Dr. Margaret Conditt of Liberty Township today was sworn in as state representative of the 55th House District during a session of the Ohio House of Representatives. Rep. Conditt was unanimously selected by the House Republican Caucus screening panel and by the full caucus following interviews with eight candidates.

Rep. Conditt released the following statement on her appointment to the House of Representatives:

“I’m honored and humbled to have the opportunity to serve my community and the 55th District during this difficult yet crucial time for our state. There is much more to be accomplished during this General Assembly, and I look forward to delving into these issues as we explore ways to create jobs and revitalize Ohio’s economy.”

Speaker of the House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) released the following statement:

“Representative Conditt will be a great addition to our caucus and to the House of Representatives. We will certainly rely on her expertise and intellect as the House works to create a brighter, more prosperous future for Ohio.”



OSU President Gordon Gee testifies in support of HB 188

Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) today announced the Ohio House’s passage of House Bill 188, legislation that would establish the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the Ohio Constitution.

The commission would be responsible for conducting an in-depth review of Ohio’s highest-governing document, promoting an exchange of experiences and dialogue, considering problems inherent to the process of amending the Constitution, and issuing recommendations to the General Assembly on substantive constitutional amendments.

“The process of reexamining our Ohio Constitution will give us the vital opportunity to modernize the framework that governs this state and its citizens,” Batchelder said. “The Ohio Constitution provides the fundamental framework for lawmakers and elected officials, and ensuring that it accurately fits the times is a crucial part of our responsibility.”

According to the Ohio Constitution, the question of whether or not to hold a constitutional convention must be decided by the voters every 20 years. In 1972, the 108th General Assembly established the Constitutional Revision Commission to study the content and structure of the Ohio Constitution. Based on the mold of the previous commission, the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission will explore possible reforms and better prepare Ohio for the challenges that lie ahead in the next 20 years.

The commission will be comprised of a total of 32 members—12 bipartisan members of the General Assembly and 20 additional members. Members will serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred while engaging in the performance of official duties.

House Bill 188 passed by a vote of 96-1 and will now move to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

At an American Institute of Architects event, Governor John Kasich discusses House Bill 153 and praises the legislature for their diligent work on the budget without raising taxes.

During the media gaggle following House session on June 1st, Speaker Batchelder explained that in moving forward on the legislature’s election reform bills, the House and Senate must cooperatively discuss each chamber’s version of the election reform bill and examine the differences between the two. “So generally speaking, we would have the primary sponsor from each house go in a quiet room and work out the differences between the two houses,” Batchelder had said, indicating to members of the media that a discussion between Representative Bob Mecklenborg and Senator Mark Wagoner is necessary in order to determine which bill should be the vehicle for comprehensive election reform.

In response to false claims by the House Democrats that the speaker had called for Democrats to “be intentionally shut out of the process,” Rep. Mecklenborg released the following statement:

“Partisan distortions and empty rhetoric have continued to be the mainstay of the minority caucus during this General Assembly—and unfortunately, these ludicrous claims about the election bill are just another example of meaningless theatrics from the other side of the aisle.

“Speaker Batchelder is an upstanding steward of the people of Ohio and has long embraced the necessity for transparency and accountability in the Ohio House. What the speaker meant by his comment was that the sponsors of the House and Senate bills should meet to discuss the differences between the bills, not make any final decisions on their contents. I’m extremely disappointed that the Democrats exploited the speaker’s remark and took his statement out of context, though I’m not surprised as the politics of distraction have become the primary strategy for the caucus of all talk and no ideas.

“There is truly no one within this great institution who values an open process more than Speaker Batchelder, and to suggest that any member of our caucus—let alone the speaker—would avoid the Sunshine Law is blatantly false. I believe the people of Ohio will be able to see this attack for what it is: merely another partisan attempt to distract from a good, honest effort to clean up the elections process in Ohio.”

It is a common, long-held practice for sponsors of companion legislation to meet at multiple points during the legislative process to exchange thoughts on differences between their bills. Doing so helps to achieve consensus and resolve problems with the bills in advance, rather than fixing them at the last minute.

Overall, the State Government and Elections Committee process on H.B. 194 was open and transparent, providing plenty of opportunity for the public to testify. There were five hearings in the committee and 18 witnesses who spoke to the bill.

State Representative Gerald Stebelton (R-Lancaster) today has announced the passage of House Bill 158 from the Ohio House of Representatives.

H.B. 158 codifies a federal regulation for amateur radio communication antenna structures that requires that no legislative authority may limit the height of amateur radio antenna structures below reasonable heights for effective communication.

Currently, there are approximately 31,000 licensed amateur radio operators in Ohio. Amateur radio communications are highly useful during and after natural disasters when most other communication avenues will have shut down or be overloaded during these times. This legislation will preserve the operator’s ability to provide a means of communication during emergency situations by prohibiting restrictions on the height of the antennas up to a reasonable height necessary for communications. Restricting amateur radio antenna height and placement could impede this vital communication resource in a time of need.

“Amateur radio use is a vital communication resource during emergency situations, and many licensed radio amateur operators actively volunteer with local public safety organizations,” said Stebelton. “The legislation does not completely prevent local authorities from restricting the height, nor does it trump homeowners’ association or condominium agreements; it simply requires there to be site-specific factors to restrict the antenna height.”

H.B. 158 passed by a vote of 92-3 and will now move to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) today announced that the House Republican Caucus has selected Dr. Margaret K. Conditt of Liberty Township to serve as state representative of the 55th House District. Dr. Conditt was unanimously selected by the House Republican Caucus screening panel and by the full caucus following interviews with eight candidates.

“Dr. Conditt will be a valuable addition to our Republican Caucus and to the Ohio House as a whole,” Batchelder said. “Her wide breadth of experiences in both the public and private sector will serve her well as representative of the 55th District.”

“The screening panel was very impressed by the well-qualified candidates who applied to fill the position of former Rep. Coley,” said Speaker Pro Tempore Lou Blessing (R-Cincinnati), who served as chairman of the screening committee. “Although each would have served the 55th District with integrity and dedication, the screening panel ultimately decided that Dr. Conditt would best represent the district in the Statehouse.”

Dr. Conditt is a former Liberty Township trustee who retired from serving in Professional and Scientific Relations at Procter & Gamble in 2006. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado. She has remained active in various Republican endeavors, such as working with the Butler County Republican Party, serving as a delegate alternate for the Republican National Convention in 2008, and assisting with various statewide and national political campaigns.

Additionally, Dr. Conditt volunteers as a chaplain at the Butler County Jail and is an advisory board member at the Catholic Social Services of Butler and Warren Counties, a campus minister at the Catholic Newman Club of Northern Kentucky University, and a member of the board of directors of Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work in the sciences and is a widely published writer.

She will be sworn in during House session on Wednesday, June 8th.

Rep. Robert Sprague is featured on an episode of Ohio in Focus.

We’re now in June, with the release of children from school, the advent of summer, and road construction season. As I write this, I’ve just completed my fifth month in the Ohio House of Representatives.

It has been a very productive session for the House. One of the most recent bills passed that I co-sponsored was Substitute House Bill 133, regarding permitting oil and gas exploration on state lands. As a member of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, I heard many hours of testimony, with one session lasting from 7 p.m. to 2:15 a.m.

Those of us voting in favor of the bill do so with several key factors in mind:
First, in the last session, the House and Senate passed Senate Bill 165, to put an appropriate regulatory structure in place to govern oil and gas exploration in Ohio. This bill had bi-partisan support, as well as industry support and the support of many in the environmental community. It is a forward-looking structure designed to punish those who disregard the law and to protect those who play by the rules.

Second, drilling on public property in Ohio is not without precedent. Many townships, counties, schools, and municipalities permit drilling on their land as a way to generate revenue and an inexpensive source of gas for their operations.

Third, our state parks have many pressing needs in terms of capital projects. Revenues generated by drilling on state property would go to a fund dedicated to such projects, as well as providing the parks with inexpensive energy.

Here in southeastern Ohio, we’re well-acquainted with the oil and gas industry. Noble County was the site of the first oil well in Ohio. Independent oil and gas operators are our neighbors and friends, employing many of our citizens. Marietta College has for years produced the petroleum engineers and geologists who are leading the industry. The sight of oil wells is not a blemish on our landscape, but is something we’re accustomed to. We can explore safely, and our parks, including Salt Fork (which is built on the site of a reclaimed strip mine), can provide a vital new supply of energy, without having a detrimental effect on the environment or tourism.

Many other states have set up such programs, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arkansas. This bill has the support of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Our part of the state is about to undergo a huge expansion of oil and gas drilling due to the potential of finding oil in the Utica Shale, a formation which covers much of the eastern half of Ohio. Shale exploration is proving to be a tremendous source of energy in Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. All of this has implications for our nation’s energy security, but also for creating jobs, and ultimately driving lower prices for our consumers who are suffering the effects of sticker shock at the pump.

I support oil and gas exploration because it provides tremendous economic benefits. Those benefits aren’t something Ohio can pass up as we try to restore economic vitality to our great state.

State Representative Anne Gonzales (R-Westerville) today announced the passage of Substitute House Bill 62 from the Ohio House of Representatives.

Sub. House Bill 62, which Gonzales introduced in January, strives to protect nurses, health care professionals and other health care workers from on-duty assaults. It increases the potential penalty for the offense of assault to a fourth-degree felony if the victim is engaged in the performance of his or her duties at a hospital when attacked.

“As lawmakers, it is important that we take a stand against the violent assaults that nurses often face on a day-to-day basis,” Gonzales said. “This is a multi-faceted issue with many different strategies for addressing it, but House Bill 62 is a critical first step toward finding a lasting solution that protects Ohio’s nurses and others who work in health care.”

Currently, the Ohio Revised Code makes the assault of a police officer, firefighter, EMS worker or teacher a felony that carries increased penalties. However, there are no such protections for Ohio’s health care workers, who experience the greatest number of assaults in all practice settings, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A 2006 survey conducted by the Emergency Nurses Association found that 86 percent of emergency room nurses had experienced violence on the job during the preceding three-year period. More than 25 percent of respondents experienced 20 or more violent incidents—including being hit, punched, shoved, scratched, kicked or spat upon—during that same period.

The U.S. Department of Justice reported that each year, nearly 500,000 nurses are victims of violent crimes in the workplace. While patients themselves are often the perpetrators, family members and visitors are also likely to be the offenders.

Sub. House Bill 62 passed by a vote of 85-12 and will now move to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

Columbus Dispatch