Governor Mike DeWine delivered his 2024 State of the State address this afternoon before a joint session of the Ohio General Assembly in the chambers of the Ohio House of Representatives. Today’s session was attended by both houses of the legislature, the Ohio Supreme Court, statewide elected officers, members of the Governor’s Cabinet, and the public.
As is usual for Governor DeWine, during his time as governor and his public career as a whole, he started the speech and spent the majority of his time focusing on children and families. He stated that the future is not our own but that it belongs to our children, and every moment we waste is one they lose. The Governor touted a series of successes that the state has accomplished in a wide variety of policy areas and announced several new initiatives, including:
- Ohio’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a signature initiative of First Lady Fran DeWine, has increased enrollment from 13% of Ohio children in 2018 to 60% today, with approximately 402,000 receiving a free book every month.
- The new Ohio Department of Children and Youth will become an affiliate member of the Library to enroll all children in foster care and to better track their addresses so that books can follow children to new homes.
- Science of Reading – following the statewide adoption of this literacy instruction model in last year’s budget bill, the Governor called on all universities and colleges to immediately align their teacher preparation programs to instruct future teachers on the Science of Reading.
- Graduation Plan for High Schoolers – the Governor called on the General Assembly to amend current law, which requires high schoolers to have a plan for how they will complete high school graduation requirements, to include a requirement that high schoolers engage in career planning also.
- School Healthcare Clinics – Governor DeWine said he is calling on various state agencies to work together to provide technical assistance to communities in creating school-based healthcare clinics and how to use state Student Wellness and Success Funds to do so.
- Infant Mortality – the Governor highlighted the Family Connects program, a pilot program in 11 counties, which connects visiting nurses to new mothers 3 weeks postpartum to ensure that those mothers and babies are connected to resources to help them thrive. He said his next operating budget will request funds to take the program statewide.
- Mental Health and Social Media – Governor DeWine recognized Lt. Governor Jon Husted and his wife Tina for their crusade against the use of smartphones in schools and for supporting efforts to require parental consent prior to children’s use of social media.
- The Governor called on all schools to ban the use of smartphones during school hours, saying their use is detrimental to learning and students’ mental health.
- He also asked the legislature to work with them in crafting a new parental consent law for the use of social media by children, following a federal court’s blocking of the state’s current law.
The Governor covered the above topics for the first 45 minutes or so of his hour-long speech before moving to a couple of topics with broader implications, but still with an eye on their impact on children. He first highlighted some of the bright spots about Ohio – our low unemployment rate, the state’s recent credit rating upgrade, the work of H2Ohio in protecting Lake Erie and the state’s water resources, the opening of the 76th state park in Greene County, and the recent designation of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But he asked the General Assembly to work with him to tackle:
- Banning the sale of Delta-8 hemp to minors.
- Updating the state’s marijuana laws, saying that while he respects the will of the voters, the laws need to be updated to protect children better and that he does not believe Ohioans voted to allow their children to be exposed to marijuana in public parks, walking to school, or going to a Guardians baseball game.
- Implementing a statewide ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products to minors.
- Creating a primary offense for failing to wear a seatbelt. The Governor cited statistics showing Ohio is one of the worst states in the nation for seatbelt use, particularly among our youngest drivers. Current law does not allow law enforcement officers to stop people for not wearing a seatbelt; those citations can only be issued after drivers are stopped for other traffic violations.
As part of his concluding remarks, Governor DeWine took a moment to acknowledge the 5 legislative leaders who have passed away since January 1, including former Senate President Stan Arnoff, House Speaker Charles Kurfess, Senate President-pro-tempore Ted Gray, Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss, and House Minority Whip Brigid Kelly. He finished the address by saying that this is Ohio’s time in history, our time to work together to meet our challenges, and, paraphrasing Ohioan Gene Kranz the Chief Flight Director of NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, that if we can do so, it will be our finest hour.
Please click here for the full text of Governor DeWine's address.
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