The Mahoning Valley’s legislative delegation said Mike DeWine’s final State of the State address was a recap of his seven-plus years as governor with a continued focus on children, but ignored important issues facing Ohioans such as economic development, energy and property taxes.

“The State of the State left a lot to be desired,” said state Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield. “There was not one mention of property taxes, not one bit on energy and utility costs. People are worried about that. He dropped the ball. He didn’t discuss major key issues such as where do we go for more economic development and the financial pains people are feeling. Energy costs are a focal point for every Ohioans. These were missed opportunities.”

State Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles, said: “I was disappointed that the address offered limited discussion on several of the challenges Ohio families are facing today. Workforce development, economic development, housing affordability and tax relief are top concerns for many communities across our state.”

As DeWine, a Republican, has often done in past State of the State addresses, his 62-minute speech Tuesday primarily focused on children.

DeWine called on the state Legislature to approve a law requiring cellphone and technology companies to automatically install parental control features to make it easier to monitor what children are seeing; making it illegal to possess, create and distribute child pornography created by artificial intelligence; hold tech companies accountable both criminally and civilly for using AI to encourage people to kill or harm themselves and others; and again, called for law enforcement officers to be permitted to pull over those in vehicles not wearing seatbelts or failing to have children in child seats.

None of the Valley’s legislators said they support DeWine’s renewed push to make not wearing seatbelts a primary offense, which would permit law enforcement to pull over a motorist, or automatic parental controls on cellphones though they backed his call to ban AI-created child pornography.

DeWine said: “Enacting a primary seatbelt law is about so much more than economic losses or even the safety of those individuals who are OK with risking their own lives by not wearing a seatbelt. It is about protecting families, communities and the people who depend on us every single day.”

State Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, said: “I’m a huge proponent of parents making decisions for their children. More and more government taking over that role worries me a tad. Ohio would be stronger if we had stronger families. So much of what I heard wants to take away from families.”

O’Brien said DeWine’s failure to even mention property taxes concerned her, particularly because he vetoed bills last year to reform property taxes and then the Legislature passed similar bills the governor signed that ended up postponing relief.

State Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Canfield, said DeWine’s speech “was a nice recap of issues important to him. It was a backwards issues speech. There were only a few calls to action. It was primarily a look at his administration.”

Fischer said he wasn’t surprised DeWine didn’t discuss property taxes or future economic development initiatives, though he expected the governor to talk about the death penalty as he has said for a few months that he was going to address that issue, as well as a possible bond issue he’s discussed to fund the H2Ohio water project program.

“I agree the AI-generated stuff needs to be addressed,” Fischer said. “But I’m not behind the seatbelt change. It doesn’t need to be legislated into a primary offense. Liability for tech companies becomes tricky. I’m not opposed to it. But it’s not as simple as it was presented. It depends on what is proposed. Parental controls are already in place. A lot of those tools already exist. I’m going to be a little leery of government taking the role of parents.”

State Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, said DeWine’s speech “didn’t give an entire view of Ohio. It’s a good example of the governor not having the economy as a priority. He has other people focused on that. I’m not surprised he didn’t bring it up.”

As for DeWine’s initiatives, Thomas said, “I don’t focus on kids. It didn’t excite me. They’re important things, but it’s not what I hear on a daily basis from my constituents. I imagine next year’s (State of the State from a new governor) will be very, very, very different.”

Cutrona said he is not in favor of making not wearing a seatbelt a primary offense.

“I’ve yet to have a single constituent mention it and it could be a new excuse to pull people over,” Cutrona said. “I don’t know if focusing on that is the best use of law enforcement.”

The address, Cutrona said, was “filled with missed opportunities to talk about property taxes, energy and moving forward with economic development. It was a legacy speech. What would have been a bigger legacy is passing the torch forward.”

State Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, said: “The governor’s heart is in the right place and I genuinely feel like he’s tried his best, but Ohio families keep hearing the same promises about supporting women, childcare and opportunity. But when the cameras are off, the bills that would actually make a difference are left sitting in committee. We can’t keep playing this bait-and-switch with people’s lives, their businesses and their ability to raise a family in this state.”

McNally added: “We say we want families to thrive, but we still don’t have a family tax credit. The Legislature eliminated the tax-free shopping holiday that helped parents afford back-to-school supplies. Child care remains out of reach for too many families, keeping women out of the workforce and businesses from finding the workers they need.”

Santucci said DeWine’s speech placed a “strong emphasis on the safety and well-being of Ohio’s children. Protecting our kids and ensuring they grow up in safe, stable environments is a priority we all share and I appreciate the governor’s attention to those issues.”

But Santucci said: “I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance policies that strengthen Ohio’s workforce, grow our economy and address the everyday cost pressures facing our citizens.”

O’Brien said in less than a year, DeWine will no longer be governor and “we need to know the directions he’s going in.”