Callender, Ohio House Approve Oversight Plan of Public Health Emergencies

State Representative Jamie Callender (R-Concord) today helped lead the House of Representatives passage of major legislation to bring greater oversight to state health department pandemic orders.

The orders have been the subject of much debate in recent weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the midst of this pandemic, we are faced with extraordinary challenges and confronted with the question of how to maintain the balance of power between the branches of government,” Callender said. “Legislative oversight should exist as a check on executive action and when faced with a health emergency like we have today, that oversight is critical.”

Callender said the plan is a balanced approach that allows the state health director to respond to health emergencies while also giving Ohioans a voice through their elected lawmakers.

“This ensures all Ohioans are part of the conversation when extraordinary times raise extraordinary questions, such as whether and under what circumstances schools or businesses will be closed – and for how long,” Callender said.

Under the plan, Ohio Department of Health orders issued under Ohio Revised Code 3701.13 would be subject to review by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. The 10-member House-Senate panel reviews proposed state agency rules from more than 100 agencies, including those proposed by the Ohio Department of Health.

Callender is vice chairman of the committee and one of the legislature’s leading authorities on state agency rulemaking.

Ohio Revised Code 3701.13 is a little used state law that’s been on the books for more than a century. Callender noted the legislature passed it more than a century ago, before a panel like JCARR existed. Today, he said, it’s appropriate to bring orders issued under the statute under JCARR review.

Under the measure approved today:

·       New health department orders issued under Ohio Revised Code 3701.13 would be effective for up to 14 days, and would require JCARR approval to be extended.

·       To extend a health department order, three of five members of JCARR from each chamber would have to vote in favor of the rule.

·       The amendment also makes clear that any Ohioan has standing to seek a court order requiring the governor or state health director to comply with the JCARR oversight requirement without having to prove they will be irreparably harmed if the court does not intervene.

·       Any state health department orders issued under ORC 3701.13 on or after April 29 cannot be extended without JCARR approval.

The legislation would also require state agencies to provide the legislature and the public with a complete inventory not only of their regulatory restrictions, but the basis for them, as well as prohibit them from adopting new regulatory restrictions unless they simultaneously remove two or more existing regulatory restrictions.

The measure now goes back to the Senate for concurrence.