FLASH: House Speaker says SB17 (Restaurant/Car Carry Rules Fix) will move in the House before summer recess, be sent to governor

Three weeks after his chamber passed its version of Restaurant & Carry Carry Rules Fix legislation, Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina) is saying that his chamber plans to move the Senate's version (SB17) this month, before the General Assembly breaks for the summer.

From the Dayton Daily News:

The constitution requires Kasich and the lawmakers to agree on a balanced budget by June 30, but other high-profile bills are proceeding on the same timetable.

Of those, none has sparked more controversy than the one allowing concealed carry permit-holders to take their guns into Ohio bars and restaurants serving alcohol, as long as they're not drinking.

Batchelder hinted at the fury — both pro and con — when asked how final passage would be handled.

"Hopefully during the time when everybody will be looking somewhere else," he joked.

The House and Senate have passed separate versions of the guns in bars bill and Batchelder said the House plans to give its OK to the Senate bill and send it to Kasich.

"That'll move," he said.

On April 13, the Senate passed SB17 by a 25-7 margin. The House voted for similar legislation with a 56-40 vote a month later, on May 11. Even though both the House and Senate passed substantially similar bills, one bill must go through the normal vote process in the opposite chamber before it can be sent to Governor Kasich. It is now clear that bill will be SB17, which contains slightly-improved language for gun owners, in that it adds a provision to provide a way for people who were convicted of improperly transporting a firearm under the current law to receive relief if they would have been in compliance under the law as amended in SB17.

Buckeye Firearms Association has urged the Republican leaders in the House and Senate to expedite final passage of this legislation so that it could be sent it to Governor Kasich before the summer recess, and we are encouraged by Speaker Batchelder's assurance that this will in fact happen.