According to a house source, Republicans have on the first day of hearings replaced a member of the Commerce and Labor Committee in order to ensure passage of SB5. The makeup of the committee is 9-6 Republican. There are two freshman on the committee and what they are apparently doing is letting one freshman vote no to avoid electoral fallout, but they can’t let two people vote no or SB5 will not make it out.

Ross W. McGregor (OH-72) is being replaced by William P. Coley, II (OH-55). They’ve actually already updated the committee website to include Coley and omit McGregor.

This is now the third committee that the GOP has had to rig in order to get SB5 to pass. This is wholly unprecedented to have to jury rig 3 committees to save a bill – especially given a sizable majority!

UPDATE: Make that two members of the committeee. Gongwer is reporting that Rep. Richard Adams (R-Troy) has also been replaced on the committee with Rep. Louis Blessing (R-Cincinnati). This is beyond ridiculous. The Republicans have had to replace nearly a third of their membership on the committee on the first day of hearings just to keep the bill alive.