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131st General Assembly Begins

99 members of the Ohio House and 33 Senators start their jobs in the 131st General Assembly today. 

Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.

One of the first orders of business of the new members will be the official vote for their leadership. It’s expected that Cliff Rosenberger of southwest Ohio will be elected Speaker of the House and Fred Strahorn of Dayton as the House Minority Leader, since they were selected in a vote of their caucuses just after last year’s election. Rosenberger had been challenged in that race for Speaker by Jim Butler, who had the support of some conservative lawmakers. Tea Party activists around Ohio are still angry over that vote, which they say was controlled by Gov. John Kasich to create a rubber stamp for his policies – some of which conservative Republicans oppose. In the Senate, Republican President Keith Faber of Celina and Democratic Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Youngstown will retain those positions – with no known controversy.

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