Jim Provance, The Toledo Blade Journalist Profile

Articles

Proposed Ohio Senate budget would go to flat income tax

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — Ohio Senate Republicans on Tuesday proposed going to a flat income tax rate over the course of two years. The provision was part of a massive amendment to the proposed next two-year budget that was adopted by the Senate Finance Committee. The move reduces the current top rate of 3.5 percent, which applies to those earning more than $100,000 a year, to 3.18 percent in the first year then to 2.75 percent for a fully flat tax in 2027.
Lawmakers prepare to alter voter-approved marijuana law

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers are nearing a vote on a bill that would override some of what voters intended when they agreed to legalize the possession, sale, growing, use, and sharing of recreational marijuana by adults 21 and older. Differing visions of what voters approved and what the House of Representatives, Senate, and Gov. Mike DeWine have proposed came together last week in a revised Senate Bill 56.
Shielded records in criminal cases opposed

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — The director of the Northwest Ohio Innocence Clinic on Friday urged state lawmakers to reject a proposal that would shield certain records that attorneys rely on to prove that inmates have been wrongfully imprisoned. The changes to Ohio public records law, the latest in a trend of making previously public information off limits, was inserted into House Bill 96, the state budget bill, at the request of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
Proposed budget would kill independent elections commission

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — The executive director of the Ohio Elections Commission warned lawmakers this week against dismantling the agency and handing its powers to 89 different entities with an “inherent conflict of interest.”The proposed state budget would eliminate as of Jan. 1 the independent commission of three Republicans, three Democrats, and one independent that judges violations of state campaign finance law.
Ohio lawmakers vote to ban police ticket quotas

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously voted to bar law enforcement agencies from mandating quotas for tickets and arrests or judging officers’ performances based on how well they meet those quotas. House Bill 131 now heads to the Senate, which recently passed a similar measure sponsored by Sen. Tom Patton (R., Strongsville), a former police officer.
Schools urge lawmakers to fully implement funding formula

2 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — As lawmakers debated the next two-year state budget inside, some 40 people “tailgated” outside the statehouse Wednesday to urge them to retain a bipartisan formula designed to address decades-old rulings that Ohio’s method of funding schools is unconstitutional. Alex Myers, a K-2 physical education teacher with Marietta schools, said his district struggles to get voters to approve new levies and is not replacing some teachers as they retire.
Ohioans of Asian descent fight ban on property sales to ‘foreign adversaries’

3 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers are considering enacting what would be the most restrictive law in the nation when it comes to barring “foreign adversaries” from buying property in the state. House Bill 1 would expand on existing law already prohibiting sale of farmland to certain countries, businesses, individuals, and organizations to include properties located within 25 miles of a “critical infrastructure facility,” military base, camp, or airport.
Utility corruption panel hit too close to home for Ohio regulators

3 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — A proposed panel discussion titled Lessons from Ohio: What should a staff attorney do if you think the chairman may be a crook? at a national conference apparently hit too close to home with state regulators. The general counsel of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio urged the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys to cancel that breakout session during its annual meeting held recently in Raleigh.
Ohio considers legalizing online gambling

3 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — Bricks-and-mortar casinos and racetracks and their online partners and competitors on Thursday urged the state of Ohio to jump into the iGaming pool, but they differ on who should be invited to the table. The physical entities urged state senators to limit participation to the four casinos etched into the Ohio Constitution, the state’s seven slots-equipped horse-racing tracks, and their internet partners.
Bill seeks to balance repeat gun violence with Second Amendment

3 weeks ago | toledoblade.com | Jim Provance

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 71-24 for a bill that attempts to straddle the line between cracking down on gun-wielding repeat offenders and allowing some a chance to eventually regain their right to own a firearm. The bill passed over the reservations of some law enforcement entities.