Five things to know for Thursday, Nov. 13

Senate passes bill to require ballots be delivered by Election Day

The Ohio State Senate advanced legislation mandating that mail-in absentee ballots be delivered to the board of elections by the time polls close on Election Day.

Senate Bill 293, sponsored by state Sens. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, and Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, includes an exception for ballots cast by uniformed services members and overseas absentee voters. Thirty-four other states, including Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, have such a deadline in place.

Measure would regulate the sale of kratom products

State Reps. Mike Odioso, R-Green Twp., and Brian Lorenz, R-Powell, have introduced House Bill 587, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, legislation that they said would protect Ohioans from synthetic kratom products.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine previously called on the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to designate kratom compounds, including natural and synthetic iterations, as illegal drugs, but later softened his stance. Kratom, a plant that is native to Southeast Asia, has gained popularity in the United States in recent years, even without federal approval for use for medical purposes or consumption.

Ohio SNAP recipients receive partial November benefits

More than 350,000 Buckeye State families have started receiving their partial November SNAP benefits, which were delayed by the federal government shutdown that ended Wednesday night. As of Wednesday morning, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services had processed $66.8 million in partial SNAP benefits for roughly 364,000 Ohio households.

That total is slightly more than half of the 716,000 households set to receive SNAP benefits for November. Before the federal government shutdown, roughly 1.4 million Ohioans received $264 million in SNAP benefits each month.

Bill would dissolve academic distress commissions

State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, has introduced Senate Bill 322, a measure to dissolve academic distress commissions, which were created in 2007 to allow the state to intervene in school districts with consistently low academic performance. An academic distress commission has been overseeing Youngstown City Schools since 2010, and the bill, which is pending a committee assignment, would create student support teams for certain low-performing schools.

“Handicapping under-performing schools from being able to overcome their difficulties is not in the best interest of Ohio students,” Cutrona said in a release. “Dissolving academic distress commissions allows Youngstown City Schools and others like them the freedom to make their own decisions to improve their schools. I know that this bill will alleviate the threat of takeover by the commission for schools and return local control.”

Senate passes measure to amend domestic relations law

The Ohio Senate passed a measure to modernize domestic relations law and re-center the focus on the child’s best interests. Senate Bill 174 amends the Ohio Revised Code to reflect that both parents retain continuing roles and responsibilities when they are not living together.

“No one is a winner in parenting disputes,” Gavarone said in a release. “But if anyone is, it should be the kids. By passing this legislation, the Ohio Senate is taking the first step toward encouraging cooperation between separated parents.”