Ohio considering workers' comp reform

Apr. 19, 2012, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Ohio lawmakers want to attract more employers to the state, and one key to doing so is improving the state's workers' compensation system.

State Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, is overseeing hearings on three bills that would do just that. Hottinger is chairman of the House Insurance Committee.

The bills do not involve privatization of or competition for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

The state's main goal is to make sure injured employees get access to better medical care so they can go back to work sooner, Hottinger said.

Read more in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.

Local legislators’ work thus far

Dec. 27, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio’s legislative term is halfway up, so CentralOhio.com decided to check up on local lawmakers to see what they have accomplished in the past year.

Instead of just focusing on the biggest issue of 2011 — the state budget, CentralOhio.com asked them to dig a little deeper, to talk about their individual accomplishments both in sponsored legislation and committee work.

As follows are profiles of the area’s local lawmakers, and what they have done with their time in Columbus. 

Multiple primaries causing confusion

Dec. 5, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio congressional candidates don’t know what their districts will look like, or even when their primary will be, but the secretary of state is asking them to have petitions submitted by Wednesday.

The two primaries, one March 6 and the other June 12, stem from the battle over the once-a-decade redistricting process. However, there’s still talk in the House of Representatives of moving up the later primary.

“Having two primaries is not an ideal situation,” Shannon Boston, a spokeswoman for Ohio House Republicans, wrote in an email. “... But we only moved the primaries that are affected by the situation we find ourselves in with the potential congressional map referendum.”

Having two primaries presents a complication for the secretary of state’s office and uncertainty for candidates seeking congressional seats. Here are some questions and answers about the situation.

Map shift brings Schaffer back

Oct. 1, 2011, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo and Carl Burnett Jr.

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — Republicans moved the borders of Ohio’s new legislative districts Friday, putting state Sen. Tim Schaffer back into Licking County, although he won’t live in his remodeled district.

The moves cleared the way for state Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, to seek his former Senate seat in 2014 when term limits force Schaffer, R-Lancaster, out of the Senate and Hottinger out of the House. Hottinger confirmed he might run for the Senate in 2014, a seat he once had for eight years.

Friday’s changes came after several politicians didn’t like what they saw when the new state legislative districts were announced this past week by the Apportionment Board.

Ohio bucks trend, shifts funds to home-based care

July 16, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

While budget shortfalls have forced many states to move away from home-based care, Ohio is shifting toward it.

However, all providers, regardless of their setting, saw a decrease in Medicaid reimbursement rates this month.

Gov. John Kasich’s first two-year budget, which began July 1, decreases Medicaid reimbursements for nursing homes and increases funding for home-based care.

New law means more thieves will go to jails, not prisons

July 9, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jona Ison and Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Law enforcement officials fear savvy career criminals will start swiping bigger-ticket items once the law allows them to steal $999 worth of stuff and still get slapped with a misdemeanor.

In a sweeping overhaul of Ohio’s sentencing laws last month, the General Assembly approved a provision increasing the threshold for felony-level thefts and vandalism. The legislation, which aimed to keep lower-level offenders out of prison as a cost-savings issue, passed with strong bipartisan support. Gov. John Kasich signed the bill into law June 29.

Projections differ when it comes to how much the legislation will save the state. Legislative analysis puts the savings at $78 million a year, while the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections estimated savings of $46 million over four years, The Associated Press reported.

GOP moving too fast on union bill, some Republicans complain

June 6, 2011, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

A measure to overhaul Ohio’s collective bargaining laws is being rushed through the Legislature too fast, some Republican state senators say.

The bill, which would limit the scope of issues public employees could bargain on and prohibit strikes, was approved by the Ohio Senate three weeks after it was introduced by state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro.

It passed through committee and the full Senate on Wednesday despite requests for additional hearings. The bill now before the Ohio House.

State Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, said Senate Republicans didn’t even meet in caucus to discuss the final version of the bill before it hit the floor. Grendell was one of six Republicans opposing the bill.

Proposal would allow ads on school buses

May 25, 2011, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — Cash-strapped school districts could have the right to sell advertising on the outside of school buses under a law proposed last week.

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Canfield, said anything that can help a school buy a new computer or textbooks or not lay off a teacher is a positive, with school districts facing less revenue.

However, a national interest group is fighting the proposal in Ohio and several other states, claiming the small revenue boost is not worth the exploitation of captive audience of students.

Ohio House to vote on budget changes

May 5, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

The revised version of Gov. John Kasich’s budget contains both good and bad news for local governments.

The good: A House committee eased proposed cuts to tangible personal property tax reimbursements, increased aid to schools, and provided funds to help local entities share services.

The bad: The new legislation repeals the estate tax, cutting off one revenue stream for local governments. It also reverses a proposal by Kasich that would have lessened local entities’ pension obligations.

Kasich and Republican legislators, who have the majority in both houses, must mend an $8 billion budget gap in the next state biennium. To keep repeated promises to voters, they must do so without raising taxes.

Local governments get more details on cuts

Apr. 21, 2011, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio municipal governments found out more details last week about the steep cuts they could face under Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget.

The Ohio Department of Taxation released figures showing the depth of the cuts from the proposed accelerated phase-out of state reimbursements for certain taxes for Ohio’s counties, cities, villages and townships.

Kasich’s proposal also calls for the local government fund, which provides state assistance to government entities, to be cut in half by the end of the next biennium.

Lawmakers look at comp time

Jan. 31, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to The News-Messenger

Some Ohio lawmakers want to change how hourly employees for small businesses get paid.

State Reps. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, and Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, want to allow small, private employers to give compensatory time to employees. That would mean employees who work more than 40 hours in a week could bank compensatory time instead of collecting overtime pay.

Thompson and Martin’s bill would apply only to businesses with gross sales of less than $500,000. Larger businesses are governed by federal law, which allows comp time for public-sector employees but not private-sector employees.

GOP looks to end Ohio estate tax

Jan. 12, 2011, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND RUSS ZIMMER

CentralOhio.com

COLUMBUS — A bill was introduced Tuesday at the Statehouse to eliminate Ohio’s estate tax, also known ominously as “the death tax” by its detractors.

The state’s estate tax is the strictest in the nation, said state Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, one of the bill’s sponsors.

Although the federal government doesn’t tax estates worth less than $5 million, Ohio starts taxing estates at $338,000. This includes everything: cash assets, property, land and machinery.

Hottinger and state Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, rolled out a plan Tuesday to repeal the tax at a Statehouse news conference. Gov. John Kasich also supports the measure.

Collective bargaining process won’t go down without a fight

Dec. 31, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to The News-Messenger

Incoming state leaders plan to target public employment laws in 2011, but on Thursday backers of the collective bargaining process promised to put up a fight.

Officials from Policy Matters Ohio, a progressive think tank, argue that states without collective bargaining have the same budget shortfalls as Ohio. They also defended the state’s prevailing wage law and say that, overall, the state’s public employment laws are good for the economy.

“The right of public workers to unionize is not driving the fiscal crisis of states,” said Wendy Patton, a senior associate with Policy Matters Ohio.

Policy Matters Ohio has traditionally backed Democratic causes, and executive director Amy Hanauer has given to a number of Democratic candidates, including outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland.

Republicans will control state government next year. Gov.-elect John Kasich and GOP legislative leaders say collective bargaining leads to higher costs for state government and overpaid workers. They would like to see substantial changes to the state’s laws.

High stakes for legislative races in Ohio

Jan. 3, 2010, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

There’s much at stake in Ohio’s upcoming statehouse races.

In the Ohio General Assembly, Democrats hold a majority of seven seats. Republicans want to take control of the chamber they lost in the 2008 election.

Republicans have the majority in the state Senate — a majority they’re likely to keep. The gubernatorial race is likely to be very competitive.

The party that controls the House will have the upper hand in all of Ohio’s major policy issues including the state budget, education, health care and transportation.

Also, the Legislature will redraw Ohio’s congressional districts after the 2010 U.S. Census. Here’s an early look at the House and Senate seats up for grabs in our area this year.