COLUMBUS, Ohio — Both chambers of the General Assembly adjourned Tuesday without addressing House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law at the center of a federal investigation.​ They also left town without overriding the governor's veto of a bill meant to strip him of emergency powers.

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Bill 311 was not overridden by the Ohio Legislature block state health officials from ordering mass quarantines of residents who have not been exposed to an infectious disease

  • No action was taken to repeal, replace or reform House Bill 6

  • The last day the 133rd General Assembly can officially address any outstanding bills is Dec. 31

Ohio lawmakers started the lame duck session with a lot on their plate.

When they gathered for what appeared to be the close of the session Tuesday, it quickly became clear they would leave much unfinished.

As news spread that more lawmakers would be absent due to either testing positive for COVID-19 or being in close contact with someone who has the virus, it signaled House Republicans no longer had the votes to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of Senate Bill 311.

That was one of the top items on the GOP's agenda. The bill would block state health officials from ordering mass quarantines of residents who have not been exposed to an infectious disease.

Instead, the Senate threw an amendment into a tax bill to prohibit an Ohio governor from imposing restrictions on small businesses while big businesses stay open.​​

"So that we will not, in the future, ever face a situation like we had last spring," says Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina).

Though the compromise may never get to the governor. The House did not vote on it before leaving for the holiday.

On Monday, House Majority Floor Leader Bill Seitz (R-Green Township) said those who support the governor's veto should not celebrate for long.​

"It may well be that we have to take this issue up next where I would remind the governor and everybody else that both in the House and in the Senate we will have larger and more robust Republican supermajorities than what we enjoy today," Seitz said. ​
Then there was House Bill 6, the taxpayer-funded bailout of two nuclear power plants in Ohio.

A number of bills were introduced months ago to repeal or replace it after the feds said it was part of "likely the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated against the state of Ohio."​

Yet after months of hearings and negotiations, there was squat.

House Speaker Robert Cupp (R-Lima) said his caucus was split on whether to act or not. Most Democrats had wanted a straight repeal.

Cupp insists the work will continue in the next General Assembly, saying, “Time and circumstances often intervene to make the way forward clearer. We shall see.”​

Obhof blamed the House for a lack of action of HB 6 and says a straight repeal should have happened a long time ago and he was "disappointed that that didn't happen."

The House's top Democrat, Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) tweeted Wednesday, "When one party has a super-majority and a trifecta but still can’t figure out how to get 50 votes Ohioans lose. This isn’t the first time republicans have failed Ohio and it probably won’t be the last so long as they remain in power.​"

At the end of the night Tuesday, outgoing Sen. John Eklund (R-Munson Township) trumpeted "Silent Night" on the Senate floor. Some could see it as irony for how lawmakers acted with some of the more higher-profile pieces of legislation. Others perhaps can just see it as the potential swan song on the 133rd General Assembly.

Ohioans have been temporarily protected from paying for the more than one billion dollar bailout to Energy Harbor as a Franklin County judge issued a preliminary injunction Monday to block the state from collecting the money.​​​