Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian talks with State Rep. Adam Bird

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Brian talks with State Rep. Adam Bird · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: The talk station.
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  Speaker 2: 829 55 kcd talk station happy monday so pleased to
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  Speaker 2: welcome to the 55 kc morning show and thank you
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  Speaker 2: to the voters in ohio's 63rd district which is uh
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  Speaker 2: well is that claremont and brown county's least part of
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  Speaker 2: for re-electing adam bird as your representative defeating the democratic
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  Speaker 2: challenger at least we got adam back and adam's joined
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  Speaker 2: the program today to talk about the aftermath it is
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  Speaker 2: good to have you on representative bird welcome.
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  Speaker 1: Brian, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: It's an honor to be with you, and I definitely
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  Speaker 3: am thankful for the support of District 63 in light
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  Speaker 3: of the difficult election night results that.
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  Speaker 1: We just experienced.
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  Speaker 2: Difficult is a good word for that one. Still reeling
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  Speaker 2: over at Datum, but we'll get through it as we
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  Speaker 2: always do. Now, Ohio requires a three-fifths vote. to override
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  Speaker 2: a governor veto, also to refer constitutional amendments to the ballot.
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  Speaker 2: Republicans went in with a veto-approved supermajority in both chambers,
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  Speaker 2: and then Andrew, last week, where Democrats flipped enough of
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  Speaker 2: the House seats to drop Republicans below 60, which they
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  Speaker 2: need to have the supermajority. The Senate's okay, but in
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  Speaker 2: the remaining time, we're in this lame duck session when
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  Speaker 2: you can override a governor veto. DeWine, not exactly the
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  Speaker 2: most conservative Republican out there, so what is on your
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  Speaker 2: short list of Representative Byrd, to get accomplished before the
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  Speaker 2: supermajority goes away.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I want to point out to you, Brian, that yes,
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  Speaker 3: we do have a supermajority right now of 65 members.
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  Speaker 1: We need 60 votes to override a veto.
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  Speaker 3: But despite that number, we still have some members of
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  Speaker 3: our caucus who are hesitant to override a governor. They're
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  Speaker 3: hesitant to— they' re.
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  Speaker 1: More moderate in their leanings than many others of us.
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  Speaker 3: And so we will still have some challenges to get
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  Speaker 3: to that number 60 if we put something in front
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  Speaker 3: of Governor DeWine that he vetoes. Now, you ask about
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  Speaker 3: what priorities there should be. I will tell you what's
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  Speaker 3: on my list. data centers, number one, must be dealt
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  Speaker 3: with and they should be dealt with real soon. And
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  Speaker 3: when it comes to data centers, I think that it's
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  Speaker 3: very easy for me. There has to be local control.
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  Speaker 3: There cannot be nondisclosure agreements. There must be water and
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  Speaker 3: water discharge must be taken care of. We cannot hurt
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  Speaker 3: the environment over this. We cannot make the residents of
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  Speaker 3: that community pay extra. for electricity, so they must make
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  Speaker 3: their own electricity. There needs to be some common sense
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  Speaker 3: to these issues. And so I think the other reasonable thing,
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  Speaker 3: I don't know how you put it in legislation, data
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  Speaker 3: centers should go in brownfield sites to the extent possible
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  Speaker 3: and not using brand new land, virgin farmland, those kinds
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  Speaker 3: of things.
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  Speaker 1: That's a very easy issue.
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  Speaker 3: The other issue that we might look at would be
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  Speaker 3: executive appointments. What kinds of executive appointments are we going
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  Speaker 3: to allow the governor to have? And then finally, property
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  Speaker 3: tax is something that still is an issue that is
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  Speaker 3: plaguing Ohio, not income tax. It's property tax that is
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  Speaker 3: plaguing Ohio and has gotten out of control.
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  Speaker 1: We got to do something about that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, you ran through the litany on data centers.
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  Speaker 2: It sounded exactly like the campaign that Vivek Ramaswamy ran on.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he said all of the above on that.
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  Speaker 2: Bring your own power. Deal with the water issues. Make
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  Speaker 2: sure the noise is in control. Let local governments have
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  Speaker 2: measured control over this. That wasn't embraced by the Ohio voters,
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  Speaker 2: sadly enough. I don't know where Amy Acton is on this,
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  Speaker 2: but can you really hope to get something passed by
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  Speaker 2: way of legislation that addresses any of this before the
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  Speaker 2: top of the year? Or do you think there's really
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  Speaker 2: going to be any opposition among your Democratic colleagues, growing number,
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  Speaker 2: but still in a minority in Columbus, that they too
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  Speaker 2: would push for a lot of these data center issues
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  Speaker 2: to move forward? Because it sounds to me like a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things that they advanced as well by way
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  Speaker 2: of proposals.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I can tell you that we did not advance
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  Speaker 3: data center legislation in the previous six months because there
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  Speaker 3: was some disagreement over property tax breaks.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, I forgot to mention that issue.
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  Speaker 3: And there were some members of the Senate that were
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  Speaker 3: in favor of data center breaks for data centers. And
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  Speaker 3: and the House, we stood firm on the issue. You know,
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  Speaker 3: a multibillion dollar corporation does not need a data, a
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  Speaker 3: property tax break. And if you give if you don't
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  Speaker 3: give them a property tax break, they're still going to
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  Speaker 3: come anyway. So that has got to be in any
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  Speaker 3: legislation that we might pass.
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  Speaker 2: Well, in the final four, we will do this one
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  Speaker 2: more issue on data centers and we'll take a break
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  Speaker 2: and come back with property tax. And some of the
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  Speaker 2: other ones are on my mind. Bringing one's own electricity
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  Speaker 2: or ensuring that the local residents don't pay more because
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  Speaker 2: of the massive power consumption they have. How can we
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  Speaker 2: do that as a state? My understanding, like, again, going
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  Speaker 2: back to small modular reactors, it's going to require really
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  Speaker 2: intense federal government cooperation. Can we even deliver on that
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  Speaker 2: mandate for them to, quote, unquote, bring their own power?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've been elected to serve the public, and that's
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  Speaker 3: what we've got to do. And we've got to find
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  Speaker 3: answers to that question. And I think that's the only
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  Speaker 3: way possible forward. We cannot increase people's electrical bill because
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  Speaker 3: of data centers. And I don't care what the federal
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  Speaker 3: government wants. I don't care about whatever we're scared of
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  Speaker 3: the Chinese. We are not going to force data centers
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  Speaker 3: on people. rural Ohio or any Ohioan unless.
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  Speaker 1: They want it.
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  Speaker 3: And if they're going, you know, the data center should
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  Speaker 3: be forced to come in and say, this is what
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  Speaker 3: we're going to offer the local community. We're going to
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  Speaker 3: build you this. We're going to do that. We're going to,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to help offset local property taxes. They should
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  Speaker 3: be offering the local something in order for them to
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  Speaker 3: come into that community.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, put them in a position of advancing their role
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  Speaker 2: and their position, and it caused them to require them
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  Speaker 2: to negotiate with the locals and come up with terms
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  Speaker 2: and conditions that are acceptable to both. This is the
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  Speaker 2: kind of thing that happens all the time. Makes perfect sense.
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  Speaker 2: State Representative Adam Burt, let's pause. We'll bring you back.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk about some of the other pieces of legislation
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  Speaker 2: we might see in the short term here in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: It's 835 right now, 55KRC, the talk station. This is 55KRC,
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  Speaker 2: an iHeartRadio. 55KRC, the talk station. It's 839-55-KRCD Talk Station.
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  Speaker 2: Got a couple more minutes here with State Representative Adam Byrd.
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  Speaker 2: Kind enough to come on the morning show and talk
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  Speaker 2: about what might happen in the short term. And I
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  Speaker 2: know you've got a meeting coming up, State Representative Byrd.
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  Speaker 2: So let me get real quick here. Well, lots of
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  Speaker 2: my listeners, big Second Amendment fans we are with the
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  Speaker 2: federal government no longer collecting a tax when you purchase
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  Speaker 2: a suppressor, a short barrel rifle. Courts determined that not
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  Speaker 2: collecting the tax renders that bill, well, just no longer enforceable.
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  Speaker 2: But we still have state laws in Ohio that deem suppressors,
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  Speaker 2: for example, dangerous ordinance. Senate Bill 214 says remove that,
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  Speaker 2: and it passed in March 31 to 1 in the Senate.
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  Speaker 2: It hasn't been voted on yet in the House, to
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  Speaker 2: the best of my knowledge. Is that one that might advance?
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  Speaker 3: That's a priority for us, Brian. I believe that we'll
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  Speaker 3: get that done. We'll get it done quickly. It's still
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  Speaker 3: in a committee in the House, but I think it's
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  Speaker 3: going to make it, and I hope that it makes
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  Speaker 3: it quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Your tea leaf reading on Governor DeWine's reception of that thing,
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  Speaker 2: if it does pass in the House?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, when you see how overwhelmingly the Senate
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  Speaker 3: voted for that, just about every Democrat voted for it.
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  Speaker 3: So I don't think that Governor DeWine would say no
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  Speaker 3: to that with overwhelming support.
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  Speaker 2: Well, since the Senate removed the short barrel rifle component
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  Speaker 2: from it and just left the suppressor component... Would it
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  Speaker 2: be possible that the House would change that to put
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  Speaker 2: back in SBRs or they just do it as a
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  Speaker 2: standalone previously passed by the Senate bill?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: We haven't had a conversation about that. But, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'm okay with adding it back in. We want to
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  Speaker 3: protect the Second Amendment. And, you know, I'm not worried
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  Speaker 3: about what Governor DeWine thinks. We should do what is
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  Speaker 3: in the best interest of Ohioans. We should protect the
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  Speaker 3: interests of conservatives and Second Amendment.
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  Speaker 1: And so we need to get it done.
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  Speaker 3: And if Mike DeWine vetoes it, it's on him.
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  Speaker 2: Does he still have does he still wield power? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you just got done saying, I don't care what Mike
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  Speaker 2: DeWine thinks about it, but are there politicians in Columbus
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  Speaker 2: that are concerned about the reputation in the mind of
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  Speaker 2: Mike DeWine going forward?
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  Speaker 1: No, I don't think so.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the point of that statement from me
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  Speaker 3: was before the election, we were wanting to protect a
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  Speaker 3: Republican governor and not embarrass him too much in front
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  Speaker 3: of an election. And now that the election is over,
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  Speaker 3: there's no need to do that anymore. And we should
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  Speaker 3: move forward in whatever is the best interest of Ohio.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
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  Speaker 2: One of the things you brought up was property tax.
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  Speaker 2: And I know Ramaswamy ran on property taxes. I can't
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  Speaker 2: remember if Acton had anything to say about it, but
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  Speaker 2: he wanted to at least roll back property taxes to
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  Speaker 2: their 2019 pre-COVID level. Is there any legislation that's out
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  Speaker 2: there pending that might bring some property tax relief before
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  Speaker 2: the supermajority or is it coming in the next year?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, are even Democrats interested in providing some property
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  Speaker 2: tax relief?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we passed four or five bills in the last
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  Speaker 3: year that reformed property taxes around the edges. We didn't
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  Speaker 3: make major change. Again, the governor would not have signed
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  Speaker 3: off on anything major. But remember that in order for
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  Speaker 3: us to provide any major change on property taxes, we've
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  Speaker 3: got to find another way to provide revenue to your sheriff,
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  Speaker 3: your police, your fire, your schools. Those kinds of things
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  Speaker 3: would be detrimentally affected by you know, dramatically reforming property
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  Speaker 3: taxes the way they need to be reformed. And so
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  Speaker 3: that means we're going to have to be creative. Do
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  Speaker 3: we add a little bit of sales tax? Do we
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  Speaker 3: income tax? I never hear anybody, Brian, complain about income tax,
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  Speaker 3: because when you do your income tax, right after you've
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  Speaker 3: done your federal income tax, you think, wow, Ohio's.
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  Speaker 1: Doing a great job on that.
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  Speaker 3: So finding other ways to keep your sheriff, your police,
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  Speaker 3: your fire, your EMT, your school, public schools going, I
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  Speaker 3: think we've got to find creative ways to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that those are still funded at the same time that
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  Speaker 3: we're providing relief to property taxpayers that are out of
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  Speaker 3: control right now. And it's really a property valuation issue.
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  Speaker 3: The property values have dramatically climbed.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I couldn't agree with you more on that last statement.
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  Speaker 2: But are we not still facing what I will view
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  Speaker 2: as a rather challenging reality if we all vote for
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  Speaker 2: elimination of property tax to a ballot initiative? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's still out there as a thing, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Definitely.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't think it's going anywhere. And I think
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  Speaker 3: that the people who want to see property taxes abolished,
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  Speaker 3: they're going to keep working. And I think that when
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  Speaker 3: Democrats become in power and the executive branch, I think
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  Speaker 3: that that will just encourage those who are opposed to
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  Speaker 3: property taxes to keep collecting signatures.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's going to move. And I wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: surprised if it's on the ballot.
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, we're going to keep doing what's in
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  Speaker 3: our best interest for what I think is Ohioans, which
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  Speaker 3: is to bring property tax relief. But if they get
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  Speaker 3: that to the ballot and eliminate them all, we will
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  Speaker 3: certainly have an emergency on our hands and we will
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  Speaker 3: have to be creative about in the midst of an
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  Speaker 3: emergency like that in a variety of ways so that
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  Speaker 3: we don't lose police, fire, public schools, libraries, parks, all
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  Speaker 3: of these things that are currently funded by property tax.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me to suggest if something like
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  Speaker 2: that happens, the train wreck that's unfolding actually happens. Property
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  Speaker 2: taxes are eliminated. You're left with this need to be
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  Speaker 2: creative to come up with a solution in the aftermath
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  Speaker 2: of that, that that's going to force some bipartisan cooperation.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, it would be an emergency.
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  Speaker 3: There's no doubt because if that's on the ballot in
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  Speaker 3: November of 27, the way that currently reads, we would
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  Speaker 3: have to have a solution by January of 28. And
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  Speaker 3: so you've got less than two months to figure it out.
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  Speaker 1: And it would bring.
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  Speaker 3: The crisis to Ohio that would be necessary to bring
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  Speaker 3: some real creative solutions to the issue.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the clock's ticking. You got about a year. State
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  Speaker 2: Representative Adam Burge, if you sit down and start talking
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  Speaker 2: about it, because I I really do see that wave coming.
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  Speaker 2: I think people are angry enough that they would say,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to roll the dice. I'm
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  Speaker 2: done with property tax. Let's see how our elected officials
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  Speaker 2: deal with the aftermath.
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  Speaker 1: We certainly know what anger looks like. We saw it
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  Speaker 1: this week. Isn't that true? Especially at the federal.
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  Speaker 3: Level, we don't do what we said we would do
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  Speaker 3: by ending foreign wars and by taking care of America first.
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  Speaker 3: And the federal government was more outwardly focused on whatever's
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  Speaker 3: happening in Ukraine and China and Taiwan and Iran. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: when we get focused outside of America, we see what
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  Speaker 3: anger does, and we're definitely affected by that.
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  Speaker 2: Without question. State Representative Adam Bird, it's been a real
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  Speaker 2: pleasure having you on, offering your thoughts and comments as we, well,
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  Speaker 2: deal with.