SB 3 ELECTRIC DEREGULATION (Johnson) En. 4928. Declares that the public policy of the State of Ohio is to effect the restructuring of the electric industry pursuant to specified goals permitting effective competition in the provision of retail electric service to all Ohio consumers. The bill has been referred to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

SB 6 HOMESTEAD ELIGIBILITY (Armbruster) Am. 323 & 4503. Increases the maximum income limit used to determine eligibility for the homestead exemption and indexes to inflation the income brackets used to determine the amount of a homesteader's tax reduction. The bill has been referred to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

SB 22 DRUNK DRIVING (Johnson) Am. 2323, 2929, 3793, 4503, 4507, 4511 & 5120. Establishes stricter penalties for a person who commits state OMVI and has a concentration of .17 of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per 210 liters of the person's breath, or a concentration of .238 of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per 100 milliliters of the person's urine. The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 23 PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS (Hagan) Am. 725, 1728, 3735 & 5709. Limits the extent to which property may be exempted from taxation if the exemption is granted to a business that has relocated from one political subdivision to another. The bill has been referred to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

SB 31 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE (Latta) Amends 164. Requires the appointing authorities that appoint members of district public works integrating committees to appoint alternatives for those members to act in their absence. The bill has been referred to the Senate State & Local Government & Veteran's Affairs Committee.

SB 38 LIQUOR SALES (Horn) Amends 4301. Allows a municipal corporation to prohibit the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor in glass containers that exceed a specific number of ounces in specified areas of the municipal corporation. The bill has been referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

SB 46 RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT (Schafrath) En. 3. Prohibits a political subdivision from requiring its employees to reside in any specific area of this state. The bill has been referred to the Senate State & Local Government & Veteran's Affairs Committee.

SB 65 CONTRACTING PREFERENCES (Wachtmann) En. 153. Requires certain political subdivisions to provide a preference, under specified circumstances, when comparing bids for the awarding of public improvement contracts. The bill has been referred to the Senate Insurance, Commerce & Labor.

HB 5 ELECTRIC DEREGULATION (Mead) En. 4928. Declares that the public policy of the State of Ohio is to effect the restructuring of the electric industry pursuant to specified goals permitting effective competition in the provision of retail electric service to all Ohio consumers. The bill has been referred to the House Public Utilities Committee.

HB 7 INCOME TAX INDEX (D. Miller) Am. & En. 5747. Indexes the personal income tax rate brackets and other income- dependent quantities to increases in the gross domestic product deflator, revises the income tax withholding tables, and requires an annual adjustment of the tables. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 15 RETIREMENT SERVICE CREDIT (Mottley) Am. & En. 145, 3307 & 3309. Allows a member of the Public Employees Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System, or State Teachers Retirement System to purchase by payroll deduction service credit for certain prior service covered by one of the other systems. The bill has been referred to the House Health, Retirement & Aging Committee.

HB 20 PREVAILING WAGE (Hood) Am. & Rep. 119, 122, 125, 164, 165, 166, 175, 176, 307, 351, 1311, 1551, 1710, 1728, 3706, 4115, 4141, 4582, 6117 & 6121. Repeals the Prevailing Wage Law. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 23 CONCEALED WEAPONS (Hood) Am. & Rep. 109, 1531, 1533, 1547 & 2923. Permits the carrying of concealed weapons and repeals the offenses of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and improperly handling firearms in a watercraft. The bill has been referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee.

HB 24 VEHICLE EMISSIONS TEST (Grendell) Am., En. & Rep. 3704, 3706, 4503 & 5739. Repeals the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program and requires the director of the Ohio EPA to negotiate alternatives to the program. The bill has been referred to the House Energy & Environment Committee.

HB 25 EMISSION TEST CREDIT (Grendell) Am. & En. 5747. Grants a credit against the personal income tax in the amount of fees paid by the taxpayer to have a vehicle inspected under the emissions inspection program. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 26 ASSEMBLY TAX EXEMPTION (Grendell) En. & Rep. 101 & 718. Prohibits the General Assembly from explicitly exempting General Assembly members from the operation of state statutes or local ordinances or resolutions and eliminates the exemption granted to General Assembly members and their employees from paying certain municipal income taxes. The bill has been referred to the House State Government Committee.

HB 34 RELOCATION EXPENSES (Taylor) En. 5501. Requires the director of Transportation to provide for the relocation of facilities of certain water supply, waterworks, or sewerage systems. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation & Public Safety Committee.

HB 40 CONTRACT PREFERENCE (Jolivette) En. 153. Requires certain political subdivisions to provide a preference, under specified circumstances, when comparing bids for the awarding of public improvement contracts. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 44 INCOME TAX INDEX (Schuck) Am. & En. 5747. Indexes personal income tax rate brackets and credits to increases in the gross domestic product deflator, beginning January 1, 2001. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 51 EMINENT DOMAIN (Taylor) Am. 163. Requires agencies to pay in just amounts determined by a court the attorney's fees, witness fees, and other actual expenses that a property owner incurs in eminent domain proceedings if the compensation and damages that the jury assesses for the affected property exceed the agency's highest offer for the property by 10% or more. The bill has been referred to the House State Government Committee.

HB 67 WATER RIGHTS (Coughlin) Am. & En. 1501. Provides that a withdrawal of water by certain municipal corporations from either the Lake Erie or Ohio River drainage basin and transfer to another basin is a diversion for the purposes of certain permitting requirements regardless of whether the water is returned to its basin of origin. The bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting a floor vote.

HB 72 ESTATE TAX (Coughlin) Am. & Rep. 129, 135, 325, 1339, 1555, 1709, 2101, 2113, 5528, 5731, 5747. Repeals the estate tax for the estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2000 and provides for the continuing determination , administration, collection, and distribution of estate tax revenue arising from the taxation of the estates of decedents dying before that date. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 76 LOCAL DEBT LIMIT (Brading) Amend 133. Exempts from the calculation of a subdivision's debt limit a specified portion of the principal amount of securities issued for permanent improvements if payments in lieu of taxes are pledged to repay those securities. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 80 OMVI VEHICLE FORFEITURE (Coughlin) Amend 4503, 4507, and 4511. Requires the criminal forfeiture to the state of the motor vehicle a person was operating at the time the person committed a third state or local OMVI offense within a six year period, rather than the impoundment of the motor vehicle for 180 days. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation & Public Safety Committee.

HB 87 SAFETY/HYGIENE PRACTICE (Bateman) En. 4777. Prohibits persons from using certain titles relating to the practice of occupational safety or the practice of industrial hygiene unless they meet specified requirements, establishes those requirements, and generally prohibits political subdivisions from restricting the practice of occupational safety or of industrial hygiene by those who meet specified requirements. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 91 TOWNSHIP PARTIONING (Terwilleger) Am. 503. Provides that a township reduced at the request of a municipal corporation to less than 22 square miles may continue as a reduced township unless a petition is filed by the township electors, to change the procedure for partitioning a township, and changes who may petition in a township to have the unincorporated township territory separated from the unincorporated township territory. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 92 TAX LEVY APPROVAL (Terwilleger) Am. 5705. Permits a simple majority of voters at a special election to approve certain tax levies. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 98 ANNEXATION LAW (Terwilleger) Am., En. & Rep. 505, 709 & 929. Revises the laws governing municipal annexation. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 99 TAX REFUND INTEREST (Young) Am. & En. 5733 & 5747. Eliminates the payment of interest by a taxpayer on certain excess refunds of state income or corporation franchise taxes. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 101 LABOR REQUIREMENTS (Young) En. 4116. Prohibits public authorities from imposing certain labor requirements as a condition of performing public works. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 103 WORKERS' COMP. REFUNDS (Mottley) En. 4123. Specifies requirements concerning premium refunds issued by the Bureau of Workers' Compensation to state fund employers. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 104 SCHOOL INCOME TAX (Mottley) Am. 5748. Authorizes school boards levying an income tax to grant an additional senior credit and to exempt S corporation distributions from the tax. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 106 INCOME TAX CREDIT (Tiberi) Am. & En. 5747. Grants a refundable personal income tax credit for contributions to charitable organizations. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 122 REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION (Cates) Am. 4123. Provides a rebuttable presumption that the proximate cause of an injury of an employee, who, through a blood, breath, or urine test, tests positive for the use of alcohol or a controlled substance not prescribed by a physician, is the alcohol or controlled substance. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 124 MUNICIPAL INVESTMENTS (Sulzer) Am. 731. Permits a municipal corporation to include the treasurer of a city or village, rather than the city director of law or village solicitor, among the officials who may order the investment of moneys in the municipal corporation's treasury. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 126 EMPLOYER WITHHOLDING (Boyd) En. 718. Permits municipal corporations to require employers located outside the municipal corporation to withhold income taxes imposed by the municipal corporation on its residents. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 135 PROPERTY TAXATION (Sullivan) Am. 319, 323, 4503 & 5713. "Freezes" property taxes on residences owned and occupied by persons 65 years of age or older. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 137 EMERGENCY SITES (Carey) Am. 2903, 2909, 2917 & 2921. Extends the offenses of disrupting public services and misconduct at an emergency to activities of emergency medical services personnel; increases the penalties for misconduct at an emergency and obstructing official business if risk of physical harm is involved; increases the penalty for disorderly conduct if committed in the presence of certain authorized persons performing duties at the scene of an emergency; and specifies that "pattern of conduct" in menacing by stalking includes actions obstructing a public official's performance of authorized acts. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation & Public Safety Committee.

HB 138 TRAUMA CARE (Schuck) Am. & En. 9, 125, 733, 1547, 2929, 2949, 3375, 3702, 3729, 3737, 4501, 4513, 4765, 4766, 4767, 5502 & 5739. Provides quality assurance for trauma care and makes other changes in the laws regarding emergency medical services and fire services. The bill has been referred to the House Health, Retirement, & Aging Committee.

HB 143 INVENTORY TAX (Cates) Am. 5711 & 5727. Reduces, over a five-year period, the rate at which inventory property is assessed for taxation, from 25% to 15% of true value. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 148 HANDICAPPED PARKING (Williams) Am. 3781, 4503 & 4511. Increases the penalties for a violation of the special parking privileges established for persons with certain disabilities and makes changes in the application process for removable windshield placards. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation & Public Safety Committee.

HB 150 LOCAL DEBT LIMIT (Mottley) Am. 133. Exempts from subdivision debt limits certain securities issued to finance the construction of a performing arts center. The bill has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee.

HB 154 PERS BENEFITS (Stapleton) Am. 145. Exempts from the Public Employees Retirement System membership public employees under age 18 if the employment is intended to be for less than six months and changes the deadline for filing a PERS disability benefit application. The bill has been referred to the House Health, Retirement, & Aging Committee.

HB 156 POLITICAL SOLICITATIONS (Jacobson) Am. 3517. Prohibits elected officers and candidates for an elective office of any political subdivision from soliciting contributions from certain employees of the political subdivision. The bill has been referred to the House Technology & Elections Committee.

HB 157 PRIMARY ELECTION (Cates) Am. 511, 1545, 1901, 3501, 3503, 3505, 3509, 3511, 3513 & 5705. Changes the date of the primary election held in presidential election years from the third Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May. The bill has been referred to the House Technology & Elections Committee.

HB 163 TRANSPORTATION BUDGET (Core) Am. and Rep. 109, 145, 742, 2925, 2933, 2935, 4301, 4501, 4503, 4561, 4563, 4906, 5501, 5502, 5517 & 5525. Makes appropriations for programs related to transportation and public safety for the biennium beginning July 1, 1999 and ending June 30, 2001 and provides authorization and conditions for the operation of those programs. The bill has been referred to the House Finance & Appropriations Committee.

HB 172 EMINENT DOMAIN (Sulzer) Am., En. & Rep. 163, 306, 504, 717, 719, 747 & 755. Generally prohibits a political subdivision from using eminent domain to acquire real or personal property outside the political subdivision's boundaries. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 174 VILLAGE MONEY (Winkler) Am. 703. Requires that money remaining after a village's surrender of corporate powers be distributed to the one or more school districts with territory located within the village. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 175 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING (Hood) Am. & En. 9, 4113, 4117 & 4119. Removes any requirement under the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Law that public employees join or pay dues to any employee organization, expands the scope of unfair labor practices under that law, makes other changes in the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Law, prohibits any requirement that employees of private employers join or pay dues to any employee organization and requires public and private employers to post notices to that effect, prohibits certain actions by private employers relative to employee organization membership, and establishes civil and criminal penalties against private employers who violate those prohibitions. The bill has been referred to the House Commerce & Labor Committee.

HB 180 WORKERS' COMP BUDGET (Corbin) Am. & En. 121, 4121, 4123, 5703 & 5747. Makes appropriations for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation for the biennium beginning July 1, 1999, and ending June 30, 20001, and provides authorization and conditions for the operation of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation programs. The bill has been referred to the House Finance & Appropriations Committee.

HB 185 COUNTY BUDGET COMMISSIONS (Myers) Am. 5747. Requires that alternative apportionment of the undivided local government fund and undivided local government revenue assistance fund by a county budget commission be subject to approval of the legislative authority of the city having the greatest population residing in the county. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.

HB 187 TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT (Olman) Am. & En. 109, 133, 309, 504, 505, 709, 711, 713, 1901, 2921, 3737, 4301, 5543, 5549. Refers to townships that have adopted the limited self-government form of township government as "limited home rule government" townships, makes changes in the laws governing those townships, permits any township, for specified purposes, to issue securities or change the provisions for issuing debt, changes the composition and voting practices of county planning commissions, and changes the Subdivision Law to give townships notice of proposed changes. The bill has been referred to the House Local Government & Townships Committee.