague and some patients have said their lives or health were put in danger as a result after having a miscarriage.

Ohio Right to Life has filed a complaint with the Ohio State Medical Board to look into one of the cases that has come under question.

Ohio, Right to Life President Mike Garner.

Dacus serves on the medical board, but he wasn't the one who filed the complaint.

Meanwhile, a pro-choice Ohio spokeswoman says the group is filing a complaint as a smokescreen to hide its extreme behavior.

Ohio lawmakers wasted no time in jumping back into session after the election.

The so-called lame duck session is expected to be very busy with the Ohio House and Senate spending their first week back on more than 100 bill hearings.

State House correspondent Andy Chao takes a look at what to expect from policymakers before the end of this year.

Legislators return to the Ohio State House after taking a long summer break that went straight into campaign season.

Now they're back in committees and deliberating on bills that could make it out of the General Assembly before a session ends at the end of the year.

Some of the high profile bills being considered by Republican leadership include a total ban on abortion, prohibiting trans athletes from participating on girls sports teams and a ban on gender affirming care for minors.

Opponents of the ban on gender affirming care had a chance to speak out in committee.

That includes Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider, a transgender woman who was born and raised in Dayton.

Snyder said gender affirming care saves lives.

It's a shift from the moment I was born.

There was this quiet alarm going off in the back of my head.

Danger, danger, clang, clang, clang all the time.

And after decades of living with that agony, I came out as trans and I began receiving gender affirming care.

And for the first time in my life, that alarm went silent.

As a Republican House Speaker, Bob Cupp notes the bill has been changed to allow gender affirming care for minors, but they have to receive two years of counseling.

First I believe there will be another committee hearing on that.

And I think members are trying to understand that the bill is undergoing some significant changes and sort of slimmed down, simplified.

And so I think members are trying to want to understand what's in the substitute bill.

So committee process will continue.

Lawmakers are also considering a change in nursing home reimbursement rates from the state, also known as rebasing along with a law against swatting, which is when someone calls in a fake emergency in order to trigger a large response from law enforcement, such as a school shooting hoax.

A suggestion has been floated to require party designations for state school board candidates after teacher union backed candidates won several seats on election night Republican Senate President Matt Huffman says he doesn't think a change is needed when it comes to the way they're elected or appointed.

However, he does suggest support for reform to the duties of the school board.

A proposed bill would take most responsibilities away from the state board of Education and give them to the governor We have an isolated bureaucracy with no oversight.

That's the problem.

It's not who's on the board.

It's the legal makeup of what is happening right now.

As for the distracted driving bill that just passed out of the House, Huffman says he's not in favor of the bill as a, quote, general notion Citing other existing laws that could address the issue of distracted driving.

Huffman said they will discuss the bill and have committee hearings on it.

And while he's against it, he would allow it to come to a vote on the floor.

If there's a groundswell of support for it in the Republican Senate caucus, the House and Senate plan to have many more committee hearings and several sessions before the end of the year.

Since Republicans won big on Election Day, they will be returning next year with an even larger supermajority which might come into consideration for bills that could wait until next year.

Andy Chao, Statehouse News Bureau, the leader of Democrats in the Ohio House, says they have their work cut out for them.

But she says they want to work on bipartisan legislation to help working Ohioans bipartisan legislation that will help families fight the rising cost.

We've all been dealing with this year bipartisan legislation that will help keep our families and our communities safe.

And bipartisan legislation that will continue to cement Ohio's place as the top manufacturing hub for the technologies of tomorrow.

Russo says there are billions of federal dollars left that should and could be used for programs that provide career opportunities, mental health services and address behavioral health challenges.

She says the Democrats stand willing to assist Republicans to deal with those issues, but are not willing to engage in culture wars.

During this lame duck session, Ohio lawmakers will have one last chance to pass bills introduced during the past two years.

Any bills that are not passed will die and have to be introduced again.

Once the new General Assembly is seated in January.

Two former Ohio lawmakers, Republican Jim Krebs and Democrat Erica Crawley, joined me earlier this week to talk about what they think might happen during the lame duck session.

Well, I think you'll see a lot of late nights for session, a number of bills being on the agenda.

And, of course, you'll see probably a Christmas tree bill or an omnibus bill that has a lot of different pieces of legislation in it.

And my sources tell me that what you're going to see is every time a bill hits the floor, that you've got five members who are going to offer amendments on it to make abortion illegal, declare personhood for fetuses and their and is the only way that speaker club can deal with this is simply not to call on them.

But that's going to cause tensions within the caucus Wolf.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's going to be a nasty fight here in the lame duck, you think?

I think it might.

I mean, some sources tell me that I know the Senate isn't looking to ban abortion from from what I've heard, but I know that the House is looking to have a complete ban, if possible, as well as try to ban contraceptives.

So we'll see how this work works out.

I know that there is just a rift in the Republican Party or the Republican caucus on those issues as well.

Yeah.

And once again, this goes back hand and you're a gentle listener and watcher is going, why is this happening?

It's happening in my head, according to my analysis, due to the post-partisan.

It's the it's the first past the post partizan primaries we hold in the spring on even-numbered years, where basically folks are elected of a very small majority of the general population that shows up to vote in the primary, both parties.

And for the Republican and they are fearful of getting on the wrong side of the right to life organizations and having of mailers and fliers put out Facebook and Facebook ads put out against them because they are not strong enough on that issue.

And that's why on these things, that's really going to tie the chamber into a not so it's even going to get worse.

Looking ahead to the next General Assembly because you've got well, you know, speaker cop is gone in, what, 45 days or less and you know the next speaker party to be named later.

Pleasure to be name later We don't know who that is, but they're going to have to govern for at least two years.

That's going to make a very very interesting in the House.

The Senate of course, is a much more collegial atmosphere but they're going to face not dissimilar pressures also.

Hmm.

So we know that Republicans heading into the General Assembly next year.

They'll have a supermajority And what does that mean going forward for the next two years?

I mean, I think you'll continue to see extreme bills in abortion.

Ban doesn't pass now.

I think you'll see someone try again.

Same thing with contraceptives.

The Democrats have lost four seats.

And so they will continue to just be on the defense and try to offer amendments where possible.

And then, you know, that won't be accepted.

And, you know, just really trying to call out the the extreme nature of some of the bills that will come and how that's different from where the majority of Ohioans are on different issues.

What do you think, Drew?

I think that both parties suffer from because of the primary system.

It encourages only those with the most non-controversial raising attitudes towards things to be able to advance up the food chain.

And I think this is going to also lead to difficulties also in coming up with a compromise.

I go back to many years ago, there was a state rep named Jennifer Garrison who was looking to run for statewide office.

Patricia, you have Ted Strickland.

Ted Baxter.

It got squashed because she was pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.

And she was down in Marietta, Athens area.

You remember her now and that got squashed.

So both parties are now going for this increasing ideological purity.

The problem is, is that the vast majority of the general public is not ideologically pure.

Right.

They have conflicted if they have conflicted views on almost every issue that the Journal simply deals with.

Well, I think you'll also see I mean, to that point, gerrymandering and redistricting come back up again as we just voted on unconstitutional maps.

And so that conversation will be ignited again coming into the new General Assembly.

And when that does come up this time around, we won't have the Supreme Court backstopping it or likely won't.

I mean, you can't say exactly what the Supreme Court's doing, but we do know that in the past that the Republican justices were there, they didn't think the current maps were unconstitutional.

So they won't be backstopping it.

So there's a Supreme Court factor play right There is, however, a cautionary note to my Republican colleagues is that if they go a half step too far on anything, reapportionment, anything, there is the Constitutional Amendment Avenue.

And I know there's some chatter out there that they're going to go ahead and try to, you know, due to some restrictions on the constitutional amendment process.

I would caution them, because in Nevada, they just had a vote on adopting ranked choice voting.

So a two step process out there.

And the incumbent governor, the incumbent Democrat Governor Sisolak opposed ranked choice voting.

He lost.

It's important to note that the Democrat for U.S. Senate, one who and my sources say this cost them between seven and maybe 10% on his vote totals.

It was so in other words, trying to restrict the rights of the voters and restrict their voice.

That's a dangerous game.

I would not advise my Republican former colleagues and current friends to go down that path very far.

I would agree I think I can't remember if it was the 133 General Assembly or the 134th where I was serving, where there was a conversation about trying to limit the ability to put issues on the ballot and, you know, take voters interests away.

And so that got squashed.

But I would see I could see coming back up because the other thing is that after like January 15th, all eyes in the State House are going to be it's going to be looking to Cincinnati.

Why?

Because that's where the trials going on about House Bill six at all.

And my sources, I don't know if they're good or not, but they tell me to expect for indictments coming out, you know, between now and the end in the trial.

Mm hmm.

So if those start to come out once again.

Yeah.

There's a lot of moving parts here for this.

And I would encourage my Republican colleagues to be very cautious about anything that they propose or do because they feel powerful now.

But that you saw what happened.

You know, you've heard me before on Columbus, on the record, before Back in February, I said my GOP colleagues nationally were overconfident.

Well, they were okay.

You should always go into every battle prepared to, you know, have a have a stiff contest.

And they're not going to do that, I'm afraid.

But we know redistricting is not the only issue where there might be a referendum, there might be a referendum on abortion, there might be a referendum on marijuana use.

There could be all kinds of things that come up that I'm not even remembering right now.

But do the Republicans, since they won so big, I mean, they just they walked away with most everything Do they have a mandate on those issues now?

Is that what Ohioans want?

I think they do.

So I think the majority of Ohioans and polling shows don't want us to keep moving forward with an abortion ban or putting more restrictions in that in that space.

So what you will see, I think even in lame duck or next year is more support and investment in maternal health and maternal mortality and morbidity and trying to change that course.

I mean, we have one of the worst days in the nation when it comes to infant mortality.

And so I think you'll see Republicans where they were unwilling to invest significantly in that space and change policy.

I think we'll see that that happen to try to balance the scales as they move forward with additional restrictions on abortion.

Trying to head off those referendums now won't work.

You know, they'll still the the the the the the progressive in smells blood on this issue and they will move heaven and earth to do and if there if they're stupid they'll do one that allows for Late-Term abortions if they try just to simply codify Roe into the Ohio Constitution, they will win.

And the question is, is can the progressives keep their troops in line to keep the people of Ohio are mostly a moderate conservative group.

Okay.

And I think that, you know, this this could be the only time I'm surprised in politics is when people don't take the smart path.

And I'm expecting, you know, folks to hopefully always take the smart pass, but I'm often surprised.

Yeah.

But we've seen in some issues where the Republicans have been able to push them off or keep them off the ballot.

They've successfully been able to do that.

So if they feel like if the Republicans feel like they have a mandate on an issue and that they can keep something off the ballot, won't they?

I would once again, I'd be cautious for them on that.

You know, as you know, I've been very active in bringing ranked choice voting to Ohio, and we've been approached by some very deep pocketed funders, some of whom were involved in the recent Nevada thing.

Nevada thing cost.

Cost them $20 million.

And they got to go back and do it again in 20, 24 because they have to approve cast members twice in Nevada.

So they did their dedicated $40 million just to Nevada.

You know looking seriously at Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, some other states.

And for them 80 to $100 million is a rounding error in their personal wealth.

Okay.

Well so they will do this.

I mean they don't care.

I mean they they don't if they decide to do this and the Republicans we've given the Republican caucuses you know they can they can enact ranked choice voting right now in Ohio and we've encouraged them to do so but if they choose not to.

Yeah.

I don't think they will we give them the opportunity, our respect in comedy.

Well, on another and another line of questioning here, Governor DeWine, you know, he's he's had some ideas out there that he's found hard to get through this General Assembly, you know, most like the gun reform plan that he had, 17 point gun reform plan.

It basically went nowhere and they shut it down.

So what's it going to look like in the next General Assembly?

When it's more Republican?

When is it going to set up some kind of fight between Governor DeWine and the lawmakers in his own party?

I don't think so.

I think the legislators that will come in will do the same thing and not address any kind of gun violence, anything that has to do with the Second and Second Amendment that they believe will be taking rights away.

So I think if the governor has is trying to move this 17 point plan that he had before, it will go nowhere.

I mean, I think it's a good thing for him to talk about.

I don't know.

I mean, he just got elected another four years.

I don't know what he has to lose and, you know, continuing to push this issue.

And, you know, and he would have some support on the Democratic side for sure.

Well, that kind of leads into what I'm thinking.

I mean, you know, Governor DeWine is 80 what?

80?

No, 70.

70 C 75.

He'll be 80 about 80 at the end of his term.

Right.

Okay.

So he's, you know, he's he's probably this is probably close to the end of his political career if it's not the last stop.

It is one of the last stops.

So maybe he will react differently in this.

You don't think he can react all he wants, but the General Assembly he can propose in the General Assembly disposes.

That's always been the cliche around here.

And we saw it happen.

I mean, what's going to change between now and then?

I mean, he's a lame duck.

He's a lame duck governor.

Right.

Okay.

If you know what you what you've seen so far is what you're going to get, you're going to get more of it.

Do you think he's going to have to fight back a lot of extreme Republican, you know, far right plans?

I think he will.

But I mean, they had the General Assembly, the Republicans have the vote to override any veto.

So I don't know what he can really do.

Yeah.

And as well as one with, you know, texted me after this election, the Senate Democrat Caucus can now all meet in a minivan.

Okay.

Seven passenger minivan.

Am I wrong?

No, you're right.

Okay.

So, you know, the governor, you know, he might get all seven Democrat votes in the in the Democrat caucus at the Senate seat.

He's not going to get 12 more of Republicans voting for anything he proposes in the Senate.

So no.

Do you see a battle playing out on any particular issue with this?

No, no, no.

It's it's it's it's like when Reagan sent troops to Grenada.

I mean, you know, it's just, you know, it's just overwhelming force here.

Right.

You know, I mean, I think what you will see, depending on what comes out of the legislature, what they pass, you know, I think you'll see voters, if it's too far to the right, we know it won't be anything far to the left.

So if it's too far to the right and the governor can't do anything, I think we'll see something different in the next two years as far as who we're who we're voting for, who's coming in office, to represent the constituents.

I think as soon as you continue to move far right, the pendulum starts to swing back the other way.

So.

Well, the last question is control the party nationally we're seeing, you know, Donald Trump has been former president, Donald Trump has been the person driving the agenda for the national Republican Party for the past four years.

Do you think we're starting to see maybe some people ask questions about that?

Republicans asking questions about that.

And we're starting to hear that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and maybe some other people might come in and kind of fill that space.

So what are we looking for nationally?

What what kind of things should we be watching for?

And in the texture of Ohio's politics, none of that matters because on the way on the way into town today, I saw new signs in my community, TRUMP 20, 24.

He controls about 35% of the Republican voting base in a primary.

Well, in a five way primary, once again, it goes back to so many of our problems come from that partizan spring.

First past the post primary structure.

This is what got me into advocating for ra and why I actually think that the Republican caucuses may actually begin to look at it and go, you know, there's there is some benefit here.

And that's it for us this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau.

Thanks for watching.

Please check us out at state news dot org You can follow the show.

Karen Kasler, Andy Chao and me on Facebook and Twitter.

Have a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

And be sure to 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 Right Morris and Arthur LLP now with eight locations across the country.

Porter Right 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