| *** Ohio House moves closer on bill that would let Ohioans refuse vaccines without punishment Credit: NYT • The story: Progress was made last week on an Ohio House bill that would establish the “conscientious right to refuse” in Ohio law and bar private and public employers and businesses from taking action against Ohioans who opt not to take vaccines and other medical treatments. • The proposal: The bill, which cleared committee, would bar private and public entities from denying someone employment, terminating their employment, denying them services, denying them access to commerce, segregating them, penalizing them, or treating them differently based on their decision to forgo vaccines and other medical interventions. • Republican support: Montgomery County Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., told methat he believes businesses made many mistakes that violated Ohioans’ medical freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic and believes that the bill could rectify some of that. • Friendly fire: Despite the bill reportedly having broad support in the House GOP caucus, Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens told reporters this week that he’d likely block it from reaching the House floor for a full vote. • Democratic opposition: “If we push laws like this, we, as physicians, will see illnesses that we’ve never seen before,” Columbus-area Democrat Rep. Anita Somani, a practicing OBGYN, told me. “(Measles, mumps and rubella) are diseases that have been eradicated. We are in a place of privilege where people can say, ‘We don’t need vaccine mandates because nobody gets these diseases’ — well, no one gets these diseases because we have vaccines.” • Here’s my full story on the bill. DeWine on Springfield Haitians: ‘They are welcome and they’re needed here.’ • The story: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine met with a Springfield-area Haitian minister last week and discussed the issue of Haitian immigrants leaving Springfield or Ohio in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation threats. • On the move: Pastor Fontil Daity said his church’s numbers are dwindling as more and more Haitians opt to leave Springfield in connection to Trump’s focus on Springfield during the campaign. “At the end of the day, I don’t have any problem with Mr. Trump when he said what he said because he’s trying to protect the country,” Daity said, “but at the same time, when you create fear, things happen to people when they fear.” • Response: “Their legal status does not depend on where they are, so if they’re concerned about something changing in the future, being in some other state doesn’t help them,” said DeWine. “They have put down roots here, they’ve become part of the community and we would like for them to stay here and understand that they are welcome and they’re needed here.” • Here’s the full story on the meeting, written by Jessica Orozco and Marshall Gorby. Local political news of the week Credit: JIM NOELKER • Payout: An $8.9 million budget shortfall this year led the Montgomery County Board of Developmental Disabilities Services to weigh layoffs and service reductions to developmentally disabled adults. Now they’re paying their CEO $400K to leave. Sydney Dawes has the story. • Old problems: New Lebanon’s new village manager resigned from his position just days before starting the role, a decision that continues the cycle of instability in the Montgomery County village. Aimee Hancock has the story. State political news of the week Credit: AP • New power: Finishing touches are all that’s left on an Ohio bill that would expand state Attorney General Dave Yost’s power by giving his office the authority to reject citizen ballot initiatives based on their title just months after being rebuked by the state’s top court for doing just that. Here’s my story. • GOP split: A last-ditch effort to pass legislation that would block local and state police from both enforcing and helping to enforce federal gun restrictions failed in the Ohio House this week following hours of private deliberations among its Republican supermajority. Here’s my story. • Pharmacies ailing: Pharmacists came to the Ohio House this week to make their case as to why pharmacy benefit managers — the top three of which handle 80% of U.S. prescriptions per year — need more regulation from the state. Here’s the story from Samantha Wildow. • Bond ballot: Ohio voters will likely face another statewide ballot measure this coming May, this time a constitutional amendment to give Ohio the authority to issue $2.5 billion in bonds to fund bridges, roads and other capital projects. Here’s my story. • Making it count: Speaking of ballot measures, did you know that we won’t have another “Ohio Issue 1″ for, well, a very long time? Starting with last month’s failed redistricting amendment, state ballot initiatives will be counted sequentially from here on out until we reach 500. Here’s my story on the change. National political news of the week Credit: NYT • Vote looms: The U.S. Senate is pushing toward a vote on legislation that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people, setting up potential passage in the final days of Democrats’ control over the nation’s higher chamber. The Associated Press has the story. | 