Why is the "bathroom bill" stalled at the statehouse?

Why is the "bathroom bill" stalled at the statehouse?

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Uh you know when uh, whenthe show continues, no matter what happens
inside the studio. Sorry, Ijust I have stitches inside my mouth.
I'll just put it out there.I like ripped one of them out,
like by accident using one of thosetooth floss things. Sorry, I don't
want to get too grabbed. No, I just like this, dude,
I didn't know what happened to you. You got shot. I'm sorry.

(00:22):
Man, Holy cow, there wasblood involved, yes, there was.
I saw, and then I'm likeI got to talk still. I'm like,
well, you're trying to do it. I'm just saying the top of
the hour, going between traffic andwhether I'm like, do you want me
to do the top of the hour. I'm sorry, man, I should
have just been like, okay,go ahead, dude. I just I

(00:45):
don't know. It's not you're youweren't, Like I'm thinking to myself,
you know, you weren't technically ready, and uh, you know, you
just jump in and you fake itturn make it all. It's no big
deal. Yeah, stringers, Ohyeah, I had something lasered out of
it. So it's repairing itself nowright now. So well it was yeah,

(01:07):
man, Holy cow, that willget your attention right there. Imagine
you know when you pull nose hairsout in those in times face. I
those hair trimmer broke, so I'vebeen literally having a yank come out.
I haven't bought a new one yet. Who you are, sadistic man,

(01:29):
You're just pulling a back and Ican probably go buy one at CVS for
fifteen bucks or something. Oh thenose trimmer thing, yeah, nose hair
trimmer. Yeah, and as I'mgetting older, I'm finding out and it's
also an ear hair trimmer. Yes, it doubles as both. Yes,
it's a cruel joke. I've saidthis, Why is it getting older?
You lose hair into places you wantit and get hair into places you don't.

(01:49):
That's exactly it. I was justthinking that. It's like, yeah,
you uh, it's like you couldliterally the ear hair could grow long
enough for a holmeover if I may. Yeah, And it's just it's really,
it's just like this isn't funny.God, it's not funny because you
know, losing hair on your headand then it grows longer from your ears

(02:10):
is like you kidding me? Really? I mean, yeah, that's funny.
Anyway, where were we Oh mygosh, man, when that happened,
I saw stars. I'm not kidding. I believe it. Like when
I pulled that that and the littlething I was using on my teeth,
it was it. Somehow got hookedon one of the stitches, and when
I pulled out, I saw star. I literally saw stars. Holy cow.

(02:35):
All right, show must go on, as they say, sure,
she represents the sixty first Ohio HouseDistrict and the state Representative Beth Lear is
joining us. Now, Beth's sorryyou had to listen to all that before
you came on. Actually, itwas very entertaining, and I think you
sound fine. Oh, thank you. I uh, it's just when stuff
happens like that, and now whatyou know, my entire body temperature is

(03:00):
up because you know, you youstart getting into that whatever it is,
you overheat when you get hurt likethat. And now I'm like, it
is hot enough outside, please don'tdo it. Yeah. So, anyway,
it was like that, but I'mglad it was entertaining because that's really
all we're after. I'm telling you, we're a couple boobs in here,
Beth. Sorry, I mean youmany Christmas. We do the uh,
we do the goofy of stuff.Josh is looking at me like, hey,

(03:22):
man, don't quantify me in thatYou're I'm good. I mean,
if you want me to take over, I will you just let me know?
No, Thank you, man,I really do appreciate that. I
really do. You know what's interestingtoo, Beth, After I was at
emailing with you last week, Isaw the article that comes out about the
UH and we'll get to House Billone eighty three, but the House Joint

(03:42):
Resolution six that I was looking at, and this looks like a this looks
like this would be a really goodthing. Hopefully you're okay with talking about
that too. While you're on I'lltalk about anything you want to within reason,
Okay, all right, So yeah, tell us about this. I
mean, it's you guys are askingvoters though they want to see their property
taxes increases capped, and I mean, who wouldn't I can't imagine being a

(04:05):
homeowner who wouldn't really be for that. I mean, this seems like a
really good thing. Talk a littlebit about House Joint Resolution six. Well,
you're right, it would go tothe voters if we're able to get
it through the House in the Senateand Unfortunately, there hasn't been any movement
at all yet, although it wasintroduced a little late in the session and

(04:27):
represented Scott Wigham and I have beentrying to make sure that the language is
just right. It's based on whatthey've done in the state of Florida with
the Save our Home fact. Wejust want to make sure that especially low
income, fixed income people are notdriven out of their homes because their taxes
get so high they can't afford tolive there anymore. It's terrible. And

(04:48):
so people would be able to voteon it at the ballot box to say
no higher than four percent or therate of inflation, whichever is lower,
can my property tax rates rise?So is there good support for this overall?
Would you say it's just a matterof getting it, getting it to
the floor? I guess well.In the community, yes, I have

(05:12):
heard a endless stream of kudos.Thank you, Glad somebody is trying to
do something. It's a little harderin the legislature because you have so many
people who have a piece of thetaxpayer pie who don't want to lose that.
And my comment to most of themis you're better off with homeowners than

(05:33):
you are with a bunch of renners, and everybody goes through that phase of
renting. But once you get tothe point where you own a home,
you want to be able to staythere and you build a life and you
invest in the community, and weshould be encouraging that, not discouraging it
with massive tax tips. Thanks toJoe Biden and his irresponsible behavior in the

(05:56):
White House, man, I couldn'tagree with you more. I could not
agree with you more. And speakingof that guy, the uh, the
guy that likes to be let offstage by Barack Obama at a private fundraiser
where they raised thirty million dollars,and that is the guy who is also
behind part of and this kind ofgoes hand in hand with House Joint Resolution

(06:17):
six. Josh has been one ofthose people but trying to get a he's
trying to be a first time homebuyer and he's had nothing. But I'm
telling you when he when he wasreally going for it here, I don't
know what it's been a year ago. Years started in May of last year,
and it was the most demoralizing thingI've ever been through, to the
point where there were nights I gohome and I would literally cry in bed

(06:39):
thinking I am a loser, I'ma failure. Yeah, I'm serious.
I mean it's the saddest thing,Beth, when you when you think about
what Josh was going through trying tobe a first time home buyer. He
had a new one, he justhad a new well, a new baby
on the way, has two otherchildren, and he was just trying to
become a first you know, theAmerican dream, and he can't. I
mean, the interest rates are throughthe roof. You throw stuff like this

(07:00):
in the mix, like this,I mean, who doesn't want the lower
But the way you explained it wasperfect, And I don't know, I
guess based on it's great that youguys are at least trying this, but
based on the way you're explaining itseems like, yeah, it's probably not
gonna end up getting through. Ofcourse, you guys have one more scheduled
session day coming up here in afew days before summer break, and clearly

(07:24):
I don't think this is even gonnagonna make it to the floor, is
it? Well? H Jr.Six won't because we haven't had any hearings
on it yet. Doesn't mean wecouldn't try to get something done by the
end of the year. But HouseBill one eighty three, the Protect All
Students Act, should be on thefloor next week. I haven't been told

(07:46):
it will be. It's being heldup for some reason. But that would
be the big push right now becausethat bill has already passed out of committee
and we'd like to see it passedinto law. Yeah, So talk about
this House Bill one eighty three three, which is one the way that it
should be? What would what?First of all, explain what it is

(08:07):
house built onety three, and thenwhy is it being stalled? By Jason
Stevens Well House the way three.We call it to Protect All Students Act
because it is for every child,boys, girls, and those who are
confused about their sex. But it'scommonly referred to as the bathroom Bill.

(08:30):
Just simply says that from pre kthrough college in our public and non public
chartered schools, you have to separateboys and girls in bathrooms, locker rooms,
and on overnight trips. It's nothard. The overwhelming majority of people
support it. Even a plurality ofDemocrat voters support the idea of separating the

(08:52):
two sexes because it's not safe andit's not healthy for them to be thrown
into a situation where they can seeone another. We could talk about Riley's
experience all day long if you wantedto go that way. But Speaker Stephens
seems to be suggesting that it's apolitical reason to not bring it up,

(09:16):
even though he told us he wasgoing to have it on the floor before
the primary. Now he's saying it'snot a good idea because we've got people
in districts that aren't safe and wedon't want them to have to vote on
something that's controversial. Hey, it'sJosh. Nice to talk to you,
Beth. I wanted to ask youthank you for bringing up Speaker Stevens.

(09:37):
This is a common sense bill thatis supported overwhelmingly, even on both sides
of the aisle by Ohioans. Andto suggest this as a political reason,
to me, it suggests that he'she's doing a favor for Miss Russo,
who is the only reason he sitswhere he sits today. And I'll just

(09:58):
come out and say, and Iknow you're going to be more diplomatic than
I am, and you got todo that, and I applaud you for
it. But what could be thepossible reason? And if he says political
I want to know exactly, politicallyspeaking, what there is he thinks to
gain by holding this back. Well, we would love to know that too,
because even in districts where Republicans areunderwater, you're gonna have ninety percent

(10:22):
or more of the Republicans supporting themfor this, You're still going to have
thirty to forty percent or more ofthe Democrats supporting this bill. Independence is
over sixty five percent. There's nonegative unless you don't want Republicans to vote
on a good bill that protects kidsto help the Democrat opponent. Yeah,

(10:46):
I see that. That's what Imean. Like, this is this is
what he opened himself up to.And again this is why you you know,
people like us get to bring itup and you you can stay above
board on this. But this iswhy he had to have known that that
deal with the do you make adeal with the devil? And I'm not

(11:07):
suggesting Alison Russo is literally the devil, but you get my point that once
you make that deal, you lookcompromised, You look compromised to your base,
you look compromised to your colleagues inthe House. It just it doesn't
sit right. It leaves me witha very icky vibe is the way to
describe it. And the state Representativesixty first Ohio House District, Beth Lear,

(11:30):
is joining us. Beth, couldyou are you able to expound on
what you think the definition of apolitical reason would be here? And I'm
just asking for something just kind ofLayman's terms that you know, the average
person listening right now could understand,Oh, that's what he thinks by by
not getting this to the floor.Well, I think I'm supposed to believe

(11:54):
that it's protection for Republicans in districtsthat are difficult for them to win,
but it may not be what hemeans when he says political reasons. There
is a very strong pushback, asyou pointed out, from the Democrats,
who were the ones who elected SpeakerStevens to that role. They don't want

(12:20):
this bill to come up. They'vealready been forced to deal with the Say
Act, and thank god we didget that through. But we also need
to protect our kids in our schoolso this should be a no brainer.
And I'm hoping people listening are goingto start calling the Speaker and say bring
it up. We don't care whatthe Democrats say. We're protecting kids in

(12:43):
the state of Ohio. End ofdiscussion. I think it's a great point,
just real fast. I'm just tellingyou, you know, I've got
two daughters, and if we don'tput a stop to this nonsense, I'm
afraid somebody's going to get really hurtor even worse because a father or a
mother or whoever, a protector guardianof that child will just be like,
I know they did what to youin the bathroom, and we don't want

(13:05):
that. We don't want that tohappen to anybody. Absolutely. Yeah,
all right, very good. StateRepresentative sixty first Ohio House District Beth Lear.
Beth, thank you very much forcalling it. So, so what's
next you guys, you'll have tosee with one more scheduled session day.
I'm guessing you're thinking, well,uh, this is something you just wanted

(13:26):
to bring to light. People thenneed to act now and hopefully move this
forward. Correct, Yes, please, the Speaker's number six one four four
sixty six one three sixty six.And we have our first caucus about what
we're going to vote on next weektomorrow. Plus we've got the Title nine
bus tour coming through Ohio tomorrow justto ramp up the urgency, so let

(13:50):
him know it's important to us.Very good State Representative Bethler, Beth,
thank you very much for joining us. You're welcome here anytime. Thank you
so much. All Right, therewe go, traffic and weather together