Rotunda Rumblings
One for the money: The Ohio House and Senate each passed the $60 billion state budget, but only on partisan lines, Anna Staver reports. The bill now heads to DeWine. While Republicans supported the budget, which provides a flat income tax, $1 billion for private school vouchers, limits on Medicaid growth and rising local property taxes, the Democrats were all no votes.
Unclaim to fame: One major part of the newly passed budget would offer $600 million from the state’s $4.8 billion unclaimed property fund toward building a new Cleveland Browns stadium in suburban Brook Park. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Cleveland city officials denounced the move, and two attorneys (and former Democratic state officials) vowed to file a class-action lawsuit against the measure on behalf of Ohioans with money in the unclaimed fund.
Art of the deal: Another budget provision the legislature added at the last minute would further clear the way for a new Browns stadium by loosening the state’s “Art Modell Law,” which restricts Ohio pro sports teams from leaving taxpayer-funded stadiums. As Pelzer reports, the change could – if passed – short-circuit the city of Cleveland’s lawsuit against a Browns move, citing the 29-year-old law.
Rule over the school board: The two-year state budget eliminates 14 members of the Ohio State Board of Education, leaving just five, who will all be appointed by the governor, Laura Hancock reports. The school board provision in the budget completes the state’s takeover of the board, which began two years ago when the legislature gutted the board of most of its powers and created the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, which answers to Gov. Mike DeWine. Ohio voters in 1953 changed the constitution to have an elected board.
Nobel for Trump? U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican, announced Wednesday that he’s introducing a Senate resolution urging the U.S. Senate to formally nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, Sabrina Eaton reports. Moreno said Trump deserves the award for brokering a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran, soon after he ordered a U.S. bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump has discussed his interest in winning a Nobel Prize multiple times. “I think I’m going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t,” Trump said at the White House in 2019.
Homecoming speech: Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday pronounced Ohio a solidly GOP state in a headline speech at a sold-out Ohio Republican Party fundraising dinner n Lima, Eaton writes. Wearing a purple tie as a nod to his high school alma mater in Middletown, the Cincinnati Republican credited the state’s GOP grassroots for his political rise and turning the Buckeye State from a swing state into a conservative stronghold. “Thanks to the hard work of people in this room, I think Ohio is now solidly red — and it’s going to stay red for a very long time,” said Vance, who said he wouldn’t be vice president without many of the GOP activists in attendance.
Making her case: Dr. Amy Acton, the former Ohio Department of Health Director, painted a stark picture of Ohio’s challenges while positioning herself as the “lifelong public servant” prepared to tackle them as she made her pitch for governor at the City Club of Cleveland on Wednesday, Mary Frances McGowan reports. Acton asserted that the state is “going backwards on every measure,” citing declining health outcomes, struggling rural hospitals, and funding cuts to public schools and libraries.
Full Disclosure
Here are five things we learned from the May 14, 2025, ethics disclosure form filed by state Rep. Phil Robinson, a Solon Democrat, about his 2024 finances:
1. Besides Robinson’s 2024 legislative salary of $77,773.92, he reported earning more than $100,000 as the chief impact officer for Reading Partners, a national nonprofit that promotes reading at elementary schools in underserved communities.
2. He served on the board of Gilmour Academy, a private Catholic school in Gates Mills.
3. At some point in 2024, Robinson owed at least $1,000 to Key Bank, Chase, and American Express.
4. In 2024, the Ohio House of Representatives reimbursed Robinson exactly $2,000 for mileage and $1,500 for lodging.
5. Robinson reported owning a single-family home in University Heights.
Birthdays
Ex-Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe (1925-1997)
Straight from the Source
“Why the hell would we cancel the trip to Lima, Ohio? It’s a boring day in the White House.”
- Vice President JD Vance, jokingly speaking in Lima on Tuesday night amid an escalating conflict with Iran, according to WCPO-TV.
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