Gov. Mike DeWine, lawmakers look to police reform bill: Capitol Letter
Rotunda Rumblings
Police action: In the wake of Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction and the Columbus police shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, Republican state lawmakers (with Gov. Mike DeWine’s support) are preparing to introduce a police-reform bill that would create a police licensing board, increase training requirements, require independent investigations of police shootings, and set up state use-of-force and disciplinary action databases. But as Jeremy Pelzer reports, no Democrats or lawmakers of color were consulted about the bill.
Thank you, next: The Ohio House voted Wednesday to approve a two-year, $74.7 billion budget bill, sending the bill to the state Senate. As Andrew Tobias reports, Senate President Matt Huffman expressed skepticism over the amount of spending in the bill, including the school funding overhaul that it contains. “It’s easier to make decisions that can be catastrophic in the long term when at the moment, there’s a lot of money available,” Huffman said. “So we really want to devise a plan that is comprehensive and efficient.”