State Rep. Louis Blessing recently applauded his colleagues in the House majority for confronting tough problems long avoided at the Statehouse. "How many times do you see local, state and federal governments kick the can down the road?" the Cincinnati Republican said. "This caucus picks the can up, fixes it and puts it back on the shelf. And then they want to do more."
Perhaps Blessing will recall that because of excesses driven by Gov. John Kasich and House Republicans, practically nothing was accomplished in updating the state's collective-bargaining law. Meanwhile, state lawmakers shoved many of the most difficult budget decisions down to school districts and local governments.
Blessing delivered his comments last week as part of the House majority outlining its legislative agenda for the year. William Batchelder, the House speaker, placed priority on changes to school funding, workers' compensation and even collective bargaining, pledging to move more deliberatively and carefully on the last item. Missing from the list was repair work to the state's five public pension systems. The speaker noted the recent hiring of a consulting team to examine the systems, its report expected sometime during the summer.
