COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Day three of the special session at the Ohio Statehouse came to an end, and now two bills are just one vote away from the governor’s desk. One of them has to do with getting President Joe Biden on Ohio’s ballot.

But another bill, House Bill 1, sponsored by Representative Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), garnered most of the floor debate on Thursday. All Democrats voted against the bill but it ultimately passed the House with Republican support.

The bill would ban foreign nationals from donating money to statewide issue campaigns. Issue campaigns would be things like the redistricting or minimum wage Ohioans could see on November’s ballot.

“The bill, as drafted, would chill [citizens’] political activity, would say to them, ‘Don’t do this for fear or these massive fines,’” Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said. “It’s a very vague, overbroad and confusing bill so no one knows if it is truly going to apply to them or not.”

“This bill does serve the interests of all Ohioans by providing an effective and efficient way of ferreting out illegal foreign donations that are influencing our elections,” Seitz said.

The bill was amended on the House floor, in a motion brought forward by Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) to also include Green Card holders in the definition of “foreign nationals,” taking the federal definition a step further. Stewart said without that addition, it is a “Diet Coke foreign money ban.” But Seitz said while he has no problem with the addition, he worries it will open the bill up to more scrutiny and litigation.

The bill also gives more authority to the state’s attorney general, rather than the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC), to investigate these cases and could result in felony and misdemeanor charges.

“Foreign money is a fundamental infection of our political process,” Seitz said. “It is difficult to trace, it requires consideration of international issues that are far beyond the ken of the Ohio Elections Commission, which, in recent years, have been a complete paper tiger. It has taken forever to adjudicate the cases of relatively straightforward election offenses and therefore we think it’s appropriate for the attorney general to have this jurisdiction.”

“What we heard the bill’s sponsor say is, ‘We don’t want to wait for the adjudication process, we think it takes too long, we just want to go straight to enforcement and prosecution,’” Isaacsohn said. “That is not how the system works. People have rights.”

Isaacsohn said the core of the bill — that foreign money should be illegal in Ohio elections — is not what he and other Democrats oppose. He worries about the impact this will have on citizen-led initiatives and campaigns.

“To investigate and prosecute allegations of an already badly drafted and confusing law is going to serve one purpose: it’s going to chill political activity,” he said. “It’s going to tell the people of Ohio, ‘We want it to be harder for you to organize, do things that are fundamentally American.’”

But Seitz said only ballot initiatives that “rely on foreign money” will be impacted. Seitz said it is even unclear whether the attorney general would be able to complete any cases before this November election. Seitz said this is to protect Ohio.

“There are many countries around the world that are not our friend, and we believe that Ohioans should decide ballot questions only by money that comes from other Americans,” Seitz said.

The Senate is convening Friday at noon to consider House Bill 1. 

“I believe sincerely that they are on board with what we have passed here today,” Seitz said.

The Senate has already passed four versions of a foreign money ban that the House did not take up in Senate Bill 215, House Bill 305, House Bill 114 and House Bill 271.

The Senate will also likely consider the Biden ballot bill. If the Senate passes the House bills with no amendments, they will then head to the governor’s desk for a signature or veto. Gov. Mike DeWine has already said he is supportive of both measures.