DeWine promises veto, offers compromise on GOP-backed bill

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine predicted a chaotic future for Ohio in a letter Monday pleading with fellow Republican lawmakers to compromise on a health bill that would handicap the state’s ability to issue any orders during an emergency on the same day the state surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases. “SB 22 not only allows for this, but encourages it through potentially lucrative attorneys’ fees and damage awards against the State.” The Senate bill in question would allow state lawmakers to rescind public health orders issued by the governor or the Ohio Department of Health as soon as they take effect, as well as prevent the governor from reintroducing similar orders for at least 60 days. Wiggam praised the bill as bringing checks and balances back to state government after many Republican lawmakers saw DeWine’s pandemic powers to order lockdowns and issue mask mandates as having gone unchecked. “After all, an order is not legislation, but the governor is trying to argue that it is.” The lawmaker added, “He’s trying to be the legislative branch, the executive branch, and judicial all in one.” One of the many examples DeWine highlights in the letter as detrimental to public safety is a restriction on the state health department from forcing someone to quarantine unless they’ve been “medically diagnosed” with an illness or have come into contact with someone who has.