{"id":847,"date":"2024-10-15T13:56:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/?post_type=chapter&p=847"},"modified":"2025-01-27T02:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T02:26:21","slug":"6-9-speaker-of-the-house","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/chapter\/6-9-speaker-of-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"6.9 Speaker of the House"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\nThe Speaker of the Ohio House is elected at the beginning of each General Assembly session, which occurs every two years, by a majority of House members. The role of Speaker involves guiding the House\u2019s agenda, presiding over sessions, and determining which bills reach the floor for a vote.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe Speaker appoints members to various committees and designates committee chairs for the majority party. This appointment power allows the Speaker to influence the legislative process by deciding who serves any in each role. A legislative committee is a smaller group of legislators within the House or Senate, tasked with reviewing, analyzing, and making recommendations on proposed legislation. These committees focus on specific areas of policy, such as education, health, or finance, and shape and refine bills before they are considered by the full legislative body.\r\n
\r\n\r\nYou will learn more about committees later in this chapter. For now, watch this brief report on Speaker Huffman\u2019s update to the House committee structure:<\/em>\r\n\r\nYouTube URL: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4uVqJsuUepU<\/a>\r\n\r\nDuration: 1:38\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nAnd don\u2019t forget that the Speaker decides which bills receive floor votes, giving the position what is essentially veto power over all proposed legislation.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe current Speaker of the House is Matt Huffman (Republican)<\/span>, who serves as state representative for Ohio\u2019s 78th District, which includes his hometown of Lima.\r\n\r\n\"A\r\n
\r\n\r\nSpeaker of the House Matt Huffman<\/em>\r\n\r\nSpeaker Huffman has a unique record of service in the General Assembly. He served as President of the Senate before term limits prevented him from continuing in that role.\r\n\r\nIn 2024, he successfully ran for state representative and soon was elected Speaker by his peers to start the 2025-2026 legislative session. Prior to his time in the Senate, he had served four terms in the House. Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for 30 years in his family\u2019s private practice law firm and has represented many small businesses in West Central Ohio. Speaker Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including seven years as City Council President.\r\n\r\nIn the Ohio legislature, he has sponsored bills to reform the medical delivery system, eliminate abortion, and enable parents to move their students from public schools to private schools through taxpayer subsidized vouchers.\r\n
\r\n\r\nSpeaker Huffman defeated former Speaker Jason Stephens for the position in 2025. News 5 Cleveland aired a story about their race prior to the 2024 general election. Watch it to learn more about how House Speakers are chosen:<\/em>\r\n\r\nYouTube URL: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tQ3jUFJ27-8<\/a>\r\n\r\nDuration: 4:02\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nMuch of the final two paragraphs were quoted directly from Speaker Huffman's official bio: https:\/\/ohiohouse.gov\/members\/matt-huffman\/biography<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

The Speaker of the Ohio House is elected at the beginning of each General Assembly session, which occurs every two years, by a majority of House members. The role of Speaker involves guiding the House\u2019s agenda, presiding over sessions, and determining which bills reach the floor for a vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Speaker appoints members to various committees and designates committee chairs for the majority party. This appointment power allows the Speaker to influence the legislative process by deciding who serves any in each role. A legislative committee is a smaller group of legislators within the House or Senate, tasked with reviewing, analyzing, and making recommendations on proposed legislation. These committees focus on specific areas of policy, such as education, health, or finance, and shape and refine bills before they are considered by the full legislative body.<\/p>\n

\n

You will learn more about committees later in this chapter. For now, watch this brief report on Speaker Huffman\u2019s update to the House committee structure:<\/em><\/p>\n

YouTube URL: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4uVqJsuUepU<\/a><\/p>\n

Duration: 1:38<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And don\u2019t forget that the Speaker decides which bills receive floor votes, giving the position what is essentially veto power over all proposed legislation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The current Speaker of the House is Matt Huffman (Republican), who serves as state representative for Ohio\u2019s 78th District, which includes his hometown of Lima.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n

Speaker of the House Matt Huffman<\/em><\/p>\n

Speaker Huffman has a unique record of service in the General Assembly. He served as President of the Senate before term limits prevented him from continuing in that role.<\/p>\n

In 2024, he successfully ran for state representative and soon was elected Speaker by his peers to start the 2025-2026 legislative session. Prior to his time in the Senate, he had served four terms in the House. Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for 30 years in his family\u2019s private practice law firm and has represented many small businesses in West Central Ohio. Speaker Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including seven years as City Council President.<\/p>\n

In the Ohio legislature, he has sponsored bills to reform the medical delivery system, eliminate abortion, and enable parents to move their students from public schools to private schools through taxpayer subsidized vouchers.<\/p>\n

\n

Speaker Huffman defeated former Speaker Jason Stephens for the position in 2025. News 5 Cleveland aired a story about their race prior to the 2024 general election. Watch it to learn more about how House Speakers are chosen:<\/em><\/p>\n

YouTube URL: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tQ3jUFJ27-8<\/a><\/p>\n

Duration: 4:02<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Much of the final two paragraphs were quoted directly from Speaker Huffman’s official bio: https:\/\/ohiohouse.gov\/members\/matt-huffman\/biography<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"menu_order":9,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-847","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":44,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/511"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/847\/revisions\/2387"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/44"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/847\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/statelocalgov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}