Following last week’s elections, we’re checking in with some of the members of the state legislature from Northeast Ohio about their priorities for the lame-duck session and next term. Democratic State Rep. Casey Weinstein won reelection by his largest margin ever for a third time last week. The race was a rematch between him and Republican Beth Bigham, who ran against him in 2020 and lost by only 3%. This time, Weinstein handily beat Bigham, 53.8% to 46.2%.
Weinstein hopes to spend the lame-duck session deciding how to invest tax revenue, ARPA money and the state’s rainy-day fund. He wants the money to go to local governments for them to spend.
"I'd to see an infusion of this money to provide more options to local governments in terms of how to deploy those funds," Weinstein said.
But he’s worried the legislature will instead get sidetracked by bills fueled by culture wars.
"My fear is that we're going to see more of the culture wars, you know, solutions for problems that don't exist or the wrong solution for the problem," Weinstein said, "and that's what I'm afraid we're going to see."
Weinstein said this legislation could include an abortion ban.
“There’s a chance that it could happen very quickly without giving us a significant opportunity to push back," Weinstein said.
Ohio's "six-week abortion ban" which prohibits most abortions once cardiac activity is detected, is currently blocked by a court in Cincinnati. Both GOP leaders in the House and Senate have been considering an abortion ban and the legislation could move very quickly in the lame-duck session, said Weinstein.
"It would not surprise me at all if late in the lame duck we see something on the floor almost unannounced," Weinstein said.
In the next term, Weinstein wants to focus on fair school funding, clean water initiatives and workforce development.
Another priority is to repeal parts of House Bill 6, the FirstEnergy bailout bill embroiled in scandal.
“I’d like to see the coal subsidies repealed," Weinstein said. "I’d like to see a restoration of our energy efficiency programs and some expansion of solar, whether that’s community solar or we find innovative ways to make it more accessible for Ohioans."
Weinstein said there’s bipartisan support for all of these efforts, and he’s hopeful progress can be made on Ohio’s energy policies.
