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From the Desk of Rep. Dovilla

From the Desk of

Rep. Dovilla

At the Statehouse

Around the 7th

Upcoming Events

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163- Proud New

Homeowners
150 Responses to
Constituents

North Royalton Police

Department
Recipient of AAAs Silver
Award
Holly McFadden
Olmsted Falls Citizen of the
Year
Mayor Thomas Perciak
Building One Ohio Mayor
of the Year

Dear 7th District Resident:

The gavel has fallen on the final day of session for 130th
General Assembly of Ohio and the tenure of our legendary Speaker of
the House, Rep. Bill Batchelder of Medina. Your Legislature has
completed its work for the biennium, placing into the history books
another extremely productive session that continued our efforts to
make Ohio the best place in the Nation to live, work, and raise a family.
This work included the enactment of another balanced budget,
additional tax cuts for working Ohioans, and $1 billion of additional
state funding for our public schools, among many other measures
designed to keep the Buckeye State moving in the right direction.
Our final newsletter of 2014 features updates on key legislation
enacted during our lame duck session. And here in the 7th District, I
wish to congratulate Dr. Adam Hechko, owner and operator of North
Royalton Animal Hospital, a growing practice that employs 50 people
and was recently named a top five hospital in the U.S. and Canada by
the American Animal Hospital Association. We are proud of Dr.
Hachkos efforts as a small business owner and respected veterinarian
in our community.
As we look ahead to the 131st General Assembly, I am honored
to have been elected by my caucus to serve as the next Majority Whip.
This leadership position in the House of Representatives will provide
additional opportunities for me to represent the interests of our district
and Greater Cleveland in the Legislature. I am looking forward to
serving the Peoples House and our community in this new capacity.
On behalf of our office Legislative Aide Bill White and
Constituent Aide Rob Cooper I wish you all the very best for a Merry
Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a healthy, prosperous New Year.
If we may ever be of assistance to you or your family, please contact our
office at 614-466-4895 or [email protected]. We look forward to
continuing to serve you in 2015.
Sincerely,

State Representative Mike Dovilla

[email protected].

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At the Statehouse

The Ohio House of Representatives completed its work for

the 130 General Assembly (2013-2014) and adjourned sine die on the
evening of December 17. During a busy final few weeks of session,
the Legislature enacted a number of significant measures to continue
improving our great state, including Senate Bill 243, legislation to
establish the first Friday of August through that Sunday as a threeday sales tax holiday on clothing, school supplies, and instructional
materials. This tax holiday will save consumers an estimated $78
million.
th

The bill also features language originally contained in House

Bill 259, bipartisan legislation I introduced in 2013 with Rep. Michael
Stinziano (D-Columbus) to establish a two-year Economic
Gardening Technical Assistance Program. This initiative will provide
eligible businesses with services related to marketing, market
research, and development of business connections. The bill

appropriates $500,000 to fund this innovative program, which will

help spur job creation and economic development.
The final bill also included other key provisions I supported,
specifically: appropriations related to the travel and tourism industry
for the 2015 Major League All-Star Game in Cincinnati and the
Chagrin Valley Little Theatre; a revision to a tax credit to support a
jobs-producing computer data center project in northeast Ohio; and
an important change to a capital appropriation enacted earlier this
year for the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Proton Therapy
Center.
It has been another productive session for our legislative
agenda. Among my bills that passed the Legislature during the last
few weeks were:

House Bill 218, which establishes an Entrepreneur-inResidence program for private sector entrepreneurs to
volunteer at state agencies and offer feedback as to how the
state can better reach out to small businesses, reduce
burdensome regulations, and implement other innovative
concepts to increase government efficiency.
House Bill 474, which creates the Ohio State Beekeepers
Association license plate that will generate $15 per place for a
special fund designed to assist in promoting beekeeping,
providing educational information about beekeeping, and
supporting state and local beekeeping programs and research.

I am in the process of preparing my legislative agenda for the

131st General Assembly, which will convene on January 5, 2015.
Among the bills I am planning to re-introduce that did not complete
the legislative process this year are:

House Bill 49 (Ohio Elder Justice Act), which would

strengthen our states statutes to better protect senior citizens
for the first time in over 20 years; and
House Bill 175 (Open Ohio), which would improve
government transparency by codifying the state expenditure
database recently launched by the Treasurer of States office
www.OhioCheckbook.com.

For the past two years, it has been my privilege to serve as

Chairman of the House Standing Committee on Policy and
Legislative Oversight. I am honored to have received this
appointment from Speaker Batchelder, who entrusted our committee
to handle some of the more complex issues that came to this General
Assembly, including the reform of election laws to be more efficient

and fair, protection of Ohioans Second Amendment rights, and

improvement of the business climate for our states growing number
of wineries and micro distilleries. In addition to our legislative work,
the committee held several oversight hearings on matters such as the
political targeting of Ohioans by the IRS, the importance of
affordable, reliable electricity to our states residents and businesses,
the growth of travel and tourism and Ohios fourth largest industry,
and the threats posed to our residents by increasing cyber attacks on
state infrastructure. As I trade in my Chairmans gavel for a
leadership post as the next Majority Whip, I wish to express my
gratitude to the 12 other members of the committee for their
distinguished service on our panel and to the many Ohioans who
came forward from our district and across the State to participate as
witnesses in the legislative process. What an honor to be a part of
representative democracy in action!
Around the 7th
During the past month, I have maintained an active schedule
around our district, participating in the following events:

On November 21, I attended a National Blue Ribbon

Presentation at Albion Elementary in North Royalton.
On December 5, I attended the Believe in Ohio School Assembly
at Strongsville High School.
On December 5, I presented a House Accommodation to Albion
Elementary in North Royalton recognizing the schools 50th
anniversary.
On December 11, I attended Baldwin Wallaces holiday
reception in Medina.
On December 18, I presented a House Accommodation to the
staff at the North Royalton Animal Hospital for being awarded
the distinction of being one of the top 5 AAHA hospitals in the
United States and Canada.
Upcoming Events

Representative Dovilla wishes everyone a Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year. We will update our list of upcoming events in
the January 2015 issue of the 7th District Newsletter. To submit an
event for inclusion, please email our office at [email protected].
Thank you!