Ohio Municipal League
175 South Third Street
Suite 510
Columbus, Ohio 43215

614-221-4349 Office
614-221-4390 Fax

email:
Legislative Inquiries
John Mahoney
General Inquiries
info@omunileague.org

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OML E- BULLETIN
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Annexation Bill to be Introduced.

Late in the day on Tuesday, the anticipated draft of an annexation bill was done and distributed to the interested parties, including the League. That draft is marked LSC 123 330-4. However, after review of that draft the League found two provisions of the draft that did not match up to the agreements made with the Ohio Township Association. Those needed changes were addressed in a meeting between the League and Senator Cupp, the sponsor of the legislation, on Wednesday. It was agreed that a meeting including the OTA, the League, LSC and Senator Cupp's staff could address those changes in a meeting on Thursday. That meeting occurred, the changes asked for by the League were agreed to and LSC is now drafting a new version of the legislation, which will be marked LSC 123 330-5.

We outline all of this because the "-5" of the bill is the version that will be introduced by Senator Cupp. It is important that reactions to this legislation are based on the introduced or "-5" version of the bill. We expect Senator Cupp to introduce that version of the legislation this coming week, perhaps as early as Tuesday. It is only following that introduction that this draft legislation will have a bill number.

It is also possible that the introduced version will be heard for the first time in the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans' Affairs Committee, which meets on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the South Senate Hearing Room. If such a hearing occurs it will be for sponsor testimony only. (Because we will not know about this hearing until next week, we will FAX bulletin everyone if such a hearing is scheduled as soon as its scheduled.) Following that hearing, it is not expected that other hearings (proponent/opponent) will occur until the Senate takes its Spring Break and returns the first week of May. When hearings do resume, we expect that there will be an adequate number of hearings for all views on this legislation to be heard.

In the meantime, the League will review this legislation and our Board of Trustees will determine what our position on this bill should be. However, we should note that the draft legislation does not adequately address the positions taken by our Board in previous discussions on the issues of township reimbursement for annexed land withdrawn from the township or the area to be considered by the County Commissioners in assessing impact on property outside of the area to be annexed. If your community is interested in annexation changes, you should obtain a copy of the legislation by contacting the League or, better still, by expressing your interest by calling your member of the Senate and asking them to provide you with a copy. Tell them when you call that you definitely will want to talk to them about these proposed changes and what they mean to your community once you have had a chance to read the bill.

Members of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans' Affairs Committee include: Senators Richard Schafrath, Chairman, Robert Spada, Vice-Chairman, Louis Blessing, Robert Gardner, Charles Horn, Eugene Watts, Linda Furney, Ranking Minority Member, Anthony Latell, Michael Shoemaker.

OUPS Bill Up for 7th Hearing

SB 193, which would mandate all municipalities into a one-call utility excavation system called "OUPS," will receive its 7th hearing of the session before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Committee meets on Tuesday after the 1:30 p.m. Senate session in the Senate's South Hearing Room

Municipal officials who wish to testify on this legislation should contact the League or your local member of the Senate to obtain the substitute version of this bill prior to giving your testimony. That substitute version was accepted by the Committee last week and is now the bill under consideration.

HEARING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF APRIL 10

SB 277 PERS BENEFITS (Drake) Increases certain benefits paid by the Public Employees Retirement System. (1^st Hearing)

HB 483 ELECTRIC UTILITY TAXATION (Mottley) Prescribes a uniform set of procedures for municipal taxation of electric companies. (2^nd Hearing)

SB 193 UTILITY EXCAVATIONS (Blessing) Provides for the establishment and operation of a single, statewide, one-call notification system as a means of preventing or minimizing damage to subsurface facilities as a result of excavations occurring in this state. (7^th Hearing)

HB 549 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS (Terwilleger) Modifies certain road improvement and water supply, sanitary, and drainage facilities laws to permit permanent improvements to be made more efficiently and effectively by simplifying, clarifying, and supplementing the procedures for constructing and financing them. (2^nd Hearing)

HB 434 CONTRACTOR CERTIFICATION (Buehrer) Requires statewide certification of specified contractors and makes additional modifications to the Construction Industry Certification Law. (5^th Hearing - Possible vote)

SB 169 PUBLIC EMPLOYER INSPECTIONS (Wachtmann) Eliminates the biennial safety inspection required for a public employer that is exempt from the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program and substitutes an optional inspection. (2^nd Hearing)

HB 623 RETIREMENT PLANS (Cates) Establishes a new defined contribution retirement plan for certain public employees who are elective officials or are in the state’s unclassified civil service in positions exempt from collective bargaining. (2^nd Hearing)

HB 628 PERS BENEFITS (Hollister) Increases certain benefits paid by the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and makes other changes. (2^nd Hearing)

SB 144 PERS PAYMENTS (Johnson) Requires the Public Employees Retirement System to credit interest on a member’s contributions and, under certain circumstances, pay an amount of the employer contributions on the death of a member or withdrawal of a member’s contributions. (3^rd Hearing)

HB 298 SMOKING RULES (Schuler) Requires that any orders or rules enacted by a board of health related to smoking be adopted by the legislative authority of a municipal corporation or township before those orders or rules are effective within the boundaries of that political subdivision. (1^st Hearing)