The Ohio General Assembly runs on two-year terms, so when lawmakers adjourned around 2 a.m. on Dec. 19, any bill not on its way to Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 desk effectively died.
That included a contentious bill addressing conservatives鈥� concerns with higher education. It would have banned most mandatory diversity training in public colleges, required the protection and promotion of so-called 鈥渋ntellectual diversity,鈥� and slashed university trustee terms.
Although it cleared the Senate in summer 2023, it withered in the House, much to Sen. Jerry Cirino鈥檚 (R-Kirtland) chagrin.
鈥淲e鈥檙e losing ground in Ohio by letting this bill sit and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 so critical of the speaker for not moving this forward,鈥� Cirino said in November. 鈥淚t 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 speakerships that we鈥檝e had in our history.鈥�
House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) maintained it didn鈥檛 have the votes to pass the full chamber, but Cirino vowed to resurrect the original proposal in 2025, without what he called concessions, like removing the ban on faculty strikes.
Executions
In the winter, a cohort of Republicans proposed adding nitrogen gas as a second method for carrying out the death penalty, renewing the debate over the practice after Alabama put a man to death by a gas mask.
Attorney General Dave Yost said he believes the state is abdicating its duty by not performing executions. 鈥淚 am aware of the moral weight of this debate, but this is the law of the land,鈥� Yost said in January.
At the same time, a slow-growing contingent of Republican and Democratic opponents, including Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), pushed a perennial bill to abolish the death penalty altogether.
鈥淲hat we're asking for is to end executions, but those people that we are sure that have committed a capital crime would spend the rest of their life behind bars without parole,鈥� Antonio said in a November interview.
As DeWine again issued stays on executions, something he鈥檚 done for his entire term, neither side saw much movement on changing the law itself. Both bills died in committee.
Marijuana and delta-8 THC
Lawmakers from both chambers rang in 2024 negotiating changes to the state鈥檚 relatively young recreational marijuana laws. Months later, Stephens said the House couldn鈥檛 and likely wouldn鈥檛 find common ground on an overhaul.
The chamber also slow-rolled an effort to ban delta-8 THC and other derivatives this fall. Sometimes called 鈥渄iet weed,鈥� it鈥檚 unregulated and legal at any age.
Senate President Matt Huffman is set to wield the speaker鈥檚 gavel in 2025, though, and he already has a framework for what he wants done.
鈥淲e realized, many of us realized and believe that there were some fundamental flaws in the initiative that was introduced and passed by the voters, which you usually have when there鈥檚 not the vetting from all sides,鈥� Huffman said in December.
Pensions, energy, raises and more
It wasn鈥檛 just the House icing out the Senate this General Assembly. The House sent over a bill increasing localities鈥� contributions to the statewide police and fire pension fund.
鈥淎 wise man once told me that the police officers get older, but the criminals tend to stay the same age, so we want to make sure that we are providing good security for our police and fire,鈥� Stephens said in December.
Huffman wanted the issue vetted further, he said.
And the Senate blocked some energy bills at the last minute, including one on energy efficiency, the pet project of longtime outgoing Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati)鈥攖hough it only eked out of the House with 50 votes.
鈥淚 haven't seen too many times over the last 24 years where the utilities and the environmentalists are on the same side and when the Republicans and the Democrats, most of us, see it the same way,鈥� Seitz said in an August interview. 鈥淲hy not take advantage of that moment in time to get something done?鈥�
On the last day of the lame duck session, negotiations on pay raises for state public officials, including next year's state lawmakers themselves, fizzled out, even with House backing. The legislature also let the clock run out on bipartisan school bus safety and property tax proposals.
