LIMA, Ohio — Ohio House Speaker Robert Cupp, R-Lima, said he is proud of the work his chamber has done at the halfway point of the 134th General Assembly, however, the House saw its fair share of drama on his watch.
What You Need To Know
- Oho House Speaker Robert Cupp reflected on 2021 and looked forward to 2022
- He said he is proud of what has been accomplished, though the House was involved in some drama
- 2022 will be Cupp’s last year as Speaker and he does not plan to run for another office
“Being speaker is an adventure every day. You never know what to expect,” said Cupp.
Cupp wrapped up his first full year in the House’s big chair.
“I think we’ve accomplished a lot in spite of the circumstances under which it happened,” Cupp said.
Cupp was given the gavel in July 2020 after his predecessor, Larry Householder, R-Glenford, was arrested on federal racketeering charges related to House Bill 6 and then removed as speaker. Yet, Householder was re-elected to serve his district and came back to the Statehouse. After nearly a year of demands from Democrats and private fighting amongst Republicans, Cupp decided to bring Householder’s expulsion up for a vote in June.
“The public generally will broad brush all members, even though it may be one. So I think it was important to sort of rid ourselves in the House of that,” said Cupp.
Under his leadership, the House also removed the nuclear subsidies for FirstEnergy from House Bill 6. It has not, however, touched the coal subsidies the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation gets to keep two coal plants afloat, one of which is in Indiana, nor, the role dark money plays in politics.
“I don’t know that anybody really has a good way of doing it,” Cupp said about dark money.
The Ohio House and Senate did find a way to pass a sports betting bill along with a $74 billion biennial budget. The budget included $250 million for broadband expansion grants, a 3% income tax cut and the Fair School Funding Plan which Cupp personally worked on for years.
“It’s going to be a more predictable, sustainable and better funding for most schools. And it won’t depend on where a student lives, whether or not they have the opportunity for a quality education,” said Cupp.
But drama with the pandemic and redistricting overshadowed the budget. The entire General Assembly took away Gov. Mike DeWine’s autonomy over executive health orders. The House passed a bill banning schools, colleges and employers from mandating vaccines that are not fully approved by the FDA along with not allowing so-called “vaccine passports.”
“Well, it’s not a question of being vaccinated, it’s a question of being forced to be vaccinated,” said Cupp. “And while I and others encourage people to do it, some for various reasons, that is not the choice that they want to make and I think we do need to accommodate those folks.”
Those folks were accommodated on the same day House Republicans passed the new congressional district map, which voting rights groups say is gerrymandered to favor the GOP. According to sources, several House Republicans only agreed to vote for the map in exchange for the vaccine bill.
“I don’t know what their intention might be. These two bills were coming together naturally at the same time, and we addressed them. They were on our agenda. We needed to address them, and we did,” Cupp said.
Next year, Cupp said the House will find ways to hand out more federal COVID-19 money and likely look to pass legislation addressing guns, election reform and criminal justice reform.
As for Cupp, 2022 will be his last in the House. He said he has no plans to run for another office nor endorse anyone to take his gavel.
