Jo Ingles (Ohio Public Radio)

It looks like a controversial bill affecting student voting might not have enough support to make it in the budget after all.

Democratic State Representative Debbie Phillips says courts have ruled college students who attend Ohio universities full time can vote as Ohioans if they want.  She’s taking issue with a part of the proposed budget that would mandate state universities to lose money if they give these students credentials needed to vote.

Some conservative Ohio lawmakers and some faith leaders who generally support conservative causes want to put millions of additional dollars into more preschool for at risk children, something a lot of Democrats have championed in the past, and the push is on at the Ohio Statehouse to get more money for early childhood education.

The Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court has a plan that she thinks will reform the process of electing justices. Justice Maureen O’Connor says she’d like to keep party affiliation of judges off the ballot in primary and general elections. And she wants Ohio to start placing judicial races at the top of the ticket, hoping that doing so will lead to more voter participation in those races. O’Connor also wonders whether it might be best to move Judicial races to odd numbered years so they get more attention from voters.

Ohio Governor John Kasich says he is not giving up his push for expansion of Medicaid as part of the proposed two year state budget. Some groups have suggested putting the issue on the ballot so that Ohioans can decide whether to expand Medicaid. Governor Kasich says he’s not opposed to that idea.

Two years ago, the Statehouse was ground zero for a fight over a bill to limit collective bargaining rights. Now, a new bill is being introduced later today that is likely to revive some of those old controversies.