We didn't really need another reason to pull for a swift-as-possible end to the pandemic, but now we have one.
Ohio's Republican-controlled Legislature last week voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of Senate Bill 22, which will give lawmakers the option to end state health orders and states of emergencies. The bill takes effect in 90 days, so by late June, the tools at the governor's disposal to address a public health crisis will be curtailed.
Will we be out of the woods by then? We hope so, obviously, and the stepped-up pace of administering vaccines will help. But COVID variants are spreading, and for the week ending Thursday, March 25, there had been an average of 58,579 cases nationwide per day, up 3% from the average two weeks earlier. Ohio has made progress but remains well short of the DeWine-set benchmark — 50 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 over two weeks — to lift all health orders, including the state's mask mandate.
In opposing SB 22, DeWine said, "My passion comes from a deep ... belief that this is not the only crisis we will face," and his concerns about the bill are not just about how it might affect his administration, but that of a future governor. We hope he's wrong. But we fear he's right. The governor hedged on whether there might be a legal challenge to the bill, saying, "My opinion about the constitutionality of the bill has not changed. Whether we file something ... I don't know."
A better response would be for DeWine to work with legislative leaders to see if there's a way to make some fixes to the law. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the DeWine administration offered a list of legislative oversights he would accept, including "three appointees to the new health committee, the ability to extend states of emergency past 90 days in the absence of action by the Legislature, a 30-day waiting period on reintroducing rescinded orders and, most controversially, a two-thirds vote by state lawmakers on any resolution to override state health orders."
Reasonable points, and they might provide areas to make SB 22 better. But it's still a heavy lift, given that the rationale for SB 22 supporters was to restore what they see as necessary checks and balances to executive power. With the victory in hand, Republicans don't have much incentive to make concessions.
An open question, in the wake of the override, is whether it signals a fracturing of the administration's relationship with the GOP-led General Assembly that might threaten other important state business. DeWine has vetoed four bills since his term began in 2019, but SB 22 marked the first successful override. One encouraging sign was that as of Friday, March 26, the state Senate approved the two-year, $8 billion transportation budget, ahead of the March 31 deadline, and the House, which previously passed a bill, was expected to approve the Senate changes.
Public health, unfortunately, is more of a hot button. DeWine's focus, now more than ever, should be to rally Ohioans to the common cause of ending the pandemic and getting a vaccine to all who want it. Effective Monday, March 29, Ohio will open vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older. The state's about to open 15 mass vaccination clinics across Ohio. Let's keep working fast.
For the final time, we can say at the start of a baseball season that it's our fervent hope that the "Cleveland Indians" win the World Series.
It's not, of course, the last time we'll be rooting for our team to take home the title. We do that every year. (Cleveland fans are entitled, give the city's sports history.) But 2021 likely is the last season in which the team uses the "Indians" name, before taking on a new, still-to-be-determined identity in 2022.
No need to rehash the name debate. In a front page editorial back in 2013, we called on the team to do away with its name and the Chief Wahoo logo, noting that a change could help "write a new and exciting chapter in the franchise's history."
Cleveland has an emotional connection to its team, whatever the name. Let's hope the final chapter of the Indians' story, starting with Opening Day on Thursday, April 1, in Detroit, is a riveting one.
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March 28, 2021 at 03:00PM
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Crain's editorial: The need for speed - Crain's Cleveland Business
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