Latest news with #SteveDemetriou
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How to submit a public comment on Ohio's E-Check Ease Act
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) — A plan to make Ohio's biannual vehicle emissions testing easier will soon go before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval, and state regulators want to hear from Ohio drivers. The E-Check Ease Act, introduced by state Reps. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Township), was incorporated into the state's biennial transportation budget bill signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine at the end of March. PHOTOS: Truck goes off road, US 422 ramp closed Under Ohio's E-Check program, residents in seven counties — Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit — who own cars that are between 4 and 25 years old are required to have their emissions inspected every two years. A passing inspection is required for vehicle registration in those seven counties. The proposed change would expand the exemption for newer cars from four years old to six years old. Hybrid vehicles that are seven years old or newer would also be exempt. The bill also allows vehicle owners to forego inspections entirely and obtain an 'alternative emissions certificate' from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, attesting that their car meets state emissions laws 'to the best of their knowledge.' That attestation could be rejected if the EPA determines it was falsified or if the driver was cited in the past two years for excessive exhaust or a noisy muffler, or if their vehicle was in a collision in the prior two years which caused 'substantial' internal damage. Rejected owners would then have to get the car inspected. The Ohio EPA is required to submit the new certification process to the U.S. EPA, which must decide whether it complies with the federal Clean Air Act before it can move ahead. If approved, the Ohio EPA would then implement the state-level changes. The public comment period for the bill opened earlier this month and runs through June 2. Public comments can be emailed to DAPC-Comments@ through then. The Ohio EPA is then expected to respond to the public comments and submit the changes to the U.S. EPA. 'For 30 years, Northeast Ohio has been unfairly burdened by E-Check,' Roemer is quoted in a Wednesday news release. 'It is far past time to address this problem, and I encourage citizens to reach out to eviscerate this burden.' Bond set at $2 million as Aliza Sherman's alleged killer appears in court: I-Team State Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma) in a Wednesday news release said the E-Check program 'may have been well-intentioned' when it was created in 1996, but there's no evidence it has actually reduced vehicle emissions since then. He said drivers actually burn about 600,000 gallons of gas per year just to comply with the mandate. 'The $11 million the state spends would be better spent on conservation education and public transit,' he is quoted in the release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Just a burden': New Ohio bill looks to eliminate E-Checks
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – State lawmakers are making a strong push to eliminate the federal requirement for E-Checks for cars four years old or older in seven northeast Ohio counties. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Township) and Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) recently re-introduced House Bill 115. It calls for drivers to be able to fill out a personal attestation form to confirm their vehicle is in good condition, rather than having to go to an E-check station. 'Tragic loss of life': Cause determined after man, woman, 3 kids found dead in Ohio home The two lawmakers will be continuing on with that standalone bill, which hasn't had a hearing yet, regardless of what happens with House Bill 54. House Bill 54, recently signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, has the state's transportation budget in it, and part of that budget includes language from HB 115. Rep. Demetriou told Fox 8 that everything that he wanted to accomplish with the bill is also in HB 54, but HB 54 also requires approval from the federal government. If the Environmental Protection Agency deems the personal attestation forms as still meeting its clean air mandate for northeast Ohio, then the E-checks would no longer be required. Either way, Demetriou told Fox 8 they're going to continue to try and find a way to make the E-Check process easier or have it be eliminated it altogether. 'It's just a burden on [people]. It's really not making our air any cleaner or our lives any better, and people generally don't like it when the federal government tells them what to do, especially when it's not making a dent in their lives,' Demetriou said. 'I think between Sen. Bernie Moreno, Sen. Jon Husted, I think with the new administration, this is on people's radars in D.C., and that's really what it's going to take to end E-Check.' Erie County peace officers now allowed to use EpiPens Demetriou added that they asked the Ohio EPA to conduct a study on the effectiveness of E-Checks, but he would argue that making people drive to and from E-Check stations isn't doing anything to help the environment. He's not sure on the timing of when the federal EPA will look into the proposal to end E-Checks in Northeast Ohio. Fox 8 did request comments from the Ohio EPA. In a statement, a spokesperson directed us to their website and said: 'The E-Check program was developed in 1996 to help improve air quality by identifying cars and trucks with high emissions that might need repairs. Ohio EPA will implement and enforce any final changes that are signed into law.' In a statement sent to Fox 8, the director of Case Western Reserve University's School of Law's Environmental Law Clinic, Miranda Leppla, said eliminating E-Check would likely not have a major impact on the environment: 'Eliminating Ohio's E-Check program likely won't have a meaningful environmental impact, one way or the other. While vehicle emissions are a concern, the state's air quality issues are largely driven by coal-fired power plants and industrial pollution. E-check was a costly and inefficient program that placed the burden on individuals, particularly low-income residents, rather than addressing the major sources of pollution. Its removal is unlikely to change much.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio lawmakers want to require state ID to watch porn
Republican state Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp. (Photo from Ohio House website.) Ohio lawmakers are getting closer to requiring all porn watchers to submit their state ID and other personal information before accessing explicit content. Expressing sexual urges by watching pornography is a good thing, said Clevelander Mallory McMaster. 'I think sexuality is something that is important for human well-being,' she said. But a new bill introduced by Ohio Republicans would prevent her from going on explicit websites because it would require a state ID. In an effort to crack down on kids and teens accessing porn, state Reps. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., and Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, have proposed Ohio House Bill 84, which would require every porn watcher to provide age verification. 'I just want to help protect kids here in Ohio from this harmful content online,' Demetriou said. Verification would be done by submitting a photo of your state ID or by entering your personal information into a third-party system that will then run your details through other online databases — it could also use facial recognition technology, capturing photos of users. Companies would be penalized if they don't comply. 'Clicking a box that says 'Yes I am 18′ is not gonna prevent a 15-year-old boy from going on that website,' the lawmaker said. 'Any reasonable person understands that.' This is simply like walking into an old video rental store, the Republican added, noting that consumers would have been ID'd at the door or cash register. 'We're simply taking those same sort of measures from the Ohio Revised Code into the 21st century,' he said. This bill has mainly GOP cosponsors but does have support from at least three Democrats. McMaster believes H.B. 84 might as well be H.B. 1984, referencing the classic dystopian novel about government control by George Orwell, where society members were monitored at all times. 'I would not be watching pornography on a website that required me to upload a photo of my driver's license,' she added. 'I'm not sure where it would end up.' Numerous porn watchers have reached out, sharing concerns that data could be leaked, hacked, or sold for profit. 'We're creating a log of porn that every individual watches, and it's tracked with our driver's license and a photo of our faces,' McMaster argued. 'Whether it's hacked by someone who wants to blackmail and extort us or, ICE agents who question our citizenship, or local police investigating an alleged crime of some sort, they will all have access to this information.' She referenced cases where companies secretly provide facial recognition data to police — or law enforcement buys it from data aggregators, according to The Brookings Institution. Demetriou argued that companies would be required to have a system that protects sensitive information. 'It's not like that's stored for a long period of time, it's immediately deleted,' he said. PornHub, the most visited explicit content provider in the country, and their parent company Aylo gave us a statement about states that have implemented these requirements, saying in part: 'People did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, that don't follow the law, that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content.' Aylo explained that they have always been a supporter of age verification of users but that parents can add parental controls to their kids' devices. The bill also makes it a crime to use artificial intelligence to create porn of children or nonconsenting adults. Aylo said that they have protocols in place to moderate and remove child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual videos, such as revenge porn. The company also raised a red flag about data safety. 'Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy,' Aylo said. We asked Demetriou if his bill could push people to utilize under-moderated, obscure websites. 'We're not trying to push adults into the black market of porn, we're just simply trying to create common sense age verification procedures similar to what online gambling operations already have to do in Ohio,' he responded. McMaster said all the lawmakers are going to do is increase the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, which mask your IP address and let you bypass firewalls. The lawmakers said they did think about that and are working with organizations to geofence, which would be making a virtual perimeter around a location. 'I wouldn't want my local law enforcement agencies watching what pornography I'm watching, even though that would probably really entertain them,' McMaster said. The bill will continue to be debated in the coming weeks. McMaster said the lawmakers are amateurs and clearly should be working on bigger issues. Other online users agree, arguing that they should be dealing with sky-high property taxes, inflation, or child care costs. First, to be clear, Aylo has publicly supported age verification of users for years, but we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults. Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws. This is not speculation. We have seen how this scenario plays out in the United States. In Louisiana, Pornhub was one of the few sites to comply with the new law. Since then, our traffic in Louisiana dropped approximately 80 percent. These people did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, that don't follow the law, that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content. In practice, the laws have just made the internet more dangerous for adults and children. The best solution to make the internet safer, preserve user privacy, and prevent children from accessing adult content is performing age verification at the source: on the device. The technology to accomplish this exists today. What is required is the political and social will to make it happen. We are eager to be part of this solution and are happy to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective device-based age verification solution. In addition, many devices already offer free and easy-to-use parental control features that can prevent children from accessing adult content without risking the disclosure of sensitive user WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill would require adult websites to confirm age of Ohio users
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio residents would be required to upload photo ID or other age-verifying documentation to access adult websites if a recently introduced bill becomes law. Under House Bill 84, dubbed 'The Innocence Act,' pornography websites and any website that hosts content that is 'obscene or harmful to juveniles' would have to verify its visitors are at least 18 years old. The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.). Fight over DEI in schools rages at Ohio Statehouse 'In Ohio, businesses that primarily sell or rent adult content are legally required to verify the age of their customers,' Demetriou said at the bill's first hearing in February. 'The Innocence Act brings this commonsense safeguard into the 21st century.' Under the bill, Ohio users of adult websites would have to prove their age through a copy of a government-issued photo ID or another personal document, such as proof of a mortgage or employment. Companies would be required to 'immediately' delete such documents after the age verification is complete unless the user has a subscription or account. The bill would create a first-degree misdemeanor penalty for each day an adult website fails to verify Ohio users' ages. A first-degree misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine per conviction. The legislation would also establish the right for parents to file a civil lawsuit if a minor is given access to pornographic materials online. In the scenario where a minor in the state falsifies their way past the age verification, the website owner would be protected under the law, as long as they made a genuine attempt to verify the user's age. Children who attempt to access porn would not face penalties under the bill. If the bill were to pass, adult websites would be responsible for using a system to monitor the location of its visitors to ensure Ohioans' ages are verified. Whitehall considering laws to protect transgender and immigrant residents Demetriou cited multiple studies in support of the bill, including a 2010 study in the scientific journal Aggressive Behavior, which found exposure to violent X-rated content led to an increase in self-reported sexually aggressive behavior. He also noted other findings, including studies that linked porn to heightened feelings of social isolation and sexist attitudes toward women. 'As young children gain more and more access to digital content like this, states like Ohio must act to protect them from harmful materials, as we have with physical media,' Williams said. 'By passing HB 84, Ohio would join Texas, Utah, and Kansas in enacting legislation to protect minors from pornographic materials online.' The bill would additionally increase penalties for revenge porn — or releasing sexual content of someone without their consent — as well as deepfake porn, which uses existing photos of someone to create sexual materials using artificial intelligence. Under the legislation, creating deepfake porn would be classified as a fourth-degree felony for a first offense. For repeat offenders or offenses involving minors, the charge would be upgraded to a third-degree felony. Revenge porn would be classified as a fifth-degree felony, which would be upgraded to a fourth-degree felony for a repeat or child-oriented offense. These crimes are currently classified as misdemeanors under the law, which Demetriou said is 'far too lenient given the serious harm they inflict.' Large Hilliard development closes in on completion In the previous General Assembly, Demetriou introduced similar legislation under the same name. The bill received support from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the Women's Liberation Front, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Center for Christian Virtue. The only opponent testimony came from Gary Daniels with the American Civil Liberties Union. Daniels only spoke out against the age-verification portion of the legislation, saying over history such laws have been weaponized against movies, magazines, video games, sex education and more. 'There is something to be said about parental control and not involving government, law enforcement, courts, and incarceration,' Daniels said. 'Software that filters and/or blocks online content is widely available and inexpensive, much of it free. This allows parents to limit or block access for their own children without requiring the same be done for all minors and without burdening adults.' The previous bill received four hearings but ultimately did not pass by the end of the legislative session. Currently, 19 states have passed laws requiring age verification to access online pornography, according to The Age Verification Providers Association. Some adult websites have gone dark in these states, including PornHub, which has blocked access to users in regions that require age verification. HB 84 was assigned to the Technology and Innovation Committee, where its second hearing will occur on Tuesday. The bill has 25 Republican and three Democrat cosponsors. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio House lawmakers weigh cryptocurrency legislation
State Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., speaks during an Ohio House session. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) Ohio House lawmakers have begun hearings on cryptocurrency legislation aimed at protecting people who spend it and businesses that mine it. One bill even seeks to establish a state cryptocurrency reserve. State Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., is championing the effort, and describes it as a way to position Ohio as a 'leader' in the digital asset space. 'If we truly want to lead, we have to show our country and the world that we are ready to put our money where our mouth is by diversifying our investments via crypto currency,' he said when introducing legislation related to cryptocurrency. But there could be headwinds. Even as he introduced his crypto reserve legislation, Demetriou acknowledged 'ongoing discussions' with the Treasurer of State's Office and that changes reflecting that input are likely. Demetriou's cryptocurrency reserve bill grants the state treasurer authority to invest as much as 10% of the uncommitted money in the general revenue fund or state's rainy-day fund, as well as the trust fund that covers lottery winnings. 'It grants but does not mandate the treasurer of the state to invest,' he added. The proposal also limits the digital assets the treasurer can purchase to those with a market capitalization of $750 billion or more. With a market cap of roughly $1.5 trillion, Bitcoin is currently the only cryptocurrency that qualifies. State Rep. Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, pressed Demetriou about how the treasurer is supposed to assess the financial risks of using state dollars to buy Bitcoin. Demetriou said the intent of his bill is to park that money as a long-term investment. 'We're not looking for the treasurer's office to start day-trading,' he said. Demetriou argued that although Bitcoin's value fluctuates like any other asset, it's more stable than one might realize. 'So, I think as of like the 23rd of (February), the S&P 500's 60-day historical volatility index was somewhere around 12.5%,' he said. 'Bitcoin's was under 3%.' In addition to limiting the cryptocurrencies in which the treasurer may invest, the measure also limits how the treasurer does so. Under the bill, investments could be handled through a bank or similar institution, or in-house with a 'secure custody solution.' That would include hardware for controlling the assets in at least two separate locations with multiple people involved in authorizing transactions. Smartphone access is explicitly forbidden under the bill. The Capital Journal reached out to the treasurer's office about Demetriou's legislation but got no response. Cryptocurrencies rely on a public ledger tracking all previous transactions to establish mutual confidence in the asset's value. But that ledger, known as the blockchain, can be used for other transactions, too. Ohio's U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno started a company that uses blockchain technology to transfer vehicle titles online. Demetriou's 'blockchain basics' measure establishes several limits on how blockchain companies and users can be regulated in Ohio — the overall object being to prohibit policies that disfavor blockchain companies. 'For example, the Blockchain Basics Act prohibits the government from treating anyone differently for transacting with digital assets through unnecessary taxes or fees,' he explained. 'And it also ensures that Ohio businesses can accept digital assets as a form of payment.' He added that the measure would place limits on local zoning. 'It prevents undue discrimination against the data centers that make Bitcoin function,' he said. 'Local municipalities can still put forward restrictions, but they need to be general, or at least on par with restrictions that would apply to other similar businesses.' Demetriou described it as balancing local authority against 'ensuring that Ohio does not miss out on this quickly growing industry.' Data centers focused on 'mining' digital assets are ideal candidates for 'interruptible load' energy services, which get shut off when demand is high, he said. Notably, a power customer must first opt in to an interruptible load program. More fundamentally, however, Demetriou said the proposal sets down clear definitions for elements of the blockchain industry that could serve a statutory foundation into the future. 'So moving forward,' he said, 'other legislators that want to regulate this even more, or deregulate — whatever they want to do — they have some sort of framework to work within.' Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
