Keeping it Brief

Federal

House votes to legalize weed

  • The House passed the MORE Act on Friday that would “remove federal penalties on marijuana and erase cannabis-related criminal records”.

    • The bill passed by a vote of 228-164

    • The bill is not likely to be brought to the Senate this year or in the next Congressional session.

    • “We've been patient for years on this,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), one of the co-founders of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. “My perspective was … that this Congress should not adjourn without addressing cannabis legalization, because it has such a profound effect on especially Black Americans [and] other people of color.”

    • Opponents to the bill explain that “removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act would jeopardize workplace safety. Others noted the lack of research on the health effects of cannabis and suggested reclassifying marijuana under federal law in a way that would make it easier to research but still restrict its use”.

Judge orders restoration of DACA, opening immigration program to new applicants for the first time since 2017 

  • “Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn instructed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to post a public notice by Monday that states the department will accept and adjudicate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) petitions from immigrants who qualify for the program but are not currently enrolled in it”. 

    • “Garaufis also instructed officials to grant approved applicants work permits that last for two years, instead of the one-year period proposed by the Trump administration over the summer”.

  • About 1 million undocumented immigrants could benefit from this policy and 300,000 young adults who qualify for DACA.

  • “While Friday's order is a significant victory for DACA recipients and prospective petitioners, Republican-led states are currently asking U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to declare the program unlawful and terminate it. Hanen, a Republican appointee, blocked Mr. Obama's 2014 expansion of DACA, as well as the creation of another program which would have protected the undocumented parents of U.S. green card holders and citizens from deportation”.

State

House passes abortion burial bill, now moves to governor for signature

  • A bill passed on Thursday that requires abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains. 

  • “Several opponents to the bill held a press conference Thursday morning because they felt due to the pandemic it was unsafe to testify at the Ohio Statehouse. During the press conference, members of clinics who provide abortions and abortion access advocacy groups said the bill had little to do with the need for burial services, and more to do with closing abortion clinics by creating another cost for them”.

    • The bill does not do anything for public health. It is mostly only supported by religious groups.

  • “On the House floor, state Rep. Erica Crawley, D-Columbus, called it “unacceptable” that the General Assembly has quickly taken up the measure while legislation regarding infant mortality and maternal mortality remain stalled in committees. Ohio stands as one of the top states in infant and maternal mortality rates. “That leaves me to believe that we are okay with women dying during childbirth or after, and babies dying within one year of their life,” Crawley said. “I do not hear the same passion for these women and infants who are dying.”

Teachers unions urge veto on school funding bill 

  • The Ohio State House and Senate recently passed SB 89 which focuses on the EdChoice school voucher program. 

    • “The leader of the Ohio Education Association said the current version of SB 89 “removes positive aspects of the bill passed by the House and increases voucher eligibility beyond 2020-2021 levels.”

    • “By grandfathering in previously voucher-eligible students, whether they had used the vouchers or not, SB 89 fails to curb the destructive explosion of the voucher program, contrary to proponents’ claims,” wrote OEA President Scott DiMauro in a statement. “There was no compromise and no consultation with the education community to strike the deal that was passed out by the conference committee.”

  • More education bills are expected to come to the floor of the state house in the next couple of months. 

Race, trauma, and stigma training recommended for transformed Ohio children services

  • An advisory council organized by Gov. DeWine is working to update the Ohio children services system.

    • The council found that children of color are overrepresented in the foster care system and said that “actionable, systemic change” will require education, leadership development, hiring and recruitment strategies, policy and practice reviews, empathy training, access to racially and culturally competent services and communities of support”.

  • It is important that all recommendations implemented to improve the system are equitable. There are recommendations in relation to prevention, workforce, practice, kinship, foster care, adoption and juvenile justice

  • See the article/link above for recommendations made by the council when it comes to caseworkers and parents of foster children.

COVID-19 education rules pass Ohio Senate committee

  • HB 404 was signed into law which allows state university trustees to attend meeting electronically

  • SB 358 will be voted on in the coming weeks. If passed, operations of state and local government will be allowed to continue essential operations in response to the pandemic. 

  • HB 305, the education overhaul bill, has been approved by the finance committee and will go to the state house for a vote.

New Ohio advisory board standards ban police chokeholds in most cases

  • “Under the new standards, law enforcement agencies seeking certification or recertification in the collaborative’s standards are required to ban the use of chokeholds and neck restraints unless officers are justified in using deadly force to defend themselves or others from serious injury or death”.

    • In order to be certified to use this mandate, “agencies must create a policy aimed at protecting the public and officers while upholding the First Amendment freedoms of expression, assembly and the press”.

    • The policy restricts the use of force, coercion and intrusiveness. It also allows for police to only target harmful behavior and conditions and use predictable and unbiased tactics.

Campus ‘free speech’ bill banning free-speech zones heads to Gov. Mike DeWine 

  • SB 40 recently passed the House floor. If the bill is signed by the governor, “public universities and colleges across Ohio won't be able to say no to controversial speakers or ask groups sponsoring them to pay for security after once the governor signs a bill passed by the legislature”. 

    • Those who oppose the bill explain that the bill is a way to promote conservative and far-right speech on college campuses.

    • Universities would no longer be able to require a security fee for groups or trigger warnings for audience members. It also allows schools to invite communist groups to speak.

Ohio takes step toward making Juneteenth a paid state holiday 

  • The Ohio Senate unanimously approved SB 334 which would make Juneteenth Day a paid holiday for government employees in Ohio. 

    • The bill needs to pass the house and be signed by Gov. DeWine before it takes effect.

    • "Ohioans need a time to reflect and use Juneteenth as a way to bridge gaps and divides between races and have discussions on how slavery itself influenced our society up to and even including this day".- Andrew Brenner (R-Powell)

  • The Ohio Senate also passed HB 325 which designates February 18 as Toni Morrison Day. 

    • “Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison was a prominent African-American novelist known for her works "Beloved" and "Song of Solomon." She won the Nobel Prize in Literature and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama in 2012”. 

Gov. DeWine vetoes limit on quarantine power amid COVID-19; Will Ohio lawmakers override it?

  • Gov. DeWine recently vetoed SB 311 which would “prohibit the Ohio Department of Health from quarantining or isolating Ohioans who were not directly exposed to or diagnosed with a disease through a statewide or regional health order”.

    • The governor and health officials explain that this bill would prevent them from saving Ohioans’ lives during the pandemic.

    • "Based on the advice from doctors, nurses and scientists, I agree that this legislation is not in the interest of public health and the protection of the people of Ohio," DeWine wrote in his message vetoing the bill. "For these reasons, this veto is in the public interest."

  • State lawmakers do have the votes to override the veto, however it is possible lawmakers will consider alternative legislation in opposition to the stay at home orders. 

Local

Franklin County EMA ready to go with text alert system for Columbus water boil advisories

  • “Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security is ready to go with a text message alert system for Columbus water boil advisories if city officials ask”.

    • The county used a similar text message system when protests were occurring in the city, so they are prepared to use a similar system to notify residents of water boil advisories.


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