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

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at porterwright.com.

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

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.

new leaders picked for the upcoming session of the General Assembly, with the focus on the next speaker and the current speaker announces his intentions for the controversial and conservative higher education legislation known as Senate Bill 83.

That's this week in the state of Ohio.

Just.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen, counselor.

The 2024 election was a little over two weeks ago, but the newly reelected and elected members of the Ohio House and Senate have picked their leadership teams for the next General Assembly.

And after two years of battles over leadership in the House, the race for speaker was in the spotlight.

State House correspondent Sarah Donaldson reports.

Senate President Matt Huffman was unanimously nominated by the Ohio House Republicans to preside over the chamber for the next legislative session, starting in January.

The vote Wednesday night capped off a few days of questions after Republican incumbent Speaker Jason Stephens shook up the race on Monday in a press conference that had been announced a little over two hours earlier, Stevens said he wants to see some bills get through during lame duck, such as the so-called parents Bill of rights and provisions modernizing the adoption process.

I have done what I said I would do.

Ohio is definitely in a better place because of the leadership of the people's House.

Beyond legislation.

One of the things I'm most proud of is something that most people don't get to see every day is the professionalism that I've brought to the house, I will not have my name placed in nomination as a candidate for speaker during the Wednesday caucus.

I am honored and look forward to continuing to serve the great constituents of the beautiful 93rd District of Ohio as State Representative.

But that didn't appear to clear the way for Hoffman, who has said he'd run for speaker for more than a year.

Freshman Representative Tim Barr said there's been dysfunction in the House, which showed in the primary challenges to incumbents earlier this year who had supported Stevens.

Some of those primary challengers were funded by Hoffman.

It's just been a lot of dysfunction, and I just feel like, one of our own should be the one that deals with this and that.

We don't have to have somebody come over from the other chamber that, can come over and save us.

Though Derek Marin had been selected speaker in the House GOP caucus two years ago, 22 Republicans had voted for Stevens for speaker, along with all 32 Democrats.

Republicans nicknamed the group the Blue 22 and censured them.

Four of those incumbents lost their primaries.

Bart Horst had the support of some far right groups.

One focused on a total abortion ban, another that wants no limitations on gun rights, and a third that opposes all vaccine mandates.

Hoffman supporters fired back on social media with letters backing their candidate from conservative Congressman Jim Jordan and Warren Davidson.

But when the vote happened, nobody nominated Barr first, which he says was because of confusion around the process to do so.

With no other candidates nominated and Stephens out.

Huffman won unanimous support.

I do think that there's some, reconciliation that needs to happen.

And if there's 17 new members coming into this House, and I think that those those folks are, going to be in a good position to do that.

17 new Republican members.

So in January, starting January 6th, this will be a forward looking, Republican caucus.

This group of 65, will be, setting a, I hope, a an aggressive conservative agenda.

And, that agenda is not going to be set by me.

Many of you have asked that all important question.

What is your priorities for Lame duck for next year?

Priorities come from the caucus.

And if we have a significant majority of the caucus, if we have 80 or 90% of the people who want to do something, that we're going to do it.

Huffman ran for the House unopposed and could serve in that chamber for for two year terms.

He referenced that in a gaggle with reporters earlier in the week.

I suppose there's a presumption that I would be an eight year speaker.

I don't know that that's likely, but it's certainly possible.

I'm 64.

I'm in pretty good health.

My dad practiced law till he was 89, so, maybe I'd still be doing this when I was seven years old.

Huffman could be the first person to serve as Ohio's Senate president and House speaker.

In more than a century, since Albert Lamson served two years as speaker starting in 1888 and then two years as the Senate leader from 1892 to 1894.

Sarah Donaldson, Statehouse News Bureau.

Huffman is also expanding the House GOP leadership team from 6 to 9.

They are Gail Manning as Speaker pro tem, Phil Plumber as assistant speaker pro tem, Marilyn John as majority floor leader, Adam Bird as assistant majority floor leader.

And there will be four Majority Whip's Ryan McLane, Nick Santucci, Steve Demetrio and Josh Williams.

As expected, Republican senators pick Rob McCauley as their incoming president, with Bill Reinecke as president pro tem Teresa Gavron as majority floor leader and George Lang as majority whip.

Senate Democrats reelected Nikki Antonio as minority leader, Hershel Craig as assistant Democratic leader, and Kent Smith as Democratic whip.

Newly elected Senator Beth Littleton, who's coming over from the House, will be assistant Democratic whip in the House.

The entire Democratic leadership team was unanimously reelected.

Allison Russo is minority leader on TV's Gerald as assistant minority Leader, Danny Isaacson as minority whip and Michelle Grimm as assistant minority whip.

I talked with Leader Russo just before the speaker vote on Wednesday.

Listen, whoever is speaker next, General Assembly, our job, and my job specifically as the minority leader is, you know, to, try to find, some common ground to end a path forward.

You know, I note, this will be the fourth speakers that I have worked with since I have been a member of the General Assembly.

It will be the third as minority leader.

And so, you know, I know that it is important to have a good working relationship.

But, you know, as House Democrats, what we will be focused on is making sure that we are moving forward as much as possible, policies that really improve the lives of everyday people.

But also, we know that we are a firewall on, some issues, and we will not back down from being that firewall when we have to.

And so, you know, it certainly will be challenging navigating regardless.

Who is speaker?

I mean, even the current speaker and I as, as we had a good working relationship, but we disagreed on many things.

And still, you know, had, mutual respect and professionalism and, tried to work together where we could, and it made sense.

So you're not ready to say whether the Democrats have put up their own candidate as speaker when the floor vote?

Listen, there are too many unknowns.

Let's, you know, let the the Republicans, have that debate.

And I'm sure it will be a rigorous debate, amongst themselves.

And, I know what our job is as the House Democratic Caucus, and what we will be focused on in the next General Assembly.

You knew going into this that whoever was going to be the House speaker was going to be a conservative.

So how will you work with him on legislation that Democrats care about?

Yeah.

So I think, listen, as in the past, but in many circumstances, there are pieces of legislation that frankly, they're not conservative ideas or Democratic ideas or Republican ideas.

They're just good ideas.

And so the challenge often in the minority is you try to find as many of those as possible.

And it turns out we have members who are quite successful in doing that and finding a path forward because, you know, often issues don't come down firmly in Democrat Republican support.

You know, there's usually a mix of support and you have to find coalitions to move forward.

That's that.

On the flip side, there's certainly things that, you know, we will vigorously fight back on and, any attacks on working rights, attacks on public education, attacks on voting rights, attacks on the freedom to make your own medical care decisions.

Those are things that we're going to hold a firm line, and we absolutely, probably will have vigorous debate.

And, but, you know, that's how this business works here.

It's messy.

It's a little, give and take, and you try to make progress where you can't.

You gained two seats in this last election, but you're still in the minority.

There's been a lot of legislation that's been introduced that did not pass, as this dispute in the Republican leadership carried on.

Democrats probably don't expect a lot of their bills to pass.

But has this been a particularly frustrating two year session for you in that things just didn't move?

Well, certainly there has been frustration, by both Democrats and Republicans.

That's probably why you see these divisions still exist in the Republican caucus.

And, it is because, yes, there's been a lot of dysfunction there.

Mostly because of internal conflicts that have been going on amongst the Republicans.

But our members have been successful in many ways.

And, you know, that's the challenge here, as especially as the minority caucus is, you have to figure out ways to be effective, to know the process, where you can make small incremental change, improvements to legislation, having your legislation be part of other legislation, negotiation.

Is incredibly important.

And so our members have been able to find, you know, good success there.

Are there things that are still sitting in the Senate, that we find very frustrating, especially if they came out, you know, our legislation always has bipartisan support.

It has to in order to get across the finish line.

Sometimes it has unanimous a unanimous support coming out of the house.

Is that frustrating for it not to move in the Senate?

Yes, but that's not just a Democrat problem.

That is I think across, the entire especially in the House side.

And it's been incredibly frustrating.

Any idea what you can expect in Lame Duck is it's going to be a long session.

Is there going to be a lot of stuff that moves, or is it going to close early?

Well, that's I think to be determined.

I think there are still many things on the To-Do list that should be done.

You know, things that we could get done some some low hanging fruit.

I think things again, that we've got broad bipartisan consensus on.

You know, there certainly we are still pushing to make some progress on the property tax issue, providing direct relief, to property owners.

And I do believe that that can still get done in.

And it's a choice if we don't, you know, there are still some outstanding questions.

In the space of, you know, how do we move forward with this Delta eight issue?

That there will be some debate over, as always, there will be some sort of Christmas tree bill to deal with some, outstanding budget issues.

And so there's, there's still, opportunities to get good things done.

You know, my hope is that, we don't use lame duck to, focus on things that really, at the end of the day, do not improve people's lives.

And, only, serve to, put people in conflicts and, Yeah.

So we'll see.

We'll see how the next couple of weeks emerge.

One bill that Speaker Jason Stevens has taken off the table is Senate Bill 83 that Democrats were opposed to.

Is that a relief to you?

Well, I think he's been pretty clear about his position on that from the beginning.

So I'm not surprised to see it completely taken off the table for this General Assembly.

I mean, we all anticipated we will be back next Assembly.

Senator Jerry Serino says it will be back.

His he's been very clear about that.

And I will be very clear that we will remain very opposed to it.

And pushing back on it.

Senate Bill 83 is the proposal that conservatives say would stem what they see as liberal bias in Ohio's public universities and its current form, Senate Bill 83, does not ban faculty strikes, but it does ban most mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training at publicly funded universities.

It requires what's called intellectual diversity on topics spelled out in the legislation climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage or abortion.

The bill also prohibits universities from taking public positions on controversial topics, though they can lobby lawmakers on issues.

It cuts the terms of university trustees from nine years to six years, and it includes a ban on financial partnerships with China.

But that doesn't include tuition from Chinese students.

Stephen said.

Long said Senate Bill 83 did not have the votes to get through the House.

It passed in a close vote in a House committee last year, and Republican supporters had hoped to force a floor vote in June, but it did not come up before lawmakers left for summer break.

Sponsoring Senator Jerry Serino said he would not meet with Stevens during the break to discuss changes that could get the bill to the floor.

Parts of Senate Bill 83 were folded into last year's budget, but they were stripped out in a conference committee and with just a few weeks left in the session, the bill will not come to the House floor.

you expect Senate Bill 83 to be brought to the House for?

No, we're not going to do this all the way through.

you you said it's not going to come through the.

Can you tell us why?

Because we're not going to do.

I mean, we've got a lot of other things that are a lot more important than I talked with sponsoring Republican Senator Jerry Serino about that.

Well, it's disappointing to hear that.

I would have preferred to get some specificity as to what his issues were.

But look, the bill, is it important, bill, as I've said, on your show before.

If the just because the speaker doesn't seem to grasp the importance of this as a, as a, and needed reform bill in higher education in Ohio does not in any way take away from its value.

And so, we will be pursuing this in the future.

I will be persistent.

As I've told you before in making this happen.

And by the way, I should tell you, a lot of, our universities are actually beginning to adopt some of the policies, and procedures in Senate Bill 83, even though it hasn't passed out of the House yet.

And so that's a good thing, but it still needs to be passed.

It's got about 13 or 14 key reform areas that are necessary because higher education is changing right now in Ohio and around the country, for that matter.

We are seeing a reduced enrollment in most of our universities and community colleges.

We're seeing changes in the workforce, in the kinds of programs that are, necessary to produce the right workforce here.

And we have a lot of issues that are causing our presidents and boards of trustees in our public universities to have to make changes quickly and adapt to them.

And there's a number of components in Senate Bill 83 that gives them more authority to move more quickly, to respond to changes.

I want to ask you about that.

Earlier this year, Senate Finance Committee Chair Matt Dolan was on this show when he said that he had talked to university presidents.

And they've said that Senate Bill 83 has caused them to make some changes.

He said it's created, created behavioral change is the way he put it.

You also have these, academic, independent academic centers at Ohio State University of Toledo Law School, Miami University, University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State.

So why is Senate Bill 83 still need?

And what specifically would you want to see change that's not changing, right?

Well, there are probably two aspects of 83 that I think are still necessary.

And in addition to the civic centers that, that are opened up.

The five of them in Ohio.

One of them is there are a number of administrative tools that we're giving the presidents and the boards of trustees.

In Senate Bill 83.

The other part is that we really want to reinforce, the university's commitments to free speech and diversity of thought.

And again, those five centers are going to help in that regard.

Certainly, but they're not going to.

First of all, it's only five of our universities.

We have 14 of them, and 22 community colleges.

So there's there needs to be a greater adoption of some of the principles that we've articulated in the bill.

But I think the bill is, is still necessary, to be able to get Ohio, you know, up to date with the changes going on in higher education today.

And how do you make those changes?

I know this question's been asked for.

How do you do what you're doing without censoring, without, in any way doing the exact opposite of making free speech less free?

Well, this bill, among many bills that I've been involved in in my almost four years now in the Senate, has has been subjected to so much misinformation, some of it purposeful, for sure.

This bill is about creating more speech.

It doesn't restrict speech.

When we define in the bill, controversial subjects, those are for definition purposes, and they are there to define that.

And they're only examples because controversial issues are going to change over time.

Right?

It's that we want the institutions to be neutral as they should be.

I just saw an announcement yesterday that Vanderbilt University president has reinforced the need for their institution to maintain total neutrality.

Let the students hear all sides of issues and let them decide on what their opinions going to be.

And it's catching on around the country.

Actually.

And I think, you know, we're losing ground in Ohio by letting this bill sit.

And that's why I'm so critical of the speaker for, for not, moving this forward.

I think it's an it would be an excellent chance for him to leave some kind of a legacy that would be meaningful versus being one of the least productive speaker shifts that we've had in our history.

Let me just throw out an example here.

If indeed Senate Bill 83 were in place, would students be able to see both protests from, say, people and, entities that support what's happening with Israel's actions on Gaza and also students who are defending the Palestinians?

Absolutely.

That's what free speech is in our universities.

Should be, centers of diversified opinions.

It should be a proving ground for thoughts.

And and as long as, as long as demonstrations are, you know, not dangerous to some other parties, or in any way deface or, you know, ruin university, properties and so on.

They're fine.

And everybody and I think our university presidents have seen that that was the case, particularly during last spring when there were so many demonstrations.

So, it's free speech is not without limits, and it cannot endanger anybody or destroy property.

Certainly.

But everyone is welcome, whether we like that opinion or not.

Now, you've said before that, and you just said a little while ago that you intend to pursue this, you intend to stay on this.

And you had also said that if indeed the bill is reintroduced, it will be absent the concessions that you have made.

So you've made a couple of concessions with regard to faculty strikes and also, diversity, equity and inclusion grants.

What other concessions are you not?

But we'll be back in the next bill.

So the bill that was passed almost a year ago in the House was the 11 version of Senate Bill 83.

So a lot of changes have been made.

I would categorize them in two ways.

Some were what I would call technical and, fixing some unintended consequences that we discovered after the bill was introduced.

We had a lot of great input.

I did a lot of hearings, as you recall.

I had a 7.5 hour hearing one night.

We heard from everybody.

The, entry University Council, was able to get a lot of changes that, they made a good case for.

And we accommodated those.

But then there were others that were concessions made in order to get it through the house.

Those concessions are likely not to be seen in the next version.

That I think the faculty strikes on that that would be one of them.

And there are a few other smaller ones, but, things that we negotiated on, but without the ultimate result that we were looking for, obviously don't deserve to be placed back in the new bill.

Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio has said that you should consider compromise because the end result should be what's best for everybody, and it's what democracy was built on.

Well, I don't know what compromise she's referring to.

We've had plenty of opportunities when this bill was passed by the Senate, a year ago in June.

But, you know, she knows how to reach me, and I'm willing to listen to what she has to say.

But I'm not going to sacrifice the key elements, of what this bill is intended to do.

I know you've met with university trustees.

You've had a couple of symposiums here at the state House.

You've also met with University leadership.

Have you met with any groups representing faculty members?

I have, I have not.

I've had lots of input from them.

Most of the people who gave testimony in my 7.5 hour hearing were faculty members, most of them from Ohio State.

I've gotten lots of letters, phone calls, messages, some of them pretty nasty.

Many of them very nasty.

And a lot of social media nastiness, certainly that's out there, but that's okay.

So, you know, again, my point on the no strike provision is simply this.

When a student pays in advance for their semester tuition, that is a contract between them and the university and therefore the state of Ohio.

And nothing should interrupt that, product from being delivered to them.

The instruction that is the product.

Certainly not something that involves the faculty union looking to get a better dental plan.

Okay.

Negotiating in contracts and labor organizations, they're just fine.

I don't have a problem with those.

I've successfully dealt with labor in my business career in the past.

But the student is first.

And students, if they pay for their instruction, nothing should get in the way of delivering that instruction to them.

I have heard it said that if indeed Senate Bill 83 does not pass by the end of lame duck, that could be the worst possible scenario for colleges and universities because of what may come follow.

Well, I believe it would be the best possible circumstance, outcome.

Because again, I think this bill, if people take the time to really go through it and read it and understand it, that that they will see that our intent from the very beginning was to make Ohio's universities and community colleges better.

And that's what I continue to believe.

With Senate Bill 83, The opposition to Senate Bill 83 has been fierce.

Hundreds of faculty members, students and others have testified against the bill, saying it would have a chilling effect on free speech and expression and could hurt Ohio's ability to attract top professors, researchers and students.

One notable protest at the statehouse last year featured a funeral for free speech.

Labor unions and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors are among the groups that have promised to fight it.

In other news, this week, the Republican led Ohio Ballot Board cleared the way for backers of an amendment to repeal required voter photo ID and other elections laws to start gathering the signatures needed to put the issue onto the ballot.

The board decided the Ohio Organizing Collaborative will only have to circulate petitions for one issue instead of multiple issues.

The Ohio Voter's Bill of rights would allow same day voter registration in Ohio, expand rights to early in-person voting, and set up no excuse absentee voting.

It would allow more than one ballot drop box per county, and would allow the use of photo IDs issued by educational institutions, including universities.

The group is not sure when it will start gathering signatures, or whether they're aiming for the ballot in 2025 or 2026, and that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News Talk or find us online by searching the State of Ohio Show.

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

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

Just.

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

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at porterwright.com.

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

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.