COLUMBUS – If it reaches his desk, Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to veto a measure limiting the authority of state health director Dr. Amy Acton to issue closure and stay-at-home orders such as those that have shut down schools and businesses and kept Ohioans indoors for much of the last seven weeks as a pandemic rages across the world.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives yesterday approved an amendment to an existing bill, which would limit orders issued by the health department to 14 days without review by a bipartisan panel of lawmakers.
“It balances the needs of our health with the need to remain constitutionally true,” Rep. Jamie Callendar (R-Concord) said while arguing in favor of the amendment on the House floor.
The move follows criticism directed at what GOP lawmakers say was DeWine’s unwillingness to listen to their concerns.
DeWine blasted the decision.
“Creating more uncertainty regarding public health and employee safety is the last thing we need as we work to restore consumer confidence in Ohio’s economy,” he said.
My statement on the proposed legislative amendments regarding state public health orders ⬇ #InThisTogetherOhio #StaySafeOhio #ResponsibleRestartOhio pic.twitter.com/zpm9twKgCW
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 6, 2020
Democrats argued it hinders the state’s ability to respond to crises and objected to the insertion of the amendment at a committee meeting earlier in the day.
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“This is what happens when a single party of mostly men are permitted to dominate both chambers of the state’s legislature – their fragile egos are hurt that a woman has more power and is more relevant than they are” Minority Leader Emilia Strong-Sykes said. “They feel ‘disrespected.’ Well, the real people who should really feel disrespected are the people of this state who are struggling.”
“This bill handcuffs the ability of our state’s health and safety experts to act efficiently and effectively to public health emergencies and adds politics, not expertise to our response to a national and state crisis,” Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.
RELATED: More Ohioans idled by pandemic
The existing law, which gives Acton her authority, dates to an anthrax scare in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks “when our country realized that the threats of bioterrorism and pandemics are issues of national security that require a nimble and quick response,” Russo said.
The amendment, which was approved by 58-37 vote along mostly partisan lines, was attached to a regulatory reform bill during Wednesday’s State and Local Government Committee meeting without any public testimony and was passed with all Democratic members voting against it, Russo said.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
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UPDATE: The state reported 22,131 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, 555 more than the day before, with 1,271 deaths.