Now that 2013 is winding down and the Ohio General Assembly is on recess, two local state lawmakers discussed some of the bigger legislative highlights for the year.

State Sen. John Eklund, R-Munson Township, and state Rep. John Rogers, D-Mentor-on-the-Lake, touched on three items in particular during separate interviews with The News-Herald this week.

Both legislators felt the passage of the state’s biennial budget was among the top pieces of legislation because it sets the direction of state policy and spending for the next two years.

Eklund, who was the only state legislator representing Lake or Geauga counties to vote in favor of the measure, pointed to the overall tax burden that was reduced by $2.7 billion. He said most of the tax relief is in the form of state income tax cuts during the next three years.

Rogers said almost no one enjoys paying taxes, but the tax cuts didn’t do much to help the middle class and lower-income workers.

He also said the expansion of the state sales tax might cause some taxpayers to pay a higher percentage of their income because the income tax cuts favor people who are wealthier.

Another major bill passed this year was the state’s $7.6 billion transportation budget that allows the state to issue $1.5 billion in bonds leveraged from the Ohio Turnpike revenue for transportation projects mostly in the northern half of the state.

Eklund, who voted in favor of the legislation, said the utilization of these funds should bring more than $3 billion worth of infrastructure projects and the bill should create an estimated 65,000 jobs in Ohio.

Rogers, who voted against the bill, said his chief concern was that the promised funds for projects in northern Ohio weren’t clearly defined in the legislation and that tolls for the roadways have increased.

When it comes to job creation, Rogers has concerns about the state’s JobsOhio, which is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes job creation and economic development for Ohio.

He said there is a lack of transparency for the organization. He said because it is considered to be private in nature there is very little scrutiny that can be utilized by the public to see how successful JobsOhio is doing and if it is spending taxpayer funding wisely.

Eklund touted legislation designed to spur job creation called the Common Sense Initiative.

It reviews Ohio’s regulatory system to eliminate excessive and duplicative rules and regulations that stand in the way of job creation.

Eklund said the idea is to look at whether regulations are justified given the potentially good outcomes they produce.

He said the legislation helps to make the state a more friendly business community.

Tighter race?

Public Policy Polling’s newest survey of the Ohio governor’s race finds Republican John Kasich polling at 40 percent, Democrat Ed FitzGerald at 38 percent, and Libertarian Charlie Earl at 6 percent. Sixteen percent of voters remain undecided.

The poll can be viewed at http://bit.ly/1c7IWyH and was sponsored by Freedom Ohio, an organization that describes itself as a movement dedicated to end marriage discrimination in Ohio as soon as November 2014.

Deadlines

The weekly deadline to submit information for this column is each Wednesday by 5 p.m. Email or fax is preferred.

Fundies

• Campaign kickoff for Lake County Juvenile Court Judge Karen Lawson, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at LaMalfa Party Center in Mentor. See Lu Dunlap.
• John P. O’Donnell, candidate for Lake County Common Pleas Court, hosts a fundraiser 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23, at LaMalfa Party Center. See Mike Lucas, Mike Bucci or Ann Bergen.
• Lake County Domestic Relations Court Judge Colleen A. Falkowski hosts a fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 Jan. 30 at LaMalfa Party Center in Mentor. See Brian Falkowski.

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah

President Barack Obama once again made an appearance in Cleveland, stopping Thursday at steelmaker ArcelorMittal for what was intended to be a speech about the economy.

However, the president earlier in the day had made a statement from Washington about his plan to allow health care insurers to extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled next year and to allow people whose plans have been canceled to re-enroll in the same kind of plan.

So when he came to the friendly confines of Cleveland, where he has traditionally enjoyed tremendous support in the past, Obama spent a significant part of his speech focusing on the new health care law.

No surprise, but it was interesting to see the president gave praise to Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who pushed for Ohio to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage to provide an estimated 275,000 people health care coverage.

Obama said that it was the right thing for the governor to do and that sometimes leaders need to put politics aside and do what is best for the people.

Conservative Republicans have criticized the effort to expand Medicaid in Ohio and a lawsuit is pending that challenges the authority of the Ohio Controlling Board, which voted earlier to accept the federal funding.

Plus, the Ohio Republican Party has begun to ramp up efforts to make health care a central focus during the 2014 election in Ohio.

State GOP leaders will look to hold Ohio Democrats responsible for the new health care law and urge people who believe they have been harmed by the changes to share their story by visiting www.ohiogop.org/obamacare.

What I think will be interesting is how Republicans plan to push out that message while at the same time work to get Kasich elected.

It may be a delicate situation, but how the economy goes next year in Ohio will likely be an important issue and critical to Kasich as he seeks a second term.

The governor has said that he opposes Obamacare in principal, but he also felt expanding Medicaid in Ohio was the best decision for the state.

The Ohio Democratic Party this week touted a recent poll they sponsored that suggests the race for governor next year is in a dead heat between Kasich and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democrat.

It suggests that if the election were held now, Kasich and FitzGerald would each receive about 41 percent, and Libertarian Charlie Earl would receive 6 percent.

About 13 percent of those who responded said they weren’t sure for whom they’d vote.

The margin of error in the poll was plus or minus 4 percent, but again keep in mind it was sponsored by the state Democratic Party.

A lot will happen before next year’s election that will affect the governor’s race, but something I will find interesting is just exactly how the national focus on health care reform will play a role.

Would a successful implementation of Obamacare hurt or help Kasich?

Acting Geauga commissioner

A week ago, Geauga County Republicans appointed Blake Rear to serve as a new county commissioner to replace Tracy Jemison, who retired effective Oct. 31.

Rear, who is the county GOP vice president and former Chardon School Board member, learned Thursday morning that his fellow commissioners wanted to swear him in as acting county commissioner at their meeting.

At that time, the paperwork hadn’t been completely processed by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to official make Rear a commissioner.

So by swearing him in as an acting commissioner, the Board of Commissioners would have each of the three seats filled.

The idea was that if something should happen to either Commissioners Mary Samide or Ralph Spidalieri, the county would be able to continue have a quorum at meetings with at least two commissioners in office.

It wasn’t an unprecedented move, as Geauga County commissioners also did the same last year when Spidalieri was sworn-in as an acting commissioner prior to beginning his term in January.

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah