This first week back to work at the Ohio Statehouse after Thanksgiving includes only a few committee hearings, but some high-profile bills including COVID vaccine mandate exemptions will be discussed.
A bill to allow COVID vaccine mandate exemptions to anyone who wants them and to ban requiring proof of vaccine status gets its first Senate hearing this week.
The bill, which was suddenly pushed through committee and passed the House mostly along party lines on November 18, also bans schools and colleges from requiring COVID vaccines that haven’t gotten full FDA approval.
Another Senate committee will hear a bill that would expand medical marijuana for any condition that a doctor approves it for.
Only one House committee is set to meet – it will hear a Republican-backed bill that requires medical professionals to care for an infant who survives an abortion just as they would a newborn child. Democrats have said such situations haven’t happened, and they would be covered by state and federal law anyway.
