Courtney Combs was a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, representing the 54th District since his appointment in 2004. He was the Chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Career

A graduate of

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

, Combs served on

Hamilton City Council Hamilton City Council is the governing body of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Since 21 November 1960, Council has met at Hamilton City Hall at 71 Main Street West. The current council consists of the mayor In many countries, a may ...

and was Butler County Commissioner from 1986 to 2004. He is a licensed Realtor, and is a broker of Combs Group Realty.

Ohio House of Representatives

While Combs initially had planned to run against Gary Cates for the Fourth District of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

, he instead filed for the Ohio House. In another turn of events that expedited his career at the Statehouse, Greg Jolivette who had decided to run for Combs' Commission seat, resigned early so the two could simultaneously swap seats. He was sworn into the House on January 21, 2004. Combs faced no opposition to retain his seat in 2004. In 2006, Combs won reelection against Democrats Kenneth Keith with 57.16% of the vote. In 2008, he won a third full term, again against Keith, with 57.04% of the vote. With his reelection in 2010 over Democrat Bruce Carter with 62.2% of the vote, Combs will be Dean of the House of Representatives in the 129th General Assembly. Speaker of the House William G. Batchelder has named Combs as a member of the Republican majority caucus' Policy Committee. He also serves on the committees of Insurance; State Government and Elections and its Subcommittee on Redistricting; and Criminal Justice (as Chairman). Combs also serves on the Butler County

Transportation Improvement District A transportation improvement district (abbreviated TID) or transportation development district (TDD) is a special-purpose district created in some U.S. states for the purpose of coordinating and financing transportation infrastructure improvement pr ...

Board of Trustees; and on the Turnpike Legislative Review Committee. In 2011, Combs announced that he would seek a seat on the Butler County Board of Commissioners.

Initiatives and positions

In his fourth and final term, Combs introduced legislation that will lift the cap on online

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

s. With the introduction of

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...

's biennium budget, the number of vouchers available for charter schools has quadrupled. Both initiatives have come with criticism from

teachers' union The following is an alphabetical list of education trade unions: __NOTOC__ A * NEA-Alaska * Alliance of Concerned Teachers (Philippines) * Alabama Education Association State Affiliate of the National Education Association. * American Associatio ...

s. Combs has also introduced a bill that would designate ''

Lentil The lentil (''Vicia lens'' or ''Lens culinaris'') is an annual plant, annual legume grown for its Lens (geometry), lens-shaped edible seeds or ''pulses'', also called ''lentils''. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in Legume, pods, usually w ...

'' as the State Children's Book and make

Robert McCloskey John Robert McCloskey (September 15, 1914 – June 30, 2003) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He both wrote and illustrated eight picture books, and won two Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association for t ...

the State Children's Author. As chairman of the Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, Combs garnered unanimous support for a bill that would ban

texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktops/laptops, or ...

while

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. A driver's permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met, and drivers are required to ...

, and voted the bill out of the committee. A proponent of the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

reform, Combs has introduced legislation to show Ohio's support for the state of Arizona in its legal battle with the federal government over Arizona's efforts to control illegal immigration. Opponents of the measure says it's overreaching and amounts to racial profiling, but supporters say it is a necessary step in combatting illegal immigrants.

References

External links

Ohio House of Representatives: Rep. Courtney Combs (R-Hamilton)
''official site'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Combs, Courtney Living people Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly Miami University alumni 1956 births