Ron's Journal Archive
Today's Ohio House session an interesting mix
12/1/2009
Today's Ohio House floor voting session had some rather weird bills, in some ways.
If you want to watch the video of the debate you can get there from this link.
Here is the list as it unfolds:
Cock fighting moved from misdeamenor to felony: We're puting animals above humans in this bill. We already have sufficient laws against animal cruelty. [post session note: I want to make it clear that we should all stand against animal cruelty. I do view cock fighting as animal cruelty. Based on my understanding of this issue the penalties should be focused on attacking the perpetrators financially, since gambling is often a significant part of these operation.]
vote: 79-19 (voted no)
Increase penalties for street racing: HB 191 passed overwhelmingly, with my yes vote.
Court can approve agreed change to property division in divorces: HB 244 makes it clear that if a need arises to change the division of property in a diverce later in the settlement process (after the court has already ordered it) the court can approve a change after the fact as long as both parties are in agreement on the change. A court order can become unfeasable, especially if real estate is involved.
Passed 97-0
Changes regulation of insurance agents: HB 300 aligns Ohio with most other states in uniformity for regulating these agents. Generally supported by the insurance industry and generally increases somewhat the licensing standards for agents. For example, continuing education hours are increased from 20 to 24 hours of credit every two years.
Passed 97-1 with my yes vote.
Move rest of large animal pollution regulation from OEPA to Ohio Department of Agriculture. HB 363 moves the discharge permitting for farms with large numbers of animals from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Department of Agriculture. This change was considered in the last session of the General Assembly, but did not make it through the entire process. A Dec. 31 deadline to pass this change was set by the USEPA. Thus the bill contains an emergency clause, as the House has been slow to move on this issue until now.
This bill received opposition from some members who appear to be generally opposed to large scale animal farming.
It is a priority bill for the Ohio Farm Bureau.
Our own Senator Bob Gibbs is the prime sponsor of a companion bill (SB 203) in the Senate. That bill has not yet passed the Senate, so we can expect that the house bill will be moved forward in the Senate.
It passed by a vote of 91-6 with my yes vote.
Paid for by Citizens For Amstutz, Matthew Hochstetler Treasurer, 4456 Woodlake Trail, Wooster, OH 44691