Bill limiting property-tax challenges by schools clears Ohio legislature: Capitol Letter

Property management: The Ohio House and Senate sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine that would give a boost to commercial property owners and managers by limiting how school districts can challenge their property values. After a negotiation between the two chambers, the final version of House Bill 126 would prohibit school districts from appealing county board of revision decisions to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. Districts could only initiate property value challenges shortly after a sale and when the sold value is $500,000 and at least 10% more than the county assessor’s value, Laura Hancock reports.

Money on the menu: The U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines on Thursday to add an extra $42 billion to a coronavirus relief fund for restaurants and hotels, writes Sabrina Eaton. Advocates of the bill said only a third of applicants got relief money before the original allotment ran out and more restaurants will go under if the fund isn’t replenished.

The Harper Image: Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney Morgan Harper, a Democrat running for the Senate, was the latest statewide candidate to sit down for a special episode of Today in Ohio. Among the topics discussed include curbing inflation, student loan debt and why she feels she’s qualified to tackle a toxic environment in Washington.

Big bucks for transit: The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it will supply more than $20 billion to support transit around the country in 2022, with Ohio’s share at $259 million, Eaton reports. The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law and a 2022 government spending bill adopted in March. Legislators who represent Northeast Ohio said Cleveland will get $65,192,461 of that money and $12,283,925 will go to Akron.

No surprise: Former president Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he’s endorsing the re-election campaign of his ally, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Champaign County, to whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “Jim will continue to hold the Radical Left accountable for their colossal incompetence and danger to our Country,” said a statement from Trump. “American Patriot Jim Jordan has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

Handy reference: The PolitiFact and Snopes fact-checking organizations this week shot down a liberal group’s claim that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel photoshopped his head onto the body of a Black U.S. Marine in a military photo that appears in Mandel campaign ads. The ad’s creator told PolitiFact that Mandel’s hands look darker than his face because the photo was vignetted to better show white text at the bottom of the ad that directs viewers to Mandel’s website.

Sherrod says: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley’s new TV ad features the most prominent Democrat in Ohio: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. In a 30-second spot released Thursday appropriately titled “Sherrod,” Brown (who endorsed Whaley last fall) narrates in his trademark gravelly voice: “As the Mayor of Dayton, Nan Whaley put workers first, focusing on manufacturing, attracting investment and jobs with decent wages. Nan led her city through crisis after crisis, bringing people together, never dividing them.” Whaley spokesman Courtney Rice said the ad will run through the May 3 primary statewide as part of a multi-million-dollar ad buy.

Speaking out: State Rep. Jessica Miranda and Sen. Cecil Thomas share their personal experience being victims of sexual abuse as children in this story by the Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller and Danae King. The article details derailed efforts to lift the statute of limitations on rape cases, a move supported by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and Attorney General Dave Yost, but that’s stalled in the legislature amid opposition from state Rep. Bill Seitz and others.

Student outcry: Officials at Hoover High School in North Canton are defending their decision to allow Jane Timken, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, to record a campaign commercial there in which she criticized the NCAA for allowing transgender athletes participate in girls’ sports. As Kelli Weir reports for the Canton Repository, “some students and parents are upset that the school would allow itself to be used to for a campaign message they view as divisive and an attack on transgender students.” School officials said they were following state law, which requires school officials to make public property available to political candidates.

This question is submitted by Capitol Letter reader Bob Nece:

Q: The grandmother of an Ohio-born president is buried in Portage County. Who is the president?

Email your response to [email protected]. The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next week’s newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s question:

This Ohio resident, the inventor of the GIF computer image format, died earlier this month. What is their name? (Bonus points to those who can share the correct pronunciation of GIF, as specified by the inventor)

Answer: Stephen Wilhite was an employee at CompuServe, the early internet service provider, when he invented the GIF format in 1987. He grew up in West Chester, and lived in Milford when he died on March 19 of COVID-19 at the age of 74. When he won a Webby award in 2013 recognizing his invention, he specified the word is pronounced like Jif, the peanut butter brand, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Matt Dwyer, of Canal Winchester, was the first to respond with the correct answer.

State Rep. Juanita Brent has been named the new president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. She replaces state Rep. Thomas West, who said he is leaving the role to focus more on his duties in House Democratic leadership.

Ohio Right to Life, the anti-abortion advocacy organization, has endorsed JD Vance in Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Birthdays

Saturday, 4/9: Rachel Coyle, Innovation Ohio communications director; Andrew Shehorn, Summit County Republican Party executive director

Sunday, 4/10: Madeleine Castle, legislative aide to state Rep. Jena Powell; Jessica Warner, product marketing specialist, Heartbeat International

Straight From The Source

“I’m told that most times Ohioans get their medical marijuana from Southern Michigan more than any other dispensary. We want them to stay here in Ohio. You know, we have no tax on medical marijuana because the Constitution says you shall not tax medication or food. Once we decided it was a medication, we haven’t had a tax on that.”

-Ohio Sen. Steve Huffman, a Dayton-area Republican, during a Thursday cannabis reform panel at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. Huffman, a physician, is sponsoring a bill that would ease restrictions on Ohio medical marijuana by permitting it for any condition with symptoms expected to be relieved by it.

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