Rotunda Rumblings

OPERS cuts: Trustees for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System on Wednesday approved changes that will force current and future state retirees to pay more for health-care coverage. As cleveland.com’s Andrew Tobias writes, OPERS officials said the changes were needed to keep the pension system’s health-care fund solvent amid rising health-care costs and an aging retiree pool. Average retirees could pay tens or hundreds of dollars more a month, and those who don’t qualify for Medicare would have to buy their own coverage on the open marketplace.

Camera-ready: For the first time, every Ohio legislative standing committee meeting will be publicly broadcast and streamed to the public starting Thursday. As cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer explains, while it’s a victory for good-government groups, it also might have the unintended effect of reducing legislative transparency.

Guest list: The Ohio Democratic Party on Wednesday released the names of more than 3,000 Ohioans selected as pledged district delegates to July’s Democratic National Convention. Among the notable names is Marc Dann, the former Ohio attorney general who was selected as a delegate for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Here’s Tobias’ wrap-up of all the notable names, which include many current and former state lawmakers.

Can’t place the face: Bipartisanship was alive and well in Congress Wednesday when it came to the issue of facial recognition surveillance, cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton reports. “Everyone from ultra-conservative Rep. Jim Jordan of Champaign County to ultra-liberal Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York expressed concerns about misuse of the technology on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform,” Eaton writes.

Battle ready: Jordan told Eaton he’s ready to assist President Donald Trump’s defense in next week’s impeachment trial. Jordan, who vigorously defended Trump before the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, confirmed that he discussed the impeachment matter with the White House counsel’s office but he declined to reveal more details.

Cash crop: As part of Gov. Mike DeWine’s $172 million H2Ohio program, $30 million will be offered to farmers in 14 Western and Northwestern Ohio counties starting next month to take steps that reduce phosphorous runoff into Lake Erie that fuels toxic algal blooms. The Ohio Department of Agriculture, along with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Ohio Agriculture Conservation Initiative, have scheduled eight informational meetings in February around the area to explain the initiative.

Speaking of farm financial help: Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague’s office is accepting applications now for its Ag-LINK program, which offers reduced-interest loans to help pay for operating costs. Sprague tells Ohio Public Media’s Jo Ingles that 780 farms and agribusinesses enrolled in the program last year.

Shopping list: Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Wednesday he may use federal elections funding to help modernize Ohio’s voter registration database. “As you all know, and as we have all seen, it’s a very decentralized process in Ohio currently. And I think there are some improvements that we can make to that,” LaRose said. He previously has referenced the topic when describing flaws in the state’s controversial method of purging inactive voters. Another possible use for the money – about $13 million from the Help America Vote Act – could be used to help counties cover the costs of pre-election security upgrades LaRose ordered last year.

Last to the betting window: Ohio is now surrounded by states with legal sports betting, or those on the way to doing so. A Kentucky House committee unanimously approved sports betting on Wednesday, sending the proposal to the full house, the Lexington Herald Leader reported. If Kentucky approves sports wagering, it will join Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana, where wagering is already in place, and Michigan, where it will arrive soon. Meanwhile, proposals have yet to get a vote in Ohio, 20 months after the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for sports wagering in any state.

Blair backed: State Rep. Gil Blair, appointed to his House District 63 seat last year, scored an endorsement from the Trumbull County Democrats earlier this week. As David Skolnick of the Warren Tribune Chronicle reports, Blair got the nod over Niles Councilman-at-Large Barry Profato and perennial candidate Werner Lange.

Parks department: “For the first time, the three-member Hamilton County Board of Commissioners is all-female and majority black,” after the Hamilton County Democratic Party unanimously appointed Victoria Parks to succeed former Commissioner Todd Portune, writes the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Scott Wartman. Parks, who served as Portune’s chief of staff, says she will serve out her former boss’ term until the end of the year without running for a full term.

Ousted: Jimmie Bruce has been fired as the president of Eastern Gateway Community College, according to the Herald-Star’s Linda Harris. Trustees at the college, which has locations in Steubenville and Youngstown, without getting very specific, cited “cited dereliction of duty and inappropriate management” for their decision.

Lobbying Lineup

Five groups that lobbied on Senate Bill 140, which would allow people to carry concealed switchblades, razors and other knives and cutting instruments, so long as they’re not used as weapons. State lobbying forms don’t require people to disclose which side they’re on.

1. The City of Dayton

2. Inter-University Council of Ohio

3. Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Inc.

4. American Knife & Tool Institute

5. Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Birthdays

U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson

Straight from the Source

“Fake urine is actually a thing.”

- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, tweeting in support of a state Senate bill to crack down on those who seek to cheat a drug test by using synthetic pee, certain additives, or using another person’s urine.

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