COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Robert Cupp (R-Lima) gave an update Thursday on where things stand on a number of hot button topics, including the nuclear bailout that cost his predecessor his job.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio House Speaker Robert Cupp (R-Lima) would not say when members could possibly vote to expel Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) or if House Republicans have enough votes

  • Cupp said the House has a better bill to address HB6 than the Senate

  • Cupp said the House is eager to move on SB 22 which limits the power of the governor and Ohio Department of Health

  • Cupp is opposed to abolishing the death penalty

It has been nearly seven months since former speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was arrested on racketeering charges related to House Bill 6.

Cupp would not say when members could possibly vote to expel Householder or if House Republicans have enough votes.

"We have 64 members. It takes a long time. We're taking the temperature of the caucus," Cupp said via phone.

Cupp also addressed two bills the Ohio Senate passed Wednesday.

First, Senate Bill 10, which repeals parts of House Bill 6 that gave FirstEnergy a guaranteed amount of money despite how business was going and legal cover to not refund consumers if the company did not make as much as it would like.

Cupp said the Senate is on the right track but thinks the House has a better bill.

There is also Senate Bill 22, which would give the state legislature say over a governor's executive orders and the state department of health's orders.

The previous General Assembly passed a similar bill before Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) vetoed it where it ultimately died.

This time around, Cupp said the House is eager to move on it again despite nearly 17,000 Ohioans having died from COVID-19.

"This is really an institutional question, a matter of check and balance, and it really doesn't depend I think on any specific statistics," Cupp said.

Earlier Thursday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation in the Senate to get rid of the death penalty.

House Republicans interviewed by Spectrum News are split on the issue even though a recent poll shows the majority of Ohioans are opposed to executions.

Cupp said his caucus will discuss it should it get to them but he feels “there is an appropriate place for the death penalty.”

"It's reserved now for really the worst of the worst and if there is some room to narrow that down even more we could do that,” Cupp said.​​ “I had the opportunity as a (Ohio Supreme Court) justice to read some of the transcripts of some of the cases in which the individuals were sentenced to death and some of those things were so horrendous you can almost not wrap your mind around them.”