COLUMBUS – Lawmakers gathering at the Ohio Statehouse for a rare post-Christmas voting session overrode a gubernatorial veto of a gun-rights bill but fell short in an attempt to give Ohio one of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in the nation.
The Republican–led General Assembly fell one vote shy of overriding the Gov. John Kasich’s veto of the so-called “heartbeat bill” and making it law.
The bill would have banned abortions once the first fetal heartbeat is detected. That can be as soon as six weeks into pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.
The term-limited GOP governor had said in his veto message that the so-called heartbeat bill is unconstitutional. He said enacting it would prompt a costly and unsuccessful court battle.
The House voted Thursday to override the veto but the following Senate vote was 19-13, short of the 20 votes needed to override the veto.
A bill broadening gun-owner rights has become law after the legislature overrode Kasich’s veto.
The Senate voted 21-11 on Thursday to reject Kasich’s decision to strike down the bill. That followed a House override earlier in the day.
The legislation expands gun access for off-duty police officers and allows pre-emption of local gun restrictions, among other things.
Senators had hoped to address Kasich’s objections by stripping its so-called stand-your-ground language, but he vetoed the legislation anyway.
Kasich opposed language shifting the burden of proof in self-defense cases from defendants to prosecutors. He also criticized lawmakers for refusing to debate a “red flag” law allowing gun rights to be temporarily stripped from people who show warning signs of violence.
Kasich’s veto of legislation containing pay increases for certain Ohio elected officials was also superseded. The Senate saved the bill by a vote of 25-6 Thursday. The measure also increases death benefits and insurance coverage for slain public safety officers’ families.
In a veto message Friday, Kasich called the bill’s initial intent “praiseworthy.” But he said he couldn’t support “the last-minute rush to include a controversial pay raise” without adequate public debate.
Kasich had urged lawmakers to send the original bill to his successor, Republican Gov.-elect Mike DeWine, when the new legislative session begins in January. But Kasich said legislators should have given raises a more thorough debate.
One Republican lawmaker called the veto hypocritical and “Grinch-like.”
Lawmakers decided before the session began not to attempt to override a veto that protected Medicaid expansion.
House Republicans have picked Speaker Ryan Smith of Bidwell to continue leading the chamber next session, in a vote questioned by backers of his main rival.
Smith won 34 votes in a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday. He’ll need 50 to prevail in a formal vote to be taken Jan. 7, the first day of the new two-year legislative session. Some votes could come from Democrats.
Smith prevailed over rival candidate Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican and former House speaker.
Some Householder supporters opposed Thursday’s vote on a technicality and boycotted it.