Today the Ohio Senate passed its own version of a law to allow concealed weapons carry in restaurants that serve alcohol just one day after it left committee. This puts the efforts of the Ohio House to shame as the their version (HB 45) has been sitting immobile on the House calendar for 2 weeks.
Click here to see work get done. SB 17 Video
Following these bills for the last month or so has been enlightening. I have a much better understanding of how the House works. On thing in particular came as a surprise to me. I had assumed that many hours day were spent in the main auditorium debating the merit of bills and taking votes. Not so. The House seems to meet 2-3 times a week for a little over an hour. At least half that time will be spent doing things that have nothing to do with legislating. They honor soldiers, teachers, boy scouts, or sports teams. They introduce resolutions to give a day a name day or congratulate someone. What little time the do spend actually doing legislation seems rushed and haphazard.
I haven't been following the Senate since I assume the House would be first with a bill out the door. One thing I, and apparently many other people, have yet to understand is who makes the schedule. I still don't know who gets to decide when bills get a vote. The videos of the sessions reveal nothing on this. If anyone who reads this knows. Feel free to comment.
Hopefully, the house can get this Senate Bill passed and sent for a swift signing at the Governor's desk. It is just a shame they had to spend so much time in committee debating their version of the bill that is now irrelevant.
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