Ohio Republicans used a bestiality bill to help push forward a law blocking minimum wage increases in major cities.
The bill passed by the state’s House of Representatives on Wednesday originated as regulations for pet stores, though GOP lawmakers stuffed it full of other measures as it approached the floor.
New sections in the bill included rules about communities’ ability to stop telecom companies from putting up wireless antennas and a ban on cities raising the minimum wage locally.
The current minimum wage in Ohio is $8.10 an hour, less than a dollar above the national $7.25 figure, though Cleveland is set to vote on a $15 minimum wage in a special election last year and similar efforts have sprouted up in Cincinnati.
Republicans’ 11th hour additions to the bill led to a bizarre situation in which more than 40 largely Democratic legislators voted against a ban on people having sex with animals.
A pure bestiality bill passed the Ohio Senate late last month with the unanimous support of both Republicans and Democrats.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich can now sign or veto the bill, which joins a controversial bill banning abortions where a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, over the course of the next 10 days.
Those pushing for a higher minimum wage said the loaded up bill will let state officials interfere with cities’ democratic process, though animal advocates cheered the measure.
“The passage of animal sexual abuse legislation is a great victory for the animals of Ohio,” the Humane Society’s Leighann Lassiter told The Guardian.
The newspaper reported that bestiality is currently legal in Hawaii, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.
However, the Humane Society and other animal advocates did not score a pure victory with the Ohio bill, which also preempts local ordinances stopping pet stores from buying dogs from large-scale puppy breeders often called puppy mills.
Republicans use bestiality bill to fight minimum wage increases
The bill passed by the state’s House of Representatives on Wednesday originated as regulations for pet stores, though GOP lawmakers stuffed it full of other measures as it approached the floor.
New sections in the bill included rules about communities’ ability to stop telecom companies from putting up wireless antennas and a ban on cities raising the minimum wage locally.
The current minimum wage in Ohio is $8.10 an hour, less than a dollar above the national $7.25 figure, though Cleveland is set to vote on a $15 minimum wage in a special election last year and similar efforts have sprouted up in Cincinnati.
Republicans’ 11th hour additions to the bill led to a bizarre situation in which more than 40 largely Democratic legislators voted against a ban on people having sex with animals.
A pure bestiality bill passed the Ohio Senate late last month with the unanimous support of both Republicans and Democrats.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich can now sign or veto the bill, which joins a controversial bill banning abortions where a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, over the course of the next 10 days.
Those pushing for a higher minimum wage said the loaded up bill will let state officials interfere with cities’ democratic process, though animal advocates cheered the measure.
“The passage of animal sexual abuse legislation is a great victory for the animals of Ohio,” the Humane Society’s Leighann Lassiter told The Guardian.
The newspaper reported that bestiality is currently legal in Hawaii, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.
However, the Humane Society and other animal advocates did not score a pure victory with the Ohio bill, which also preempts local ordinances stopping pet stores from buying dogs from large-scale puppy breeders often called puppy mills.
Republicans use bestiality bill to fight minimum wage increases
