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The State of Ohio

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As this legislative session ends, leaders of the Ohio Senate look back on what they have accomplished and what they didn't. Studio guests are Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).

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00:00:39	As this legislative session
00:00:39	ends.
00:00:41	Leaders of the Ohio Senate
00:00:43	look back
00:00:44	on what they've accomplished
00:00:44	and what they didn't.
00:00:47	That's this
00:00:47	week in the state of Ohio.
00:01:07	Just.
00:01:08	Welcome to the state of Ohio.
00:01:10	I'm Joe Ingles
00:01:10	sitting in for Karen Kasler.
00:01:14	The General Assembly
00:01:14	wrapped up its work this week.
00:01:17	Senate President Matt
00:01:17	Huffman will be going over
00:01:20	to the House in January,
00:01:22	where he's expected to serve
00:01:22	as the speaker.
00:01:25	Senate Minority Leader
00:01:25	Nikki Antonio
00:01:28	will stay in the Senate
00:01:28	and will work with the
00:01:31	likely new Senate
00:01:31	president, Rob McCulley,
00:01:34	in this week's State of Ohio.
00:01:36	We spoke with both Huffman
00:01:36	and Antonio
00:01:40	about what they think
00:01:40	they've accomplished
00:01:42	in this General Assembly.
00:01:44	Senate President Huffman,
00:01:44	when you were on this show
00:01:46	last year,
00:01:48	voters had just approved
00:01:48	the recreational marijuana
00:01:51	law, and lawmakers
00:01:51	were considering some changes.
00:01:55	The law is in place now.
00:01:57	Almost $200 million.
00:02:00	And sales have happened
00:02:01	since nonmedical sales
00:02:01	were allowed in August.
00:02:05	You've advocated for changes,
00:02:05	such as limiting home grow.
00:02:10	Where does that stand?
00:02:12	And why is it taken so long
00:02:12	to get some changes on it?
00:02:15	Well, so there was
00:02:15	actually a meeting.
00:02:17	We had, breakfast
00:02:17	with the governor,
00:02:19	the speaker, and I maybe in 2
00:02:19	or 3 days after the election.
00:02:23	And, you know,
00:02:24	various expressions about
00:02:26	there are problems
00:02:26	in this initiative.
00:02:28	I would say in general,
00:02:29	that's one of the problems
00:02:29	with ballot issues.
00:02:32	Ballot language is that,
00:02:34	they don't
00:02:34	go through the vetting process
00:02:36	that we have with committees
00:02:36	and interested parties
00:02:39	and things like that.
00:02:40	So this this clearly
00:02:40	had some drafting errors.
00:02:43	Besides the policy,
00:02:43	but with the policy,
00:02:47	there were things that,
00:02:48	we think that that
00:02:48	I think the Senate disagreed
00:02:51	with,
00:02:51	the governor disagreed with.
00:02:52	So we kind of hustled in
00:02:54	the first 30 days
00:02:54	because that's
00:02:56	what the initiative said.
00:02:57	It would be effective
00:02:57	within 30 days.
00:03:00	Again, usually it's 90 days
00:03:00	before something is effective.
00:03:03	We put that together,
00:03:03	passed it out of the Senate.
00:03:05	And for whatever reasons
00:03:05	there are
00:03:08	that's just been disagreement
00:03:10	in the House
00:03:10	on how to move that.
00:03:11	So it hasn't moved.
00:03:14	I think we have additionally
00:03:14	have seen the grown
00:03:17	the growth of THC, hemp
00:03:17	based products, synthetic
00:03:21	or otherwise.
00:03:22	I think that needs to be acted
00:03:22	on, but isn't going to be.
00:03:25	So, it's my hope
00:03:25	that fairly quickly
00:03:29	in the new General Assembly
00:03:30	that we'll see action on on
00:03:30	both of those issues,
00:03:34	but and that will
00:03:35	likely look like what we did
00:03:35	pass last year.
00:03:39	Well, you know,
00:03:39	this isn't a legislative issue
00:03:41	with Republicans
00:03:41	lining up on one side,
00:03:43	Democrats
00:03:43	lining up on the other.
00:03:45	There's, you know,
00:03:45	disagreement across the aisle.
00:03:47	So, what legislative,
00:03:47	initiative or fix
00:03:51	would you like to see done
00:03:53	to this, specifically
00:03:54	this specific
00:03:54	marijuana legislation?
00:03:57	Well, one that,
00:03:58	you know, many members
00:03:58	of my caucus
00:04:01	actually
00:04:01	in the majority supported
00:04:02	what we sent out of the Senate
00:04:02	over to the House.
00:04:06	I think there were some common
00:04:06	sense changes in that
00:04:10	that would really make things
00:04:10	better in the long run.
00:04:13	And as,
00:04:13	President Hoffman said, often
00:04:18	ballot initiatives
00:04:18	look at a specific issue,
00:04:21	but they don't get into
00:04:21	the weeds on how to actually
00:04:25	operationalize it.
00:04:27	I certainly would like to see
00:04:27	some of the changes
00:04:31	that we sent over, especially,
00:04:33	around people
00:04:33	that have been convicted of,
00:04:37	having a small amount
00:04:37	of marijuana and making sure
00:04:40	that, going forward,
00:04:40	that they can be their records
00:04:45	can be expunged.
00:04:45	That was a very
00:04:47	important issue
00:04:47	for us, on in my caucus.
00:04:50	And it's something that will
00:04:50	continue to talk about
00:04:54	as we continue to talk about
00:04:54	the issue clearly.
00:04:58	Well,
00:04:58	and are you going to talk
00:04:58	about that
00:05:00	when you get over
00:05:00	to the house?
00:05:01	Yeah. No, I think it's
00:05:01	an unresolved issue.
00:05:03	And later, Antonio mentioned,
00:05:03	a couple of things
00:05:08	that were priorities for her
00:05:09	caucus that went into
00:05:09	the Senate bill.
00:05:12	That went over.
00:05:13	But, you know, there's sort
00:05:13	of some fundamental things.
00:05:15	I think there was language
00:05:15	in there about the
00:05:18	could not sell a product
00:05:19	that was under a certain
00:05:19	THC level.
00:05:22	While they meant over.
00:05:23	But it's the now
00:05:23	the law of the state of Ohio.
00:05:26	The how this money
00:05:26	is distributed,
00:05:30	the money that we've raised,
00:05:30	part of it goes essentially
00:05:33	back to the people
00:05:33	who are selling the product.
00:05:36	And, you know, there are
00:05:36	a lot of things left out.
00:05:38	We know that the cost
00:05:38	to poison control
00:05:41	centers, when you legalize
00:05:41	a product like marijuana,
00:05:45	that their costs go up
00:05:45	tremendously.
00:05:46	It happened in Colorado
00:05:46	in every place else.
00:05:49	And so,
00:05:49	you know, very simple.
00:05:52	Some of this money should go
00:05:52	to poison control centers
00:05:52	and that's not allowed.
00:05:55	And and I think, you know, as,
00:05:55	as what we did last
00:05:59	December,
00:05:59	is a pretty good template,
00:06:02	but it doesn't have to be
00:06:02	the only thing we do.
00:06:05	As I said, we still have the
00:06:05	the hemp based THC products
00:06:09	that are basically
00:06:09	unregulated now in the state.
00:06:13	Voters rejected
00:06:13	a constitutional amendment
00:06:16	in November
00:06:17	that would have changed
00:06:17	the redistricting process.
00:06:21	But governor DeWine has said
00:06:21	he wants to see some changes,
00:06:24	such as the Iowa model,
00:06:24	that he wants
00:06:27	to kind of take a look at,
00:06:27	have lawmakers take a look at,
00:06:30	and a lot of people think
00:06:30	that a 65%
00:06:34	Republican majority
00:06:35	in the House
00:06:35	and a 72% Republican majority
00:06:39	in the Senate
00:06:39	doesn't really represent Ohio.
00:06:41	So do you think there will be
00:06:41	a redistricting proposal
00:06:45	in the next session
00:06:45	in both the House and Senate?
00:06:49	I'm sure
00:06:49	there'll be a proposal.
00:06:51	Someone will have an idea
00:06:51	about, how to do this better.
00:06:54	And,
00:06:56	you know, back in 2012, when
00:06:56	I was running the campaign
00:07:00	against the last,
00:07:00	Democrat sponsored proposal,
00:07:05	you know,
00:07:06	I sort of looked around
00:07:06	at everybody and said,
00:07:07	I think we can do this better,
00:07:07	and got together
00:07:11	with Vern Sykes and other
00:07:11	other folks.
00:07:13	And what came out of that
00:07:13	were the proposals from 2015
00:07:17	for GA in 2018
00:07:17	for for congressional,
00:07:21	which were passed
00:07:21	pretty overwhelmingly.
00:07:23	You can look at it
00:07:23	in the past in Ohio
00:07:27	back in the late 60s,
00:07:29	Republicans
00:07:29	came up with a proposal
00:07:31	about how to change
00:07:31	redistricting.
00:07:34	At the time,
00:07:34	Democrats were in charge
00:07:35	of all the statewide offices
00:07:35	and the legislature.
00:07:38	And they they got signatures
00:07:38	and they put it on the ballot
00:07:41	while it failed miserably.
00:07:43	And then they got together
00:07:43	and said, well,
00:07:46	why don't we all do this
00:07:46	together?
00:07:47	Both parties
00:07:47	put it on and it passed.
00:07:49	And that was what we had
00:07:49	through 2014.
00:07:53	So one and this is
00:07:57	I can give you
00:07:57	another several examples
00:07:59	through the 80s,
00:07:59	the 90s, the 2000.
00:08:02	The simple answer is
00:08:02	if both parties agree,
00:08:05	these things will pass.
00:08:07	If one party, puts it
00:08:07	on, it's going to fail.
00:08:10	And that's the history,
00:08:12	of how these things
00:08:12	have gone in the past.
00:08:14	So I think there'll be
00:08:14	a lot of proposals.
00:08:17	Someone said, well, do
00:08:17	we want to change this at all?
00:08:20	Yeah.
00:08:21	I mean,
00:08:21	I think there are a lot of
00:08:22	things that are in the current
00:08:23	constitutional
00:08:23	redistricting process,
00:08:26	which could and should change,
00:08:29	you know, those the
00:08:30	first one in particular,
00:08:30	the GA, you know,
00:08:32	we passed that at 230
00:08:32	in the morning
00:08:34	or some such thing,
00:08:35	and you don't always do
00:08:35	your best work then.
00:08:37	So, you know, I'm
00:08:37	happy to look at that.
00:08:40	I, I've talked to Leader
00:08:43	Antonio a little bit
00:08:44	about the Iowa proposal,
00:08:44	but I'll let her give you
00:08:46	her own opinion about that.
00:08:47	So, yeah,
00:08:47	let me go to you and ask.
00:08:50	In addition to talking about
00:08:50	the Iowa proposal,
00:08:53	you and House Minority Leader
00:08:53	Alice Rousseau,
00:08:56	you actually voted
00:08:56	for the maps that are in place
00:08:59	right now and will be in place
00:08:59	until, like, route 2030.
00:09:04	At the time, you,
00:09:04	Allison Russo
00:09:07	called the process a sham,
00:09:10	and you said the maps that
00:09:10	you approved were more fair
00:09:13	than the Republican
00:09:13	approved versions
00:09:16	that had been under
00:09:16	consideration.
00:09:18	And both of you
00:09:18	kind of indicated
00:09:21	that you were leaning toward
00:09:21	just letting the voters
00:09:24	decide in in November,
00:09:24	and they've decided
00:09:28	so, what do you see
00:09:28	as the future of this?
00:09:31	Well,
00:09:31	I think, I think there's
00:09:33	a lot of, of truth
00:09:33	to the fact that it takes,
00:09:37	both sides
00:09:37	coming together to agree
00:09:39	on something
00:09:39	I totally agree with.
00:09:42	Having some kind
00:09:42	of a proposal that comes from,
00:09:46	support on both sides
00:09:46	of Partizan sides of this.
00:09:50	First of all,
00:09:51	it was a very pragmatic vote
00:09:51	to agree to the maps,
00:09:54	but we also sat down and,
00:09:56	and and talk through what
00:09:56	those maps would look like.
00:10:00	I'm still of the belief
00:10:00	that legislators probably
00:10:03	shouldn't be doing that,
00:10:03	because we have,
00:10:07	definitely a stake
00:10:07	in what those maps look like.
00:10:12	I have talked to folks
00:10:12	in, in Iowa,
00:10:15	actually had the opportunity
00:10:15	this summer
00:10:17	to speak to some of the folks,
00:10:17	about the outcomes plan.
00:10:20	One of the things
00:10:20	that they told me,
00:10:22	part of the reason
00:10:23	why they believe it works
00:10:23	well for them is the fact
00:10:26	that baked into their culture
00:10:26	within the legislative body
00:10:32	is the idea that they will not
00:10:32	leave the table
00:10:35	until they agree
00:10:35	the legislators.
00:10:39	There's a failsafe in theirs
00:10:39	to go to the next level
00:10:42	of having a go to the Supreme
00:10:42	Court if they can't agree.
00:10:46	Just the fact
00:10:46	that that's hanging over them
00:10:50	has sometimes kept them in
00:10:51	the room to try one more time
00:10:51	to come to an agreement,
00:10:55	because they haven't
00:10:55	wanted to use that fail safe.
00:10:59	And so I think what it showed
00:10:59	me was we need an Ohio plan.
00:11:05	Certainly
00:11:05	that works for Ohio. So
00:11:09	I think it's
00:11:09	hard to bake in to the culture
00:11:11	when our culture
00:11:11	is constantly changing
00:11:14	because of term limits.
00:11:15	What that looks like in the
00:11:15	legislature, on both sides.
00:11:18	Both chambers,
00:11:18	both sides of the aisle.
00:11:21	But I do believe that
00:11:21	if there are changes
00:11:25	to the plan, ultimately,
00:11:27	there's going to have to be
00:11:27	a create agreement across
00:11:30	party lines,
00:11:30	to get it actually done.
00:11:33	But to push back a little bit,
00:11:35	the Democrats did agree to it.
00:11:37	So, I mean, you know,
00:11:37	to the map, to the maps.
00:11:40	Yeah. Sure.
00:11:40	Sure. This time. Absolutely.
00:11:43	Because it was a better map,
00:11:45	than, than we had
00:11:45	had we participated.
00:11:48	Absolutely.
00:11:50	It was a pragmatic
00:11:50	agreement. Yes.
00:11:53	Okay. Great.
00:11:54	Well let's talk about
00:11:54	something else here.
00:11:57	Universal school vouchers.
00:11:58	They're expected
00:11:58	to cost around $1 billion.
00:12:02	That's more
00:12:02	than was estimated initially.
00:12:05	Did you expect that?
00:12:07	Well,
00:12:07	so in the million dollars
00:12:11	or whatever that number is,
00:12:11	I think I think they're
00:12:15	including the autism
00:12:15	scholarships,
00:12:17	the John Peterson
00:12:17	and and the other,
00:12:20	the Cleveland Scholarship,
00:12:20	things like that.
00:12:23	The, the actual number,
00:12:23	of course, would grow
00:12:27	if more people are eligible
00:12:27	for that.
00:12:30	I would also say that,
00:12:33	you know, the, the
00:12:33	I think the higher scholarship
00:12:35	is in the 8000
00:12:35	for the high school and,
00:12:37	and 6000 ish for K to 12,
00:12:37	but or excuse me
00:12:41	K to eight in those
00:12:41	K to eight.
00:12:43	Of course
00:12:43	there's twice as many kids.
00:12:44	So let's just say on average
00:12:44	the the vouchers about $7,000.
00:12:49	The Detroit scholarship.
00:12:51	And we've now equalized
00:12:51	the Cleveland Scholarship
00:12:55	and Ed Choice one and Ed
00:12:55	Choice two and all that.
00:12:57	Of course
00:12:57	autism and John Peterson
00:12:58	are much,
00:12:58	much higher than that.
00:13:00	I think
00:13:00	the way that we should look at
00:13:03	is simply is for, on average,
00:13:03	for a public school
00:13:07	education, it's about
00:13:07	15 to $16,000 per student.
00:13:12	Now, in my part of
00:13:12	the state, that's much lower.
00:13:15	It's it's an 11 and $12,000,
00:13:15	depending on what
00:13:19	in other parts of the state,
00:13:19	it's over $30,000.
00:13:22	So but the average is
00:13:22	so we can
00:13:24	we can look and say, you know,
00:13:25	we're saving about $9,000
00:13:25	per student
00:13:28	with every child that we say
00:13:28	we're going to send you,
00:13:31	you can do this
00:13:32	and you can go
00:13:32	to a private school
00:13:35	cost as much less for charter
00:13:35	schools.
00:13:37	Also, now it's going to be
00:13:37	a dollar for dollar savings.
00:13:41	So of course not,
00:13:41	because schools don't
00:13:42	automatically lower
00:13:42	their spending.
00:13:44	By $15,000 of a student
00:13:44	walks out the door.
00:13:48	But there's 2 to 2 pillars
00:13:48	that this rest on really are,
00:13:54	educational choice,
00:13:54	which is often
00:13:58	not made
00:13:59	for educational purposes,
00:13:59	but for security purposes,
00:14:02	for social purposes,
00:14:02	for a number of things.
00:14:06	But then also it's
00:14:06	a savings to the taxpayers.
00:14:09	So the billion dollar number,
00:14:11	which,
00:14:11	you know, looks big and scary.
00:14:13	Well,
00:14:14	you know, of course, we're
00:14:14	spending 12 to $13 billion,
00:14:17	and it's
00:14:17	much more expensive in it
00:14:20	to send a child
00:14:20	to public school.
00:14:22	On average, going.
00:14:24	So, we have to remember that
00:14:24	the public school entities
00:14:29	are still responsible
00:14:29	for transportation for those
00:14:32	children to, religious
00:14:32	based and charter schools.
00:14:36	So that's one.
00:14:37	So there is an additional cost
00:14:39	that doesn't quite
00:14:39	show up there.
00:14:41	I think the other thing is
00:14:41	that school choice
00:14:44	is, is about a choice that
00:14:44	that parents make, for sure.
00:14:49	But then what
00:14:49	we have happening right here
00:14:51	is that all the taxpayer
00:14:51	dollars are put in one pool,
00:14:55	and then supporting
00:14:57	not just public schools, but
00:14:57	these private school entities
00:15:01	at this point in time,
00:15:01	Ohio is definitely a voucher.
00:15:06	Has embraced the vouchers.
00:15:07	However, what
00:15:07	we haven't embraced and what,
00:15:10	I would like
00:15:10	and we would like to continue
00:15:13	to see is more accountability
00:15:13	and transparency.
00:15:15	Those are taxpayer dollars,
00:15:17	and we need to hold them
00:15:17	to the same standards
00:15:20	that we hold our public
00:15:20	schools.
00:15:21	That's still not happening.
00:15:23	It's something,
00:15:24	we continue to talk about,
00:15:24	and I'm sure next
00:15:28	General Assembly will continue
00:15:28	to talk about that as well.
00:15:32	And I want to make sure
00:15:32	that we're never doing this
00:15:36	at the expense of reduce ING
00:15:38	any kind of public school
00:15:38	funding.
00:15:41	And frankly,
00:15:41	I would like to see
00:15:43	more of our, dollars
00:15:43	that, you know,
00:15:47	I remember
00:15:48	when I was a little kid,
00:15:48	when my parents were weighing
00:15:52	whether or not
00:15:53	to support lottery, the
00:15:53	lottery in the state of Ohio.
00:15:57	And my mother was very much
00:15:57	against gambling.
00:16:00	And so if she wanted
00:16:00	to vote against it,
00:16:02	but she understood that
00:16:02	those funds were going to go
00:16:05	to support public schools,
00:16:05	she voted for it.
00:16:10	Because of that factor.
00:16:13	Now there are lottery dollars
00:16:15	that do indeed support
00:16:15	part of our public schools.
00:16:18	The problem is,
00:16:20	they
00:16:21	it was just a trade off
00:16:21	of other general fund dollars.
00:16:24	And so I think we need to have
00:16:24	the conversation.
00:16:27	About what?
00:16:28	About expanding the revenues.
00:16:30	For public schools,
00:16:32	for our public school,
00:16:32	our education program
00:16:35	that includes Publix
00:16:35	and the vouchers
00:16:38	as we go into next year
00:16:38	because, right now,
00:16:42	the way that we're balancing
00:16:42	the checkbook for local people
00:16:46	is by, levy campaigns
00:16:46	in their local communities.
00:16:50	And I don't know how long
00:16:50	that people
00:16:51	can really continue
00:16:51	to support those.
00:16:54	It takes its toll
00:16:54	on our local communities.
00:16:58	In the last two years,
00:16:58	lawmakers have passed laws
00:17:01	banning gender transition
00:17:01	treatment
00:17:03	for minors, requiring people
00:17:03	to use bathrooms
00:17:07	that match the gender
00:17:07	on their birth certificates,
00:17:10	with the focus on these bills,
00:17:10	and not other proposals
00:17:14	like property taxes
00:17:14	or the economy, have has it
00:17:18	really become too ideological
00:17:18	in the legislature?
00:17:22	Well, well, first of all,
00:17:22	I think the key word is focus.
00:17:26	And it because those are
00:17:26	the things that are most
00:17:29	talked about,
00:17:29	by the media and by,
00:17:33	what we call
00:17:34	advocates, the people
00:17:34	who are in organizations
00:17:37	and are frequent
00:17:37	tours of the statehouse.
00:17:40	That doesn't mean
00:17:40	that it's the focus
00:17:41	of the General Assembly.
00:17:42	these are the things
00:17:42	that people talk about.
00:17:45	And, you know, frankly, it's
00:17:45	and I think it's important,
00:17:49	legislation,
00:17:49	but it's not the focus
00:17:52	of everything that goes on
00:17:52	in the Ohio Senate.
00:17:54	And, and I would say
00:17:54	likely in the House either,
00:17:57	so I think a lot of it
00:17:58	is based on misinformation
00:17:58	and a little bit of fear,
00:18:02	that comes around as far
00:18:02	as us, what's important
00:18:07	in the Democratic platform
00:18:07	or how we want to move
00:18:11	forward, it is those bread
00:18:11	and butter issues
00:18:14	it is coming back
00:18:14	to. Is my community safe?
00:18:17	Can I have access to health
00:18:17	care?
00:18:19	Is do I have a job,
00:18:19	a good paying job?
00:18:22	There's been a lot of work
00:18:22	that we have done together
00:18:25	in the state of Ohio,
00:18:25	along with the governor, in
00:18:28	terms of wonderful
00:18:28	opportunities for advancement,
00:18:32	for jobs and business
00:18:32	that have come come to Ohio.
00:18:37	We will continue
00:18:38	to work on those, as well as
00:18:38	well as small businesses
00:18:42	and their ability to advance
00:18:42	and be able to,
00:18:46	find a place here in Ohio.
00:18:49	Okay.
00:18:49	This has been called the the
00:18:49	least productive legislature,
00:18:54	the legislature,
00:18:55	General Assembly,
00:18:55	and the least recent history.
00:18:59	Is that fair?
00:19:01	Well, you know, it's
00:19:03	it's a I guess it depends on
00:19:03	who the counter is.
00:19:06	And if the counter
00:19:06	wants to say we,
00:19:08	we have to pass a lot of bills
00:19:08	and there
00:19:10	therefore, we can say,
00:19:10	and bills
00:19:13	get signed into government
00:19:13	and all of that.
00:19:15	I mean,
00:19:15	I think one way to look at it
00:19:15	is we passed a budget.
00:19:19	Everything's been funded.
00:19:20	There are some unsolved
00:19:20	problems.
00:19:23	And, you know, I,
00:19:27	I think the folks who say that
00:19:27	they go well, in my memory,
00:19:30	but there's probably been
00:19:30	a lot of,
00:19:32	legislate legislative bodies
00:19:32	or, or sessions
00:19:37	over the past couple
00:19:37	of hundred years that were
00:19:39	or at least productive.
00:19:41	I'm frustrated that things
00:19:41	like the marijuana, is
00:19:44	didn't get passed.
00:19:45	And there there are other
00:19:45	things, like that. But,
00:19:50	you know, well,
00:19:52	I'm an I'm
00:19:52	an optimistic person and often
00:19:55	my optimism is my downfall,
00:19:55	I will tell you that.
00:19:58	But I am optimistic
00:19:58	that we'll be able to, begin
00:20:02	quickly to, to solve
00:20:02	a lot of the issues
00:20:04	that, that have pended
00:20:04	for the last couple of years.
00:20:07	I want to make make a point
00:20:07	that you are both here
00:20:10	together on this set, talking,
00:20:10	and doing this
00:20:14	interview together.
00:20:15	And that's not the case.
00:20:17	You know, when,
00:20:17	when the, house comes wood,
00:20:21	there will be separate
00:20:21	interviews.
00:20:23	Does this mean
00:20:23	that at least in the Senate,
00:20:26	that bipartisanship is well
00:20:26	and alive, is alive
00:20:30	and well, I should say.
00:20:30	Does this mean that
00:20:33	bi partizan.
00:20:33	Let me ask that again.
00:20:35	Does this mean
00:20:35	that bipartisanship is alive
00:20:38	and well in the Senate?
00:20:39	And what about this
00:20:39	constant strife
00:20:43	that we seem to see
00:20:43	in this political climate?
00:20:46	I'll start. So
00:20:50	bipartisanship
00:20:50	working together,
00:20:52	I think sometimes it's
00:20:54	mistaken for we're supposed
00:20:54	to agree on everything.
00:20:58	And I believe it
00:20:58	means we need to be agreeable
00:21:02	and respectful and collegial.
00:21:05	And that is certainly what,
00:21:05	I experience and I think,
00:21:11	share with President Hoffman
00:21:11	is that we do not agree.
00:21:16	And so, shocker,
00:21:16	we do not agree.
00:21:18	I am shocked, however,
00:21:18	however, there is a
00:21:22	there is a level of of again,
00:21:22	respect
00:21:25	and also communication.
00:21:28	We talk to each other about,
00:21:28	we make sure I mean, it's,
00:21:34	it's been, standard for me
00:21:34	with any of the leadership
00:21:38	that I've worked
00:21:39	with over the years
00:21:39	in the legislature,
00:21:41	both in the House
00:21:41	and the Senate.
00:21:43	I don't want to ever ambush
00:21:45	whoever
00:21:45	is in the leadership position,
00:21:47	whether it's
00:21:47	the speaker in the House
00:21:49	or the president
00:21:49	in the Senate.
00:21:50	To the best of my ability to
00:21:53	to make sure that there's
00:21:53	information available.
00:21:57	But I believe this is
00:21:57	how we're supposed to do this.
00:22:02	And frankly,
00:22:03	I think
00:22:03	it's the most productive
00:22:05	when we can find
00:22:05	common ground.
00:22:07	I find common ground
00:22:07	with my colleagues.
00:22:09	It's how we get legislation
00:22:09	passed.
00:22:12	It's how we get things
00:22:12	we all maybe agree
00:22:16	could come out of a bill
00:22:16	and make it better.
00:22:19	And also add to.
00:22:21	But it starts with a level of
00:22:21	meaning each other.
00:22:24	At the point of respect
00:22:27	for their position.
00:22:31	Because ultimately
00:22:31	we both want what,
00:22:34	I think we both want the same
00:22:34	thing for the state of Ohio.
00:22:38	And the people in Ohio
00:22:39	is that we make the state
00:22:39	the best it can be.
00:22:43	We have a little bit
00:22:43	of a difference
00:22:45	of opinion
00:22:45	on how to get there.
00:22:47	I'll let you have
00:22:47	the final word here.
00:22:48	Well, I that's very,
00:22:48	very well said.
00:22:50	I mean, I think, Nikki
00:22:50	summed it up in a great way,
00:22:54	and it really is
00:22:54	about professionalism.
00:22:57	And, and you know,
00:22:57	understanding.
00:22:59	And I would add,
00:23:00	you know, there's 33 senators,
00:23:00	they all got elected by,
00:23:04	you know, and each of those
00:23:04	districts deserve to be heard.
00:23:08	Clearly.
00:23:09	You know, there's
00:23:09	a majority party and but,
00:23:13	you know, personally,
00:23:14	if I can do something for
00:23:14	a member of the legislature
00:23:18	on either
00:23:18	party, I'm going to do that.
00:23:21	It makes
00:23:21	the wheels of government move,
00:23:24	more quickly.
00:23:26	and the other part is
00:23:26	You know,
00:23:29	that most of the things
00:23:29	that we do, I'm in
00:23:32	I'm just talking about
00:23:32	in terms of volume
00:23:34	and by most,
00:23:35	you know, 80 to 90% of these
00:23:35	things are bipartisan.
00:23:38	You hear
00:23:39	members of a committee get up,
00:23:39	a bill gets introduced.
00:23:43	You know, the folks
00:23:43	on the committee,
00:23:45	you know,
00:23:45	we accept Democrat amendments
00:23:46	and Republican amendments
00:23:46	and, and,
00:23:48	and both people
00:23:48	get up and say,
00:23:49	we worked on this bill
00:23:49	together,
00:23:50	and it's a good bill.
00:23:52	Well, that's not a very
00:23:52	interesting story, right?
00:23:55	If you're
00:23:55	walking down the street
00:23:57	and if you're sitting in park
00:23:57	bench
00:23:58	and you see two guys
00:23:58	walking down the street
00:24:00	having a pleasant
00:24:00	conversation,
00:24:02	not very interesting.
00:24:03	If suddenly a fight breaks
00:24:03	out, everybody wins,
00:24:06	because that's interesting.
00:24:07	And so we and I don't expect
00:24:07	this to change.
00:24:11	People aren't
00:24:11	going to suddenly start going,
00:24:12	hey, headline.
00:24:14	Everybody got along
00:24:14	well today at the statehouse.
00:24:16	It's just not that
00:24:16	interesting.
00:24:18	But, you know,
00:24:20	I think that's the way
00:24:20	that it will always be.
00:24:22	I've had a great relationship
00:24:24	with Senator Leader Antonio,
00:24:24	and I think I did also with,
00:24:28	leader UCO
00:24:29	and the first two years I had
00:24:29	and I think Larry, I
00:24:33	certainly did with Kenny
00:24:33	also before that.
00:24:35	So, you know, I, I'm,
00:24:35	I think that,
00:24:40	you know, collegiality
00:24:40	and the other things
00:24:42	that those,
00:24:42	those are not dead.
00:24:44	They're they're there.
00:24:46	And if somebody wants to look
00:24:46	for them, they'll find them.
00:24:50	Well, that's it for this week
00:24:50	for my colleagues
00:24:53	at the Statehouse News
00:24:53	Bureau of Ohio Public Media.
00:24:56	Thanks for watching.
00:24:58	Please check out our website
00:24:58	at State news.org
00:25:02	or find us online
00:25:02	by searching.
00:25:04	State of Ohio show.
00:25:06	You can also hear more
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00:25:09	on our podcast,
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00:25:17	time for the State of Ohio.
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Note : Transcripts are compiled from uncorrected captions