If you have not done so already, follow this link right now and write your Senators AND Representatives -- When we give you your Senator's telephone number, tell them to reject the FOP's gun control efforts at killing this bill. MAKE SURE YOU CALL THEM AS WELL AS WRITE THE LETTER. Get everyone you know to do the same, quickly, or this legislation will go down hill very very fast, and possibly with the NRA's blessing. We don't need Taft's signature, we just need a veto-proof majority in the Senate to tell the FOP to go away.

There are only a few days left for session to take place, and for the House to be required to consider a different bill.

The text can also be found by clicking "read more" where we archive stories in case they expire online.

Conceal/carry back on agenda Video gambling at tracks also likely to be debated as legislature reconvenes
Sunday, November 10, 2002
Lee Leonard
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Now that the elections are over, state lawmakers plan to put a flame under two hot issues that have simmered on the back burner for months.

The Ohio Senate is preparing to act before the end of the year on legislation permitting Ohioans to carry concealed weapons and moving toward allowing slot machines at Ohio racetracks.

Two other major issues -- responding to a school-funding court order and a medical malpractice insurance problem -- will wait until the next legislative session, which begins in January.

The legislature will reconvene on Tuesday for what is known as the "lame duck'' post-election session. One item sure to pass in December is a $1 billion-plus construction budget with scaled-down community projects for urban areas.

Although lawmakers have received requests for $650 million in community projects, only about $90 million of those can be funded in the current two-year cycle for lack of money, leaders say.

Senate President Richard H. Finan, R-Cincinnati, said senators will try to craft an acceptable conceal-carry bill despite saying earlier that they would wait for the Ohio Supreme Court to rule on a Hamilton County case in which the current prohibition of concealed weapons is unconstitutional.

"The court isn't moving,'' Finan said about taking up House Bill 274 before the Supreme Court rules.

Finan said he expects the National Rifle Association and the Fraternal Order of Police to participate in rewriting portions of the bill that cleared the House on March 21. "I think we might get it worked out,'' he said.

Rep. James Aslanides, the chief sponsor, said he expects substantial changes in the House version, which requires county sheriffs to issue conceal-carry permits to individuals 21 or older with no prior felonies and no history of mental illness.

Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican, said he expects the FOP to insist on stronger training and education requirements. The 16 hours of education and training in the bill would probably be expanded to at least 20 hours, including eight hours of firing-range practice, he said.

Support from the police union could be crucial. Gov. Bob Taft has said he would veto a bill that does not have support from the law-enforcement community. The Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association backs the bill, but the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the State Highway Patrol oppose it. The FOP supports the concept but opposes House Bill 274 unless changes are made.

The contentious question of slot machines at horse-racing tracks will be posed again by Sen. Louis W. Blessing Jr., R-Cincinnati. He's ready to try again with a constitutional amendment to allow the Ohio Lottery Commission to administer them. Senate Joint Resolution 1 is up for a hearing on Wednesday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee headed by Blessing.

The committee voted against the resolution earlier this year, but there are three different members on the panel now. If passed and approved by the House, the resolution would put the question on the May primary ballot. Taft spokeswoman Mary Anne Sharkey said the governor would campaign against such a proposal.

House Speaker Larry Householder has said he would support the video lottery terminals over a tax increase, but he was noncommittal last week about whether the House would act on it this year if the Senate approves.

Finan said the Senate also is prepared to deal with a House-approved bill that would expand tax-funded, privately operated charter schools. House Bill 364, sponsored by Rep. John Husted, R-Kettering, would double the number of charter schools permitted to be operated by nonprofit groups, local school boards and educational service centers.

The bill would prohibit the State Board of Education from sponsoring the charter schools, but the board would oversee the other sponsors and have the authority to close schools that do not meet contract requirements.

Legislation revising the charitable bingo law also will be advanced this year, Finan said. Similar bills sponsored by Husted and Sen. Robert F. Spada, R-Parma Heights, have cleared their respective chambers, but they need fine-tuning.

The bills regulate the conduct of instant bingo and raffles, authorize charitable organizations to conduct instant-bingo and punchboard games, and specify the distribution of the net profit of instant bingo conducted by veterans' and fraternal organizations