Rotunda Rumblings
Property taxes: Ohio lawmakers are pushing some of the biggest changes to property taxes in decades—proposals that could reshape how we fund schools, libraries, and first responders. From “inside millage” to circuit breakers and levy reform, the debate is packed with jargon and confusion. Anna Staver broke it all down, so you can understand what’s happening, what it means for your tax bill, and why it matters now.
Record deal: The Ohio Senate’s budget plan, passed last week, would roll back controversial House changes to state public-records law that critics say would result in most police records being kept off-limits indefinitely. Jeremy Pelzer has more on the House’s sweeping proposal, as well as what would change under the Senate’s version, which is based on a compromise deal between proponents and opponents that was mediated by ex-lawmaker Bill Seitz.
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Speaking up: After years of silence, several former FirstEnergy executives and lobbyists are set to testify under immunity about the House Bill 6 bribery scandal and their involvement with it. As Pelzer and Laura Hancock report, ex-FirstEnergy marketing executive Dennis Chack testified for eight hours Friday during a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio hearing. Among other things, Chack recounted a visit to then-PUCO Chair Sam Randazzo’s Florida home while the scandal-tainted House Bill 6 was moving through the legislature in 2019. During that visit, then-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones asked Chack and others to step outside while he and Randazzo privately discussed how Randazzo could use his position to help the company.
Retreads: U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes has rolled out legislation that would provide a tax credit to buyers of retreaded tires made in the United States, Sabrina Eaton writes. The Akron Democrat joined Illinois Republican Darin LaHood in re-introducing the “Retreaded Tire Jobs, Supply Chain Security and Sustainability Act of 2025,” which they said would lower tire costs and boost the auto industry. The proposed tax credit would be the lesser of 30% of the tires’ cost, or $30 multiplied by the number of qualified retreaded tires placed in service by the taxpayer during the taxable year. The bill is supported by industry groups and manufacturers including Goodyear Tires, Bridgestone, the American Trucking Association, and the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, Sykes’ office said.
Extra Extra, read all about it: Tucked into the Ohio Senate’s budget is a provision that would repeal the sales and use tax exemption for newspapers that has been in place since 1935, Mary Frances McGowan reports. Critics say the change would mean that Ohio’s newspapers would either need to absorb the sales tax, reducing already narrow profit margins, or pass the cost on to consumers, making it harder to keep citizens informed. It remains to be seen whether the provision will survive negotiations by a joint House-Senate conference committee that will set final terms for the state’s budget.
On the air: Dr. Amy Acton, Ohio’s former state health director and lone Democrat so far in the race for governor, launched the first ad of her 2026 campaign after officially announcing her candidacy in January, McGowan writes. The spot opens with a swipe at Elon Musk and presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, calling the pair “self-serving billionaires.” The spot later cuts to Acton’s service leading the state through the pandemic with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, setting up a contrast between the chaos in Washington and public servants solving problems back home.
No comment: U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of Dayton was among just four Republicans who on Thursday voted against a $9.4 billion package of budget cuts suggested by billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” The Dayton Daily News reports. He refused to say why he voted against the package, which was approved in a 214-212 vote, telling reporters “no comment,” and “I’m not talking to you.”
Medical absence: U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, meanwhile, missed the vote on the budget cuts entirely, as she was undergoing “a medical procedure that could not be delayed,” according to her office. As Cole Behrens of the Columbus Dispatch reports, the 75-year-old Columbus resident – who her office said “is in good health” – was one of four Democrats absent from the vote on the GOP-authored measure.
Full Disclosure
Here are five things that we learned from the May 7, 2025 ethics disclosure form filed by state Rep. David Thomas, an Ashtabula County Republican, about his 2024 finances:
1. Thomas, who began his freshman term in the Ohio House this year, made more than $100,000 last year serving as Ashtabula County auditor. His only other reported sources of income were interest payments from a Discover Bank certificate of deposit and from a deposit with Robinhood, an online investment app.
2. Thomas serves on the board of After School Discovery, a K-8 enrichment program based in Ashtabula.
3. Thomas had investments worth more than $1,000 in Amazon, Alphabet, oil exploration company Kosmos Energy; NANO Nuclear Energy, which focuses on high-tech nuclear power reactors; oil and gas company ONEOK; oil and gas pipeline company Energy Transfer; five exchange-traded funds, and two retirement accounts, among others.
4. At some point in 2024, Thomas owed more than $1,000 to US Bank, Discover, Chase Bank, and Aidvantage, a student-loan servicer.
5. He was reimbursed $302 to attend the Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s new member orientation last year.
On the Move
Kevin King, president and CEO of Donatos Pizza, has been named to the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance’s board of directors.
Birthdays
State Rep. Brian Lampton
Scott Stockman, Ohio Senate Democrats’ legal counsel
Jared Kamrass, Cincinnati-based Democratic political consultant
Straight from the Source
“I hate to break it to our friends in North Carolina. God love them. They had great wind, and they had great sand. But for the Wright Brothers, we know it worked out very, very well.”
- Gov. Mike DeWine, quoted in the Dayton Daily News during a ceremony Friday recognizing the governor’s recent signing of legislation to make the 1905 Wright Flyer the official state airplane. Ohio and North Carolina have fought for years over ownership of the Wright Brothers, who lived in Dayton but flew the world’s first manned, powered heavier-than-air aircraft at the beach town of Kitty Hawk, N.C. in 1903.
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