AUG 3: Keeping It Brief
OWA Policy Brief
Week of: 8/3/20
Federal:
Latest in COVID-19 Stimulus Negotiations
As the deadline approaches for an agreement on the latest coronavirus relief bill, negotiations have reached a low point and many are pessimistic about the chances of an agreement.
On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also rejected the possibility of a short-term extension of federal benefits for jobless citizens in continued favor of a large-scale stimulus.
Though lawmakers still believe an agreement will be made, it is unlikely to come in time for the initial deadline at the end of the day on Friday, August 7.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit on Thursday that aims to dissolve the National Rifle Association.
The basis of the lawsuit lies in accusations that senior leadership within the NRA have violated laws governing non-profit organizations by using its profits for personal use and tax fraud.
The attorney general of Washington, D.C. filed a similar complaint against the NRA Foundation, the group’s D.C.-based charitable offshoot, for allegedly misusing charitable funds shortly after the New York lawsuit was announced on Thursday.
GOP Lawsuit Against Proxy Voting System Thrown Out
On Thursday a federal judge threw out a lawsuit by House GOP members alleging that the proxy voting system proposed by House Democrats is unconstitutional.
The ruling stated that lawsuits against legislative efforts are themselves unconstitutional due to the constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause.
Also: August 6 marked the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Here is an infographic that discusses the act’s history.
State:
House Dem lawmakers seek rainy day funds for eviction protections
Rep. Leland, and Rep. Brent introduced a bill on Monday in which $270 million would be able to be used for rent relief
This bill follows the expiration of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and there being no plan to move forward with financial support for Ohioans
“In data collected by the Ohio Supreme Court monitoring the caseload of lower courts, 1,122 new eviction case filings were reported in April and 2,036 were reported in May”.
The bill creates a “rental assistance program similar to the Prevention, Retention and Contingency program already existing in each Ohio county” for rent owed since April 1.
Records: Ohio Medicaid leaders showed little enthusiasm to support coronavirus testing at pharmacies
“The Ohio Department of Medicaid is struggling to implement a system to reimburse community pharmacists to test millions of the state’s poorest people for coronavirus”.
There is little plan for testing in pharmacies and many pharmacies are waiting to be reimbursed for the tests they have already given
DeWine might use former president of dark money group to lobby for another nuclear bailout
There is a chance that DeWine will use Dan McCarthy to lobby for another nuclear bailout
McCarthy is a former lobbyist for FirstEnergy
DeWine is looking for House Bill 6 (FirstEnergy Bill) to be repealed in the state house
DeWine says “There’s no facts that would indicate to me that Dan McCarthy has done anything wrong. If we see facts that anybody in my administration has done anything wrong we’ll deal with that. That’s not what we’ve seen. I have confidence in him and I think that people who know Dan McCarthy and have known him for many years believe he is a man of very great integrity.”, however the facts state otherwise. McCarthy has been caught in schemes related to corporate cash flow.
Elections 2020: LaRose caught between advocates, inactive legislature
Many advocates are begging Secretary of State Frank LaRose to enact different laws in advance of the 2020 election
LaRose agrees with many of the changes that need to be made, however he does not feel it is within his jurisdiction to make the changes
The issues at hand are online absentee ballot applications, prepaid postage for mail in ballots, implementing secure drop boxes in each county, preventing polling place consolidation, and equal ballot access
New Legislation Introduced this week via Innovation Ohio
House Bill 733 (Russo, Crossman) – Collective Bargaining – to make employees of the General Assembly and any state agency of the legislative branch subject to the Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Law and to require a public employer to collectively bargain with an exclusive representative of those employees.
House Bill 735 (Smith, K, Robinson) – Law Enforcement ID – to require certain law enforcement officers to wear a clearly visible badge and identification on their person while on duty and to impose a fine on the appointing authority of an officer who fails to comply.
House Bill 737 (Manning, Miranda) – Campaign Finance – to modify the Campaign Finance Law regarding independent expenditures and political action committees.
House Bill 738 (Skindell, O’Brien) – HB6 Repeal – to repeal the changes made by H.B. 6 of the 133rd General Assembly to the laws governing electric service, renewable energy, and energy efficiency and the changes made to other related laws.
House Bill 739 (Sweeney, Russo) – Campaign Finance – to modify the campaign finance law, to name this act the Ohio Anti- Corruption Act, and to amend the versions of sections 3517.10, 3517.105, and 3517.106 of the Revised Code that are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2021, to continue the provisions of this act on and after that effective date.
House Bill 741 (Manning, Greenspan) – Retirement Benefits – to add extortion and perjury and certain federal offenses to the offenses that may result in forfeiture or termination of public retirement system benefits.
Senate Bill 346 (O’Brien, Kunze) – Energy Repeal – to repeal the changes made by H.B. 6 of the 133rd General Assembly to the laws governing electric service, renewable energy, and energy efficiency and the changes made to other related laws.
Senate Bill 347 (Manning) – Campaign Finance – to modify the Campaign Finance Law regarding independent expenditures and political action committees.
More Sensitive Virus Test Determines Gov. Mike DeWine Does Not Have Covid-19
After testing for Covid prior to meeting President Trump (which the Governor did not end up doing after testing positive), a second test has revealed that it was a false positive
First Lady Fran DeWine and the Governor’s staff also tested negative
The first test administered (which gave the false positive) was a rapid antigen test. The second test (which gave an accurate negative result) was a polymerise chain reaction test, or PCR test.
This raises questions about the reliability of Covid testing and the resulting data collected. More is clearly still to be learned about testing methods
Obama Endorses 8 Ohio 2020 Candidates, 6 of whom are Women (see here)
At the federal level, Kate Schroder (OH-01) and Desiree Tims (OH-10) were endorsed for their runs for the House of Representatives
At the state level, Monique Smith (HD-16), Jessica Miranda (HD-28), Emilia Sykes (HD-34), and Amy Cox (HD-43) were endorsed for their campaigns in the Ohio House of Representatives
Dr. Amy Acton Resigns as Gov. DeWine’s Advisor
Dr. Acton is returning to the Columbus Foundation to direct its Kind Columbus initiative. She worked at the Foundation prior to becoming the Director of the State Health Dept. in February 2019.
Dr. Acton stepped down as director of the Health Dept. after being the target of anti-semitic and far right extremist attacks due to her leadership in the pandemic response
Local:
On Tuesday, 8/4, FBI and IRS agents seized boxes of evidence that could prove if Igor Kolomoisky, Ukrainian oligarch, was laundering millions of dollars via Cleveland real estate
The investigation into Igor first went public in April, after raids in both Cleveland and Miami businesses associated with the company
“Kolomoisky is a principal of the Privat Group, a large Ukrainian business company. Principals of the business also part of Optima. In a lawsuit filed last year in Delaware, Kolomoisky was accused of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through real estate holdings in the United States.”
Joe Samuels, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, “said the investigation underscores the aggressive approach that federal authorities have taken involving examinations into possible money laundering.”
“The investigation in Cleveland centers on Optima Management Group, a company that had a much larger presence in Cleveland about a few years ago, according to the lawsuit and interviews.”
The investigation is looking into PrivatBank, which investigators claim Kolomoisky and others used as “their own personal piggy banks” to launder millions of dollars, using U.S. entities
Body camera video shows Cleveland police officer pepper sprayed peaceful protester in the face
New video footage, that was caught on a County Sheriff’s body camera, shows a Cleveland police officer pepper spraying a peaceful protestor in the face
The video was a part of a series of body camera footage that was released last week, “nearly two months after cleveland.com and other media outlets requested the videos.”
“It depicts a previously un-publicized use of force by Cleveland’s police department, which is already facing two excessive force lawsuits over actions its officers took that day in response to the demonstration.”
Sgt. Jessica Ciaccia, department spokeswoman, has responded to questioning, saying the video and incident are “under investigation”
“Cleveland police have not released any information or records about this incident. The department previously denied a records request from cleveland.com for body camera video from each officer who reported using any level of force that day, saying the request was ‘overly broad.’”
“Ciaccia and the city did not provide cleveland.com any additional information about the video, including the identity of the officer who deployed the pepper spray; if the officer has been placed on any restrictive duty pending any review; if the case has been referred to city or county prosecutors; and what the department would say to the woman to explain why she got pepper sprayed.”
This video is the most recent development in the lawsuits against Cleveland police, specifically Officer Kazimer, who currently is under investigation for uses of force in both June and July, more on Officer Kazimer and his lawsuits here
Video attached in article
“The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department has purchased nearly twice as many “less lethal” munitions as deputies used during the May 30 protest-turned-riot in downtown Cleveland, a cleveland.com review of records found.”
According to the article, the Cleveland PD has purchased around 1,100 pounds of “less-lethal munitions since June, after having used at least 626 rounds on protestors and rioters on May 30”
Pepper balls, tear gas canisters, rubber ball grenades, pepper spray foggers and smoke devices were all purchases made with the $56,300
“The Board of Control, which includes representatives from County Council as well as the administration of County Executive Armond Budish, signed off on the munitions purchases without asking why the sheriff wanted more rounds than his deputies had used during the riot.”
Black Lives Matter Cleveland publicly “condemned the purchase and Cleveland’s community police commission last month formally asked the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the way law enforcement agencies, including the Sheriff’s Department, handled the demonstration”
“An ongoing internal review by the Sheriff’s Department is considering whether deputies were justified in using less-lethal munitions on May 30, whether their actions were in line with county policy, and whether they were trained to use such devices, according to Chief Deputy Bryan Smith.”
Feds implicate an Ohio University trustee’s employer in Householder scandal
“The employer of a member of the Ohio University Board of Trustees was implicated in the federal complaint filed in July against former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) and his accomplices as one of their financial backers. Matt Evans, an OU trustee, is president of Boich Companies, whose CEO and chairman, Wayne M. Boich, was directly implicated in the documents, according to The Columbus Dispatch.”
The Dispatch had recently discovered that Boich had paid $25,000 himself “to open bank accounts for Generation Now, the dark money nonprofit at the center of the arrests and indictments of Householder and his four accomplices.”
“Federal investigators uncovered a 2016 document from… that proposed Boich be their “financial backer” because Boich Companies’ interests aligned with those of First Energy,” who is under investigation for apparently having gone to extreme lengths to bribe Householder
“Boich also reportedly gave $100,000 to a for-profit company” that spent over one million dollars supporting Householder and his 2018 campaign.
The company also sent money towards other representatives “who the representative believed would help elect him as speaker and help pass House Bill 6, according to The Dispatch.”
Cincinnati police used force less last year than any other year on record, database shows
The year 2019 was a historically low year for force used by Cincinnati police, using force fewer times than any year since 2000
“For the first year in two decades, Cincinnati police averaged less than one incident per day in which force had to be used.”
“It also shows the results of a successful grassroots movement to reform the police and a step in the right direction to the larger goal of eliminating all unnecessary or excessive force, reformers say.”
The department also had a historically low amount of arrests for the year and “in 2019, one-tenth the number of juveniles were arrested on misdemeanor and felony charges when compared in 2000.”
Police Chief Eliot Isaac says the decrease is due to “better training and tools along with a focus on crime data and a fundamental shift toward accountability, transparency and improvement.”
Upper Arlington parents sue school district over online classes
An Upper Arlington family has filed a lawsuit against the school district and Franklin County health officials, claiming that “students will experience irreparable harm and be deprived of their right to an education if the upcoming school year doesn’t begin with in-person classes.”
The suit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the district from starting online-only.
The student plaintiff, who attends Hastings Middle School, receives special education services and has regressed as a result of online learning.
Franklin County Public Health recommends that all districts start the school year online, and a majority have followed this.
Plaintiffs claim the district’s plan is “discriminatory on an economic basis” and unconstitutional because it affects families who don’t have the means to provide their children with at-home supervision during online instruction.
Property damage from first days of Columbus protest total more than $1.2 million- and climbing
Property damages in the first four days of protests and vandalism in Columbus’ Downtown and Short North area are estimated to be more than $1.2 million.
This covers the period of May 28 - May 31.
115 businesses, nonprofits and a state office reported damage during those days.
Of these 115, 72 were for criminal damages and another 14 for vandalism.
The Ohio attorney general’s office suffered the most costly damage, with about $360,000 in damages.
The Division of Police has estimated $3.25 million in overtime costs of personnel.
Community groups help Columbus schools offer students safe place to study
Columbus City School students will have safe places in the community to study, get food, and do homework during online instruction.
Catalyst for Columbus and Columbus Dream center came together to help Columbus school children get access to tutors, meals, and internet for the upcoming school year.
Different centers, such as houses of worship, nonprofit groups and community centers, are offering support to students.
They will have personal protective equipment, use social distancing, and promote sanitation and hand washing.