(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Ohio is one step away from having a dedicated office to monitor a presidential administration for potential abuse or overreach.
New legislation recently passed by the General Assembly that waits on a signature from Gov. Mike DeWine would create the Tenth Amendment Center with the office of the Ohio solicitor general. The idea, according to Attorney General Dave Yost, is to help ensure government power remains checked.
“The principle of federalism – the idea that power is shared among multiple levels of government instead of concentrated into a single level – is indelibly etched into the foundation of our nation through the 10th Amendment,” Yost said. “Thank you to Rep. Jeff LaRe and Rep. Adam Bird for helping us to codify this crucial function in our office.”
This month, Yost has been involved with two multi-state efforts challenging the Biden administration. One dealt with immigration, and the other the Environmental Protection Agency.
As previously reported by The Center Square, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday put a temporary administrative hold on the Biden administration’s plans to end Title 42 enforcement this week.
Roberts’ order came after AGs in 19 states, including Yost, asked the Supreme Court to prevent the Biden administration from ending Title 42 enforcement at the southern border.
The second, also previously reported by The Center Square, was a 16-state coalition of AGs that filed a petition to fight an EPA rule they say would jeopardize national security.
At issue is the EPA’s “Revised 2023 and Later Model Year Light Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards,” 86 Fed. Reg. 74,434, slated to go into effect Feb. 28, 2022. Eight lawsuits were filed over the rule; both the rule and the cases, which were consolidated, are pending.
House Bill 506 creates a new center to monitor federal executive orders actively and report possible overreach to the solicitor general, who would then advise the attorney general on possible state involvement.
State Rep. Jeff LaRe, R-Violet Township, said monitoring for federal overreach “has become a laborious job in and of itself.”
“Federalism is a foundational piece of our U.S. Constitution,” he said. “That is why, as a member of state government, I must do what I can to protect the rights reserved for us under the 10th Amendment. I am appreciative of the General Assembly’s support for HB506 and look forward to it being signed into law in the near future.”
