The Ohio House chamber. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original photo.)
Bipartisan Ohio lawmakers introduced a measure to “permanently eliminate the practice of lame duck sessions” in the Ohio General Assembly, a measure that has unlikely odds of passage due to the nature of the very session it seeks to remove.
State Reps. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, and Bill Dean, R-Xenia, said the proposal was released at the end of the GA’s two-year session intentionally, to emphasize a need for “greater accountability, transparency and integrity in the legislative process.”
Lame duck session is the last-ditch effort for legislation that sat in committees and the legislature all year, and the final legislative action for any senators and representatives who are not continuing on to the next General Assembly after a general election. Any bills that aren’t passed before December 31 must be reintroduced in the new year.
“Not one colleague I have spoken to on either side of the aisle has anything good to say about this process,” Brennan wrote of lame duck, in a statement announcing the proposal. “Being thrown multiple bills with multiple amendments on multiple complicated subjects hours before you have to make a decision is not a way to govern and not fair to the people we serve who have a right to be involved in the process and who can be negatively impacted by the things we do.”
Dean said ending lame duck sessions would “ensure every vote reflects the clear voice of the electorate” and avoid pushing major decisions through in a “short, unaccountable window.”
The proposal would end legislative sessions follow a general election, put new legislators into their seats “promptly” and “promote deliberative and transparent governance during non-election years.”
A legislative aide in Dean’s office said the path forward was unknown for the measure, considering the Senate and House are conducting their final scheduled week of session this week, and the bill would require committee consideration before going up to for full chamber votes.
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