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No. 18 July 8, 1999 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Legislature Wraps Up Session. The Ohio General Assembly ended the first part of its biennial session last week leaving in its wake the passage of the state's biennial budgets, electric deregulation and many other smaller pieces of legislation. The legislature now begins a recess that is expected to last until the middle of October. During the recess there will be no floor sessions, though some committees in each House will meet periodically. In the sessions following the recess, it may be possible that a compromise version of changes in the annexation law may be considered. The latter session will also include a number of unfinished legislative items, such as how to spend Ohio's share of the national tobacco settlement and the merging of the Ohio Department of Human Services and the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services. This last item is an executive priority of the Taft Administration. Sometime in the near future, we can also expect that some changes or corrections to the electric deregulation bill will occur. The final passage of that bill (SB 3) took place rather quickly and without a conference committee. Such a mix in the restructuring of such a large industry seems ripe for some changes before the whole weight of deregulation comes down in a couple of years. The final state operating budget (HB 283) passed both Houses with the regulatory preemption language related to municipal rights-of-ways intact. Despite a plea from the League, the County Commissioners' Association of Ohio, the Ohio County Engineers Association of Ohio and the Ohio Township Association, Governor Taft failed to line-item veto this unconstitutional provision of the budget. The operating budget also contains the General Assembly's plan to reduce the tax on business inventories by one per cent a year for the next twenty-five years, beginning in the year 2002. Municipal Income Tax Still Under Review The League, along with the Ohio Society of CPA's and other business interests, will continue to work over the summer as part of a Task Force considering revenue-neutral changes to the municipal income tax. This consideration of changes stems from last session's HB 803 and other bills which have proposed some rather negative changes to that tax. The Task Force is meeting with House Ways and Means Chair, Rep. Don Mottley, to try to hammer out some changes that might be acceptable to both sides of the issue. We will keep you informed on the progress of these meetings on this very important issue. Until this work is completed, we do not expect that any action on the municipal income tax through other legislation will occur. Alternative Pension Fund Bill Substituted HB 199, sponsored by Representative Cates, has been subbed in the House Health, Retirement & Aging Committee. The sponsor and chair of the Committee have addressed many of the concerns raised by opponents of the bill when it was first introduced. The bill will have hearings when the General Assembly reconvenes after the summer recess. The latest version of the bill expands the existing alternative retirement program to include only eligible public employees who are covered by PERS, other than law enforcement officers; SERS; and STRS. The bill now excludes employees covered by PFDPF and SHPRS. The bill also provides that the Department of Insurance may designate an alternative retirement plan only if the plan, in addition to meeting the criteria of current law, is administered in a manner that results in no administrative cost to an electing employee's employer. Local government employers are also permitted, not required, to enter into contracts with one or more entities offering a plan. A provision in the bill provides that employees would have five years to elect to participate in an alternative retirement program (rather than the current ninety days for employees hired after the establishment of an alternative retirement program or 120 days for employees with less than five years of service credit when an alternative retirement program is established). A requirement is also included that states the employee acknowledges the fact that if an alternative pension fund is elected by the employee then the employee does not have insurance coverage for permanent disability or health care insurance during retirement. Another provision states that an employer is not liable for damages in a civil action for any act or omission resulting from an employee's election to participate in an alternative retirement plan. Two New Members Join The House The House Republican Caucus has selected James Aislandes, a Coschton businessman, to replace Rep. Joy Padgett (R-Coshocton), who left the House to become director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia. Rep. Aislandes will represent the 95th House District for the remaining seventeen months of the unexpired term. The House Democratic Caucus has also selected a new member. She is Representative Joyce Beatty, who will replace her husband, Rep. Otto Beatty, who is retiring after serving nineteen years in the General Assembly. Rep. Joyce Beatty will represent the 21st House District for the remaining seventeen months as well. |
