New legislation has become law and other bills are working there way through the general assembly that would limit the power of the governor and state health director to shut-down the state in future pandemics.
17th District State Senator Bob Peterson said when the pandemic broke out last spring, Ohio was in some uncharted waters.
While Ohio did go through the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic where the governor had certain powers over such emergencies, the state constitution has had some changes in the 1930's, which is why there were so many questions about whether Governor DeWine and then State Health Director Amy Acton had the authority to do some of the things they did, to shut down the state.
New legislation would also place a limit on the amount of time the state can have an emergency shut-down, without approval of the legislature.
You can hear our interview with State Senator Bob Peterson in the podcast link found below...