OH: CSU says 2025 Ohio budget is to blame for ending student RTA passes: Capitol Letter

Rotunda Rumblings

On the struggle bus: Cleveland State University, which recently announced it was ending the program in which students receive a public transit pass, has explained the reason was to comply with a provision in the state budget that bans certain fees that aren’t applied uniformly to all enrolled students. CSU said fewer than half the students used the passes, though all students paid the $57.50 fee. CSU is the only school ending the student transit pass program in Cuyahoga County, Laura Hancock reports.

Roll call: The U.S. Department of Justice is asking states for voter data and details on how they manage their rolls. Ohio officials say they’re an open book, but Anna Staver reports the shift has raised questions about federal overreach and the future of election oversight. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in Ohio are pushing very different visions for how voting should work.

Eye on the brawl: Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy held a town-hall meeting in Cincinnati on Monday evening regarding a racially charged brawl in downtown Cincinnati last weekend that garnered national headlines. As Taylor Weiter and Sean DeLancey of WCPO-TV report, Ramaswamy said he held a “candid” meeting with Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge and Mayor Aftab Pureval before the event, and he proposed fighting crime by extending prison sentences, reopening mental-health facilities, and making cultural changes that reinforce the rule of law, among other things. Ramaswamy said the town hall was meant as an apolitical attempt to improve public safety, though the event “was filled with campaign speeches and opened by the chairmen of the county and state Republican Party.”

Doctors in the house: During a Morrow County Democratic fundraising dinner at Mount Gilead on Monday, one of the attendees fell down some stairs and was bleeding from her head. Fortunately for her, two medical doctors were in the room: gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and secretary of state candidate Bryan Hambley. Hambley, in an interview, said he took the woman’s vital signs while Acton bandaged the wound. Another attendee, a nurse, helped as well. Acton, in an interview, said the woman was doing better when she spoke with her on Tuesday morning. “I think, if this is a story about anything, it hopefully is a reminder of just people caring for one another,” Acton said.

Lobbying Lineup

Five organizations that are registered to lobby on state House Bill 47, which would increase the penalty for human trafficking of a minor or person with a developmental disability, kidnapping, and abduction.

Ohio Domestic Violence Network
Akron Children’s Hospital
Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio
The Collaborative to End Human Trafficking
Alliance for Safety and Justice Action Fund

On the Move

Vice President JD Vance has a -11 approval rating, Gallup reports. The pollster puts Vance well ahead of President Trump’s -16 and Elon Musk’s -28 popularity ratings, but far behind the most popular person in the survey, Pope Leo XIV, who had a +46 rating.

Kettering Mayor and former state lawmaker Peggy Lehner says she’s retiring from politics once her mayoral term expires at the end of this year, according to Jen Balduf of the Dayton Daily News. Lehner, a 75-year-old Republican, said she will still “served as called” on various issues, particularly ones regarding children and the poor.

Birthdays

No birthdays

Straight from the Source

“They are a huge deal. We’re surprised by how few people, just a small number of people, even know what’s going on.”

- Chris Hemmelgarn, chief technology officer for Miami Township-based CRG Defense, speaking with the Dayton Daily News about federal legislation that would limit funding under the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research program to $40 million per year and $75 million in total. Proponents of the change say it will allow more companies to seek program funding, but critics of the move assert it will drive away companies that have thrived under the program.