COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A state legislative committee is expected to hear a bill on Tuesday that would make the walleye, northern Ohio’s popular sportfish, the state fish.
Ohio is one of only three states without a state fish (Indiana and Iowa are the others), and the bill is a joint initiative between lawmakers and NBC4 to better inform people about the legislative process and the innerworkings of their government.
Lawmakers in the state Senate and House of Representatives introduced identical walleye bills, an effort to give the idea the best chance of becoming law.
When bills are heard in committee is at the mercy of committee chairs, and the House bill was the first to get the green light. Sponsors of House Bill 484 say it will get its first hearing — called sponsor testimony — Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee.
Sponsoring state Reps. Michael Sheehy (D-Oregon) and Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo) said they joined the walleye initiative because the fish greatly contributes to Ohio’s history, culture and economy.
“From early colonial times to today, the walleye is a fish that is not just a sport fish, but it’s a fish that you put on your table,” Sheehy said.
Walleye fishing drives the $1 billion that Lake Erie fishing generates for Ohio’s economy every year, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. ODNR fisheries leader Scott Hale told NBC4 that walleye are 85% of fish caught along the lakeshore.
“Also, New Year’s Eve over in Port Clinton, they do the big walleye drop,” Sobecki said, when thousands of people gather to see the city drop a massive fiberglass fish. “And that’s not just from Port Clinton, it’s from all around (that people) come to see that drop.”
What will happen in and after committee?
Both bills have support from Democrats and Republicans, and Sobecki said she thinks bipartisanship made a difference to ag committee chair state Rep. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield) and House leadership, who control how quickly legislation moves.
An Ohio bill’s first committee hearing is the sponsor hearing, where the lead lawmakers present their case to the committee. Colleagues can also ask questions and suggest changes. This introduction to the bill can be a longer discussion or last only minutes.
The next two hearings to be scheduled after Tuesday are traditionally the proponents hearing (where bill supporters can testify) and the opponents hearing (where people against the bill can testify).
“And then the committee can put it up for a vote and vote it out of committee,” Sobecki said. “And then we will work diligently to get this to the House floor for a vote.”
If a majority of the House approves the bill, the sponsorship, committee and floor processes repeat in the Senate.
Because much of the legislative process is in the hands of a chamber’s top brass, Sheehy said he doesn’t know if the Senate version will also be heard or how quickly the House bill will move forward.
“Leadership has almost exclusive authority in those decisions,” he said.
Sobecki said sponsors will work diligently with chair Koehler and top Democrat, state Rep. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland), to push the bill along. But Ohioans can also help that process, she added, by voicing their support to their local lawmakers, the committee chair or House leadership.
Walleye was chosen in October as the proposed state fish after it received 27.5% of votes in an NBC4 audience poll of nine choices. Yellow perch (20.8%) and smallmouth bass (20.6%) came in second and third.
Past state fish initiatives have been bogged down by debates between walleye supporters and bass supporters, so Sheehy and Sobecki hope this bill can swim easily through the General Assembly.
“We have our battles with football with Michigan-Ohio,” Sobecki said. “We need to get over the battle of what should we have our state fish to be named. And I think it’s very clear that it needs to be the walleye.”
