Rotunda Rumblings

Obamacare a la carte: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, like most Republicans, hasn’t been a fan of the Affordable Care Act. But with the U.S. Justice Department now pushing a federal appeals court to strike down the entire health-care reform law, Yost is asking the court only to strike down the individual mandate, not other parts, such as protecting people with pre-existing conditions. Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer has more on the AG’s reasoning.

Anti-racism training: Yost also announced Wednesday that his office will spend two days leading civil-rights training at a General Motors plant in Toledo following repeated incidents of racial harassment. As MLive’s Brandon Champion reports, a group of workers has sued GM, claiming the auto giant didn’t do enough to stop things such as nooses, racist taunts and graffiti.

Abortion bill advances: The Ohio Senate sent to the House legislation that would require abortion providers to cremate or bury fetal remains. Senate Bill 27 is heralded by supporters as protecting the dignity of human life, and criticized by opponents as shaming women who have abortions, cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock writes.

Two of 10: The Senate passed two other bills that Senate President Larry Obhof said were among his top 10 priorities. Senate Bill 4 would provide $100 million for renovation and construction of school buildings, with priority given to the lowest-wealth schools and those with exceptional needs. Senate Bill 7 tackles Obhof’s goal to reduce state regulation by generally allowing military members and their spouses to obtain, free, temporary occupational licenses if they’ve moved to Ohio on active duty and if they had a valid license elsewhere. Both bills head to the House.

Zeroed out: The Ohio House’s plan for public transit in the two-year transportation budget is to direct $100 million a year in federal funds toward the state’s transit agencies. But as Hancock reports, the Ohio Senate plan eliminates the federal public transit funding, directs it to roads and bridges, and states that $55 million in transit funding will be provided through another budget bill, which some say puts it at risk of not getting funded at all.

As expected: The Ohio House rejected the Senate’s changes to the transportation budget bill Wednesday afternoon. A conference committee is working to iron out differences in each chamber’s version of the bill. Committee members are: Republican Sens. Bob Peterson and Matt Dolan, Democratic Sen. Nickie Antonio, Republican Reps. Scott Oelslager and Dave Greenspan and Democratic Rep. Jack Cera.

New representative: Ohio House Republicans voted to seat Haraz Ghanbari to fill House District 3, a Northwest Ohio seat recently vacated by Theresa Gavarone, who was appointed to the Ohio Senate. Ghanbari, a military veteran and former photo intern at the Columbus Dispatch, most recently served on Perrysburg City Council.

Targeted rep fires back: A Clermont County judge on Wednesday acquitted a Columbus man of a misdemeanor harassment charge for posting on Facebook that someone should kill state Rep. John Becker. As the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Sheila Vilvens writes, Becker, a Clermont County Republican, responded to the decision by calling for elected officials and citizens to arm themselves with guns.

Mail scare: A hazmat team was dispatched to the Riffe Center Wednesday after a suspicious letter was found addressed to DeWine’s office. As Hancock reports, it’s still unclear what the letter contained – the Ohio Department of Health is working to determine its contents.

Big mistake: Guinness World Records recently named 6-foot-10 Brooklyn City Councilman Robert Cornegy Jr. as the world’s tallest male politician. But as cleveland.com’s Mark Naymik writes, Guinness somehow overlooked Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers, a 7-foot-tall former NBA player. Cleveland.com’s Hannah Drown took out a tape measure to prove Sellers’ claim to the title.

Missile missive: Ohio Congress members Anthony Gonzalez, Tim Ryan, Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman on Wednesday spearheaded a letter that urged Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to select Portage County’s Camp Garfield (formerly known as Camp Ravenna) as a new ballistic missile defense site. The letter signed by almost every Ohio Congress member notes that a recent Missile Defense Review indicated the long-awaited decision will be released soon. Military installations in Michigan and New York are also under consideration.

Portman seeks more Russia details: Portman told reporters Wednesday that he hopes the full text of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report reveals more information about how Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election “to be sure we understand what happened so that it won’t happen again.” Portman expects a redacted version of the report will be released in several weeks.

Blocked: In rulings that could have implications for Ohio, a federal judge blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas, the Washington Post reported. The judge’s opinions “cast doubt on the Trump administration’s approvals of efforts to re-envision the public insurance program,” the Post reported. The federal government recently approved Ohio’s request to impose work requirements on Medicaid enrollees.

The bromance is over: New York Magazine’s Gabriel Debenedetti asked Democratic presidential hopeful and ex-Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper how annoying he found the speculation that he would run on a joint ticket with Republican ex-Gov. John Kasich. “Well, it wasn’t annoying as much as it just wasn’t fact-based,” Hickenlooper said, though when pressed he admitted, “It’s a little annoying.”

Five Questions

Jack Marchbanks is the director of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

1. What are your goals for the office? What do you hope to accomplish?

“I’m certain that over the next four years, we can become even more lean and efficient, looking at better materials that have a longer life cycle, looking at more aggressive use of warranties. … We also want to make sure that ODOT becomes a premier place to work for people who are interested in heavy highway construction, civil engineering, [and] information technology.”

2. New polling shows 55 percent of Ohioans are opposed to Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposed 18-cents-per-gallon gas tax increase. Knowing that, are you still comfortable standing behind an increase of that size?

“I am comfortable, as is the governor. We believe it’s necessary. If you ask people, do they want the gas tax increase, particularly with these wildly volatile gas prices, they’re are going to say no. But if you say do you want safer, more drivable roads where you don’t have to hit potholes …[or] worry about anything being structurally deficient in a roadway, they’re going to say yes.”

3. There was a recent WCPO-TV article that raised the question of why Ohio should be looking to build new highway infrastructure if we’re already having trouble affording maintenance on our existing roads. What would you say to that?

“It seems counterintuitive [to build new highway infrastructure]. But these additional lane miles we’re constructing are relatively few in number. … And these miles that we’re adding are in critical pinch points that are mostly in our urban areas. … Congestion is not safe, and it would be irresponsible for us not to address these congestion issues.”

4. Now that you’re the director of ODOT, do people complain to you personally about potholes or their commute?

“I’ve worked at ODOT for several years, and they complained before I became director. The complaints have just have become more pointed since I am director now.”

5. You co-wrote two songs recorded by the ’80s band Klymaxx. How did you get into the music industry?

"I grew up in the era of funk in the Dayton area … A lot of my friends, including me – we had garage bands. … A childhood friend of mine, Dana Myers… was one of the staff songwriters at SOLAR Records based in Los Angeles. I was able to give them a call, give them a couple of demo tapes, and there you have it -- those songs got to Klymaxx and it ended up on a couple of their albums.”

On The Move

Trish Demeter, vice president of energy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council, has been promoted to chief of staff for the organization.

Birthdays

Terese Herhold, Ohio Senate Democrats’ director of policy, budget, and finance

State Rep. Paul Zeltwanger

Straight From The Source

"I was told last night that I was being ‘too sexy’ and that I need to tone it down for my older social media followers. So I just changed lipstick color #NotYourModelMinority #sorrynotsorry” - State Sen. Tina Maharath, a Canal Winchester Democrat, in a Wednesday tweet.

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