COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 134th General Assembly features a number of newly-elected members in the House of Representatives and Senate.
In the Senate, two of the six newbies are serving at the state level for the first time.
One of the fresh faces said his business and prior governmental experience will be key assets in getting things done.
Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) called his swearing-in ceremony “an awesome experience.” Cirino is serving his first term in the 18th Senate District, which includes Portage County and parts of Geauga and Lake counties.
“It is a great privilege that the voters have given to me, and I will work very hard to make sure that the voters don’t regret making their decision,” said Cirino.
Cirino is a retired business executive who spent the last four years as Lake County Commissioner.
Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland).
He said he want to help Ohioans get better access to an affordable, high-quality education, reform taxes and regulations as well as improve economic development.
“I really, really want to make Ohio a good place for people to work and to raise families in the future,” Cirino said.
Cirino said Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) has done a “good job” handling the pandemic but feels certain restrictions have caused “unintended consequences.”
“Policies that force businesses to literally shut down or to scale back or to be deemed non-essential, those are policies that I hope we will learn from,” Cirino states.
Cirino supports legislative oversight of DeWine’s future executive orders.
As far as other key issues, he said school funding needs a solution that is not based on property taxes.
Cirino also believes the two nuclear power plants bailed out by House Bill 6 need to remain open but the state legislature should see if Energy Harbor still needs the subsidies.
He did not say whether Larry Householder (R-Glenford) should remain in office but said the presumption of innocence should mean something.
Cirino said he will know he has had a successful term four years from now if he “was able to play a part in passing meaningful legislation that is going to positively impact the communities that I serve and the state of Ohio.”
