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No. 8 April 9, 1999 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Anti-Residency Bill Up For Possible Vote. SB 46, the anti-residency requirement legislation, is scheduled to be heard for a fourth and possible final time in the Senate's State and Local Government and Veterans' Affairs Committee. The hearing scheduled for Wednesday, April 14 at 5:00 pm. in the Senate's South Hearing Room. The bill, which would attempt to overturn the popular vote establishing employee residency requirements in many Ohio municipalities, is scheduled for a possible vote by the committee. Aside from the League's view that this is a local issue that ought to be decided locally, the bill is unprecedented in its attempt to reach in and directly overturn local elections by legislative fiat. The League has identified over 130 municipalities that have some residency requirements in their voter-approved Charters. In some cases, primarily in Ohio's larger cities (Akron, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland), voters have imposed some form of residency requirement on virtually all employees. We can think of no bill, since the establishment of Home Rule in 1912, that has so blatantly tried to overturn the decisions of so many local voters in such a direct and blatant manner. Please, let us know if you plan to testify in opposition to SB 46 this coming Wednesday.
Annexation Update The League staff continues to negotiate with the Ohio Township Association in an attempt to craft a reasonable compromise bill on the issue of annexation. We don't believe anyone involved in those discussions would consider the effort anything less than difficult. However, the discussions will at least show us how close we can come to agreement, without jeopardizing the usefulness of Ohio's annexation law for the purposes of economic development and orderly growth. We have scheduled our League Annexation Committee for a meeting on April 23 to discuss the progress and sticking points that have evolved in these ongoing discussions with OTA. We also expect to meet with key members of the Senate on this issue and our negotiations sometime later this month.
Cable TV Bill To Be Heard in Senate. We expect to have two opponent hearings to the Cable TV bill (SB 67) in the Senate Ways and Means Committee over the next two weeks. The first of those hearings is scheduled after the afternoon Senate session on Tuesday, April 13 in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The next hearing will most likely be scheduled for Tuesday, April 20 at the same time. Because we are coordinating our opponent testimony with the Ohio Municipal Electric Association, we would like to schedule our testimony for the afternoon of the 20th. If you wish to testify on the 20th as part of the League's efforts on this bill, please, let us know. A proponent hearing on SB 67's companion bill (HB 188) is also scheduled this coming week. That hearing will be held in the House Public Utilities Committee in House Hearing Room 017 at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14. COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF APRIL 12, 1999 TUESDAY, APRIL 13 SENATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TECHNOLOGY & AEROSPACE, 11 a.m., South Hearing Rm. SB 116 Y2K FUNDS (Armbruster) Creates a $20 million state grant program that will provide funding to local governments to cope with Year 2000 computer problems and makes an appropriation. (1st Hearing - pending referral)
SENATE WAYS & MEANS, After Session, Senate Finance Hearing Room HCR 4 PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEMS (Callender) Asks the Congress to reject any legislation requiring Social Security coverage for Ohio public employees who are members of the state's public employee retirement systems. (2nd Hearing - Possible vote) SB 67 CABLE COMPETITION (Hottinger) Provides for fair competition in the provision of cable television services by establishing conditions under which governmental cable operators may be formed, including the franchising of those operators by the Public Utilities Commission and by taxing such operators in the manner of private cable operators. (4th Hearing) SB 3 ELECTRIC DEREGULATION (Johnson) 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. (2nd Hearing - environmental & low income issues) SB 118 PFDPF BENEFITS (Blessing) Increases benefits paid to surviving spouses of members of the Police and Firemen's Disability and Pension Fund (PFDPF) and makes other changes. (Pending referral - to be referred to subcommittee)
HOUSE HEALTH, RETIREMENT & AGING, 3:30 a.m., Riffe Center, 12th Floor, Majority Conference Rm. HB 250 PERS CONTRIBUTIONS (Patton) Includes the value of housing provided by the employer in which an employee must live as a condition of employment as earnable salary for the purpose of determining Public Employees Retirement System contributions and benefits. (To be referred to Retirement Subcommittee) HB 275 PFDPF BENEFITS (Vesper) Increases benefits paid to surviving spouses of members of the Police & Firemen's Disability & Pension Fund; eliminates the cost-of-living allowances that apply to certain PFDPF members and declares an emergency. (To be referred to Retirement Subcommittee)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14 OHIO RETIREMENT STUDY COUNCIL, 8:30 a.m., Rm. 017 HB 199 ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC PENSION (Cates) Creates an alternative retirement program for public employees covered by Ohio's state retirement systems.
HOUSE HEALTH, RETIREMENT & AGING, 9:30 a.m., Rm. 017 HB 199 ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC PENSION (Cates) Creates an alternative retirement program for public employees covered by Ohio's state retirement systems. (3rd Hearing)
HOUSE CIVIL & COMMERCIAL LAW, 10:30 a.m., Rm. 121 HB 95 PUBLIC RECORDS (Terwilleger) Awards reasonable expenses to the relator if a writ of mandamus is issued in a taxpayer's suit and authorizes a similar award plus court costs to a prevailing aggrieved person in a mandamus action under the Public Records Law. (4th Hearing)
HOUSE ETHICS & STANDARDS, 11 a.m., Rm. 113 HB 201 PUBLIC RECORDS (Jacobson) Generally prohibits the release of specified peace officer residential and familial information kept by a peace officer's employer. (Discussion of Ohio Supreme Court decision in State v. Cox, No. 98-1900 issued April 7, 1999)
HOUSE PUBLIC UTILITIES, 3 p.m., Rm. 017 HB 188 CABLE TELEVISION (Olman) Provides for fair competition in the provision of cable television services by establishing conditions under which governmental cable operators may be formed, including the franchising of those operators by the Public Utilities Commission, and by taxing such operators in the manner of private cable operators. (2nd Hearing) HB 5 ELECTRIC DEREGULATION (Mead) 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. (3rd Hearing - Testimony on defining a competitive retail market)
HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TOWNSHIPS, 4 p.m., Rm. 121 HB 172 EMINENT DOMAIN (Sulzer) Generally prohibits a political subdivision from using eminent domain to acquire real or personal property outside the political subdivision's boundaries. (2nd Hearing) HB 204 JOINT FIRE DISTRICTS (Schuler) Permits the political subdivisions that comprise a joint fire district to pay the district's charges for ambulance or emergency medical services provided to their respective residents under certain circumstances. (3rd Hearing - Possible vote) SB 31 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEES (Latta) Requires the appointing authorities that appoint members of district public works integrating committees to appoint alternates for those members to act in their absence. (1st Hearing)
SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVT. & VETERAN'S AFFAIRS, 5 p.m., South Hearing Rm. SB 46 RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT (Schafrath) Prohibits a political subdivision from requiring its employees to reside in any specific area of this state. (4th Hearing - Possible vote)
THURSDAY, APRIL 15 HOUSE PUBLIC UTILITIES, 8 a.m., Rm. 017 HB 5 ELECTRIC DEREGULATION (Mead) 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. (4th Hearing - Testimony on provisions regarding low-income households, labor, efficiency and the environment)
HOUSE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT, 9 a.m., Rm. 114 HB 197 SLUDGE DISPOSAL (Krebs) Authorizes the Director of Environmental Protection to issue permits for the use, storage, treatment, or disposal of sludge and sludge materials, imposes an annual sludge fee, and otherwise regulates sludge and sludge materials. (3rd Hearing)
HOUSE WAYS & MEANS, 10 a.m., Rm. 121 HB 260 SPONGE TAX (Tiberi) Adopts a sponge tax as the estate tax. (1st Hearing) HB 269 APPOINTED COURT CLERKS (Coughlin) Requires that the salary of the appointed clerk of a county court or certain municipal courts be set by the court's presiding judge instead of by a legislative authority and changes the deadline for court clerk transmission of certain additional court costs to the Treasurer of State. (1st Hearing) HB 76 LOCAL DEBT LIMIT (Brading) 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. (3rd Hearing - Possible vote) |
