Support for the state wide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medd Mut.

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.

Morad Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 120 4000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at Ohga dot org, a bill that would allow almost anyone to get an exemption to a Covid shot mandate stalls again.

A proposal to legalize marijuana is back again.

But there's a twist this time.

And there are less than 200 days till the May primary, which features a Republican who's running for governor again.

A chat with Jim Renea see this weekend, the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio, I'm Karen Kasler.

After weeks of public wrangling over a bill that would grant Covid vaccine mandate exemptions to almost anyone who would want them.

Republican leaders in the Ohio House stopped the planned vote on the bill this week.

It would create broad vaccine exemptions for employees and students in both the public and private sectors and was expected to be pushed through a committee and come up for a full House floor vote.

But Speaker Bob Kopp pulled it, saying the caucus is split and cannot reach a consensus on the bill.

I think we put in countless hours, not only weeks, but months on this bill with all kinds of input.

So it's time now to move on to other important topics that are facing Ohioans that are before the state legislature.

While Democrats were united against the bill, some GOP lawmakers said it didn't go far enough.

Others said it put too much regulation on businesses.

On Thursday, House Health Committee Chair Scott Lipps announced a hearing next week on the bill that the legislature's researchers say would ban all mandatory inoculations from childhood shots to the Covid vaccine.

But KOPT shot out a two sentence letter ordering Lipps to immediately cancel that hearing.

Lip's has been the target of protesters who want to see that bill pass.

And he has suggested he supports much of it.

There's less than a month till the November election.

And while it's an off year for the major statewide state house and federal offices, there are still races for mayor, city council and judges, plus two high profile congressional special elections in central Ohio and Cleveland.

And Secretary of State Frank Lero says the state's 88 county board of elections are short 17000 poll workers.

Lero says the pandemic and other factors are an issue.

I asked him what effect disinformation and lies told by his fellow Republicans about how the 2020 election was not legitimate and that former President Trump one might be having an effect on recruiting poll workers who are needed from both parties.

I have concerns about the way other states do things, but Ohio does it right.

And again, I can't vouch for other states.

I think that my colleagues around the country do an earnest job of running secure elections.

But I can tell you in Ohio, there is no doubt that in Ohio, it's easy to vote, hard to cheat .

That's something we're more brutal.

Luro says continuing education credits are being offered to lawyers, librarians, social workers, realtors and accountants to encourage them to serve as poll workers.

For the first time ever, a Republican state lawmaker has drafted a bill to legalize recreational marijuana possession and use by adults in Ohio.

There are two lawmakers, in fact, Representative Jimmy Callendar of Lake County and Ron Ferguson of Wintersville near Steubenville.

The bill, which has not yet been introduced, would allow smoking and growing marijuana by adults over 21.

There would be a 10 percent sales tax on pot products with a quarter of revenue going to addiction and recovery programs.

A quarter going to police for equipment to detect impaired drivers and the rest for the general revenue.

Fine.

And there's a provision for those convicted only of marijuana crimes to have their records erased.

I talked with Representative Callendar about his bill, which he says builds off the state's medical marijuana program in place since twenty eighteen, but criticized for being too complex and difficult to navigate.

This is a very responsible approach to adult use.

One of the concerns with some of the other proposals is that it would make it too easy for those who are not eligible to access marijuana.

Specifically those under twenty one.

Our medical program has done a great job.

The Department of Commerce and the rulemaking have done a great job of setting up a system of tight applications to make sure that the folks that get the distribution sites, as well as the grow and processing sites, are highly qualified, highly professional, and that are minors and others won't have access to marijuana.

So by expanding that program into the adult years, 21 and over use, we can assure that you're not going to be able to pick up a joint at the local gas station or as you're driving through and stop at a truck stop.

There's not going to be product there.

You know, we have that now with Delta eight and with CBD, but with the actual marijuana, the actual cannabis, we want to make sure that we keep that controlled and out of the hands of kids and out of the easy access and make sure that that the only those that that are eligible for the program are accessing the product.

Who would profit from this?

I mean, you've got a 10 percent tax in here, but who actually would besides users who would benefit especially who would benefit financially?

Well, I think the growers, the processors and the distributors, because there would be a larger market and the new folks, whoever that may be, that would apply for the new licenses.

For each of those three elements would be businesses, and they could make a profit at that.

So I would say the the folks that are already in the industry in a professional level or the new folks coming in, but there aren't any limits on who could apply.

There's nothing in the bill that would regulate size or put specific companies in the law.

Oh, no, no, no.

But there is some limit on size.

I want to be clear that there is caps currently in the medical program.

And while we anticipate they would become larger and someone might could get more than one license or an entity could get more than one license, that you'd still have to go through the competitive process to show that you have both the resources and the technical capability and the ability to comply with the elements as something Ohio has done very well in the medical program.

So we would take the same process and continue it on.

So it's not unlimited.

Somebody can't just start a farm and grow acres and acres and sell it at will for the price they want.

It is is still going to be regulated and limited.

Now, you've said that you have been in favor of legal legalization of marijuana since college.

Marijuana is arguably different now.

A study of pot products seized by the US DEA in 2014 found that the amount of THC in those products had gone from four percent in 1995, all the way up to 12 percent in 2014.

There's a potency here that has increased in twenty seventeen.

Another study showed that THC, THC level was seventeen point one percent.

So these products have changed over time.

Is there a concern about how to regulate a product that is a lot more potent than maybe a lot of people have to remember from years ago?

Yes.

And that, again, is is part of why we are taking the medical program and expanding it.

Right now, when a consumer at Ohio with a medical card goes in and purchases.

There is labeling on that product that tells you the CBD percentage, the THC percentage, what strains of of THC it is and what the THC percentage is clearly labeled.

The consumer knows what they're getting.

There are no surprises.

It's tested.

Some would say too much as far as the the testing that that's being done now by regulators.

But it's very, very well labeled.

And everyone knows what's in there.

If you look at what some of the other states have done, that's not the case.

And worse yet, states that haven't done anything and local governments have decided to not enforce and publicly not enforce marijuana laws.

You really have no idea what you're purchasing if you're if you are a consumer and that's got some significant health risks .

We had some incidents a few years ago.

It was more on the CBD side, but it was on the THC side as well, where folks that were buying vape cartridges, the content was not pure.

And there was some lung ailments that came about because of that.

This legislation, our legislation avoids that by making sure that we have very, very tight controls as to the content and very clear labeling as to what's in that.

Now, while you've said you're the first Republican to sponsor a bill to legalize marijuana, there are other measures out there.

There is a bill backed by two Democrats that they've been doing some town halls on this.

And I'd heard some conversation that maybe you and at least one of those Democrats had been talking about doing a bipartisan proposal.

I mean, is that why you're putting this forward now?

Because there's already a Democratic bill that's gotten some traction, or were you hoping for a bipartisan bill?

Oh, we're absolutely hoping for a bipartisan bill.

In fact, we had talked about that beforehand.

And for some reason, I guess they decided to introduce it as a partizan bill, which would have been nice if we were aware of that beforehand.

But I think this is a bipartisan issue and we want to to make it that.

And that's part of why myself and Representative Ferguson stepped forward to the joint sponsor this.

You shouldn't laugh when I say that.

That's the technical term is joint DINSMORE.

Absolutely.

But the jokes write themselves when it comes to this already serious issue that has some elements of levity to it, which I as an aside, I think that's an important element of this bill.

Right now, we're living in tough times.

There are some issues facing us as a state and as the governing body that are very serious, very personal, very emotional.

And tempers are short.

People are angry.

And I think this bill and it can make the pun that it will help people chill out if we could pass it.

And but it also is a bill that people can talk about, can debate, and it is ripe with humor.

So it is an opportunity for us to ramp.

Back taking ourselves so seriously as legislators and have a robust discussion, I am advocating for this.

I hope it passes.

I'm going to work very hard to make that happen.

But even having the debate, I think, is healthy.

It removes some of the stigma, especially for those who who have had convictions in this area, that those convictions are now keeping them from applying for a job.

And it also helps us have some smiles and laughter in the in the statehouse halls.

I mean, the press conference yesterday, I think we we laughed a few times and we need that.

The when you talk about the prior convictions, does your bill do anything to remove or expunge any of those prior convictions?

It allows for expungement?

Yes, absolutely.

There is along with the Democratic backed bill, there's also a potential ballot issue that would regulate marijuana like alcohol, which is a lot broader than what you're proposing here.

Is that one of the reasons why you decided to come forward now?

Because that that potential ballot measure has a chance?

No, we were working on this, trying to get the language in the process just right.

Well, before I was aware of the the ballot initiative.

So which has not made the ballot yet, I should make clear.

Yeah, the signature gathering and application.

So it was not in any way a reaction.

However, I think it may help us legislatively, because there's a number of folks who don't like necessarily the idea of legalization.

But if it's going to happen or there's a chance it's going to happen, they want to make sure it's done in a very responsible way.

And this bill is the responsible way to do that.

One of the things you're going to have to push back on is the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug to other drugs that we've had as an opioid problem in the state for many, many years.

How do you push back on that argument, especially when you go back to the idea of marijuana be more potent now than it used to be?

There are certainly multiple schools of thought there, but there are a number of folks that believe that marijuana is a step down drug and a great drug to help when weaning off and going through withdrawal of opiates.

There's actually a treatment methodology that's gaining more and more acceptance that when dealing with withdrawal and some of the really extreme issues that folks are facing when they're trying to get clean from the opioids, heroin in particular, that marijuana is a great step down.

It helps to deal with the pain of withdrawal and some of the cravings.

So I think there's there's certainly more than one school of thought there.

I would argue that it is not a gateway drug.

If you have to go and buy it illegally from a drug, illegal, illicit drug dealer, that might be a step towards buying other things there because you're already in that environment.

So let's bring it out into the sunshine.

Let's bring it into our legal stream of commerce.

Less tax it.

And let's take away that that ability for it to serve as a gateway drug, because I think the studies out there show the use of it is not a gateway drug.

And while you are the first Republican to propose legislation like this, I think a lot of people might just assume that this is going nowhere because previous efforts to legalize marijuana recreationally have gone nowhere.

But you've gotten stuff done in the past.

For instance, I'm thinking of House Bill six, which was a bill the this sweeping energy law that allowed for a nuclear power plant, subsidies and this sort of thing.

You got that through and you had the leadership on board with that.

Do you have the leadership on board with this?

No.

The short answer, no.

They are we have had a number of discussions with the speaker and and their academic very good discussions.

He's interested to learn why I think it's the right time and why it's the right process.

But he's generally opposed to adult use.

He's not a not a fan, but he is giving us the opportunity to have strong hearings and bring in our experts, make the case and see how many votes we have.

So I don't think he will block it.

In fact, he's committed that that he will give it a fair chance, both legislative procedurally and also in his own mind as he's looking at the issue.

Do you run up against the fact that the federal government still considers marijuana an illegal drug?

I mean, how do you how do you allow for legalization of a drug that's not legal?

One of the things that this bill contains is a portion of it's a resolution to Congress urging them to pass it, to remove it as a scheduled subject, so as a controlled substance.

And we actually have a bill that's co-sponsored by a fellow Republican in the US House.

Dave Joyce, my congressman, has a bill that would remove marijuana from the the schedule that it's currently on, which would also allow access to banking for folks that are involved in the heroin industry, which is another issue that we have.

Most states have done something with regard to either medical marijuana or recreational marijuana.

What's the impact been like?

I know that there's a fear that if you legalize it, that you're going to have a population of stoners or something.

That's not been what's happened in other states that have had recreational legalization.

Though there have been some some issues like the advantage of going later.

You know, I think we'd be the 19th state maybe that did this if we do, or 20 years by the time we get it through, is that we can learn from their mistakes and we can look at the outcomes from the states who have done this before.

And some of them have had some issues.

A lot of the issues have stemmed from too easy of access.

We address that very strongly.

So we have the advantage of seeing what worked and what didn't.

And other states, too, to have this legislation drafted and rolled out.

And while skeptics may wonder about the future of this bill, it should be noted that calendar not only got House Bill six through, but was also the Republican sponsor of the first measure to overhaul school funding since 1997, which was included in the new state budget.

Though the fair school funding plan, as it's called, wasn't fully funded in the budget for the full six year phase-in calendar says he's optimistic the momentum to continue that plan will carry into the future.

Governor Mike DeWine has said he will run for reelection but hasn't officially launched his campaign.

But he's been traveling a lot lately.

He was in Texas last week at the US Mexico border with other Republican governors, which he promoted afterwards on Fox Business.

Since then, DeWine has been to Bowling Green, Dayton, Canton and Cincinnati.

DeWine is facing a primary in May against central Ohio farmer and businessman Joe Blystone and former Congressman Jim Renacci, who's been running since July.

Renzi lost the twenty eighteen US Senate race to Sherrod Brown, a contest he'd gotten into after leaving the twenty eighteen Republican primary for governor, which he said he did after being asked to by then President Trump.

And he's staying strongly Trump now.

He spoke with my statehouse news bureau colleague, Andy Chab.

What made you decide to run for governor?

Wai'anae, nothing's changed in twenty seventeen, I said that our federal government is broken, and the only thing we can do to fix it is have strong governors and strong states.

So, number one, I would tell you that we need to fix our federal governmen by having strong governors.

I do believe that I would be that strong governor that can take back the power and authority, the overreach of the federal government.

So that's one of the reasons.

It's the same reason I ran in twenty seventeen.

The other thing is to really change the direction of our state.

We are statistically failing in so many ways.

If you look at the statistics and job growth in people leaving our state is anywhere from 35 to 50 in most statistics.

I carry him around with me because sometimes people don't believe him.

But I have all the statistics with me.

We can talk about some of those things.

The third thing early is to bring transparency back to a state that many say ranks number one in corruption.

Look, we've had a rough go at it the last few years at the state house.

We've had a number of corruption scandals.

We need transparency.

We need leadership.

It really opens up and says we're not going to do this anymore.

That would be my my third reason fourth reason really is to make Ohio that powerhouse state that it used to be.

I came here thirty nine years ago.

Ohio was a powerhouse.

But today, we can't compete with our other states.

We ranked, as I've said, anywhere from 30 to fiftieth and so many categories.

I want to make that difference.

And last but not least, to really eliminate the overreach of government that really has affected our small businesses, but also many of our personal freedoms.

The big issue that the state has been facing for a long time now, the COVID 19 pandemic, and its effect that it's had not only on public health, but also the economy as governor.

How would you address that balance between public health and the economy?

Well, I'm glad you asked that question, because I've said that all along.

Both are important.

You have to have public health issues looked at.

You have to make sure that individuals have all the information.

You have to allow individuals to make those choices at the same time.

You can't make choices that are going to hurt our business and our economy.

The biggest problem with our current governor is he was making decisions at one point that were totally one sided, totally, in my opinion, overreach of the Constitution.

But at the same time, it was hurting our economy, which is one of the reasons why our state is still struggling to get back out of the pre Covid economy.

We still rank I think last statistic I heard is we rank fiftieth in coming back from the post Covid economy, which shows that we didn't go in it in a in a very good way.

We we didn't balance those things.

And we have to balance all of those things.

Yes, we have to worry about health, but we also have to worry about our economy.

But an argument that's come up over and over again is some people want to decide to wear a mask because they believe it's going to be safer for them and others.

Some people decide that they don't want to wear a mask and they have their own reasons.

But then the tension there is they believe that the people who do wear a mask, they want to be safe from the people who don't wear masks.

So how do you see that argument playing out in the public health sphere of, yes, we do want personal responsibility and personal decisions made, but one person's decision might affect somebody else's health.

Well, again, those are personal decisions, and look, I do believe that we have a virus out there.

I do believe it is contagious.

But I also don't wear a mask.

I try and maintain a distance from people.

I do things to keep my you know, whether it's always washing my hands.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to wear a mask.

And I think those are the issues.

Now, some people may look at me and say, well, you don't have a mask on.

I don't want to get near you.

OK, stay six feet away.

We can still communicate.

These are the things that just, you know, one person's rights can affect the other person's rights.

And I think that's the problem we're having.

I do say we have that conflict when you're going around Ohio and you're talking to people.

What's your pitch to them?

If if you're standing in front of an Ohio voter, they don't know who to vote for.

Why should they vote for you?

Well, here's what I tell them You are somebody who came here thirty nine years ago who started my first business when I was twenty four years old, with only a couple hundred dollars in a bank, went from one business to 60 businesses, created over 5000 jobs and employed over three thousand people.

I live the American Dream in Ohio and I love Ohio, but I'm not a politician and I'm not a career politician.

So I understand what it means to have to wake up every day and barely make ends meet.

I understand what it means to have to sign the front of a paycheck, but make sure there's enough money to cover those paychecks.

And I also understand what it means to have the overreach of government affect you and your business.

It's affected me multiple times from taking my car dealership and 29th 2009 to the overreach of the state government and taxing me a retroactive tax, which they shouldn't have done, which I appealed.

All of those things that affect you.

I've had to live.

And I understand it online.

Renesmee has been combative, blasting DeWine over mask mandates a new law allowing vaccines with FDA approval to be required by public schools.

Immigration and critical race theory, which is not taught in Ohio's K through 12 schools.

Nacy also called for an investigation into money DeWine received from first energy and saying he should give that back to the utility so it can return the money to ratepayers.

DeWine has said he'll donate to charity around one hundred thousand dollars in donations from FirstEnergy and its executives.

And finally, a somewhat different kind of protest.

On Tuesday, members of the suburban women's group Red Wine and Blue were outside the Ohio Realtors Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit.

The group, which leans Democratic, brought cookies and copies of a letter signed by three hundred and eighty women, asking the realtors to publicly denounce two Republican backed bills that could limit teaching on racism in public policy and to stop donating to.

Dozens of GOP lawmakers are pushing those plans.

We're wanting to tackle the changes that happen with who who you're giving money to and what causes you're supporting that really affect and filter down to the people.

Red, white and blue says it's conversations outside the summit where Friendly and they met with the Ohio Realtors CEO to talk about changes the realtors group has made for this election cycle.

And that's it for this week.

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 you can follow us and the show on Facebook and Twitter.

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

Support for the state wide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at med mut.

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 Moore Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 120 4000 members who worked to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at Ohga dot org.