Ohio House

More and more Ohio residents are being added to waiting lists — and going without the home-based care they need — because of the state's low Medicaid reimbursement rates.

The factions that support Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and those backing Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Township) couldn't agree on the appointment, showing the leadership battle is still on.

The priority agendas of Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Township) look similar, but while Merrin said he wants to partner with Stephens on some issues, there are things holding that up.

Jason Stephens heads a GOP majority that is split into two warring camps. But the legislative agenda he released Wednesday may spell an end to the infighting.

The disarray signaled the latest phase in the rift between House Republicans that stems from the House speaker vote earlier this month.

Derrik Merrin, who lost his bid to become the Speaker of the Ohio House, does not appear to be going away quietly, in the latest sign that the party holding a supermajority in Ohio is fractured.

Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo's move to deliver all 32 Ohio Democrats in the House to make Republican Jason Stephens the new House Speaker may well slow down the "culture war" fervor of the legislature's most conservative members.

Republican Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Mill) won 54-43 with the help of all 32 House Democrats who said he would be a better choice when it came to their priorities, primarily on education.

Merrin, who has served in the Ohio House since August 2016, currently chairs the Ways and Means Committee.

Republicans in the Ohio House – the majority of them anyway – finally managed to get themselves together and do what they should have done nearly a year…