An influential conservative think tank has said it's concerned about unelected bureaucrats having too much authority over the policies that come out of state agencies. So it wants state lawmakers to pull some of that power back during the lame duck session after the election, before a new governor takes over in January.
The Buckeye Institute has suggested lawmakers pass a few specific bills "to ensure that elected officials are responsible for costly government regulations imposed on Ohioans", according to a press release issued with a policy memo outlining the proposed legislation.
The Buckeye Institute recommended lawmakers look into these actions:
- House Bill 1024, which would move the red-tape cutting Common Sense Initiative created in the governor’s office under former Gov. John Kasich in 2011 to the legislature
- House Bill 11, which would require lawmakers approve proposed agency rules that involve compliance costs for individuals or businesses of more than $100,000
- Adding more legislative control over rules involving the Department of Education and Workforce, though DEW was moved to the governor's control in 2023
- Requiring legislative approval of permanent emergency rules while preserving the governor's power to permit emergency-related rules of up to 120 days
"We're wanting to look around and we're saying, what can we do, to make sure that we put some guardrails up," said Greg Lawson, senior research fellow at the Buckeye Institute. "It's something that is not inherently new. It's actually something the legislature has tried to do before."
But the progressive research group Policy Matters Ohio said it's suspicious of the timing of these recommendations.
"It's really hard to see this potential set of policies and what's been thought about, for lame duck outside of the political context, unfortunately," said Hannah Halbert, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio. "What's really going on there is hamstringing a future governor, is taking powers and authority that traditionally belong to administrative agencies, to the executive branch and really turning it over to the legislature."
Halbert described some of the proposals as "extreme" and added: "When you look at these proposals, it's hard to see them for, for much more than that as a and run around administrative agencies and rulemaking to make things a lot easier for business interests."
Lawson stressed these aren't new ideas, which is why he said his group is bringing them up again.
"Obviously, I think we have some concerns that the new governor might not want to do things, like that of any party," Lawson said. "But these aren't all brand new ideas that we're talking about. They're refinements of existing ideas that have already been attempted by the General Assembly."
Polls suggest Ohio’s new governor could be a Democrat, while Republicans will almost certainly maintain control of the legislature.
