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No. 11 May 12, 2000 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Court Declares Schools Need More! Any hopes that the Supreme Court would find that improvements in school funding over the past several years would meet the court's definition of a constitutional thorough and efficient statewide system of schooling were dashed this week by another 4-3 decision declaring the state's system of funding schools unconstitutional. While applauding some efforts by the Governor and the General Assembly to improve Ohio's school funding efforts, the Court still held that the other two branches of state government had fallen short of the Court's definition of adequate and equitable funding. This "Son of DeRolph" decision is the second time the Supreme Court has declared the state's efforts as constitutionally inadequate. The Court saved its primary criticism for the state's continued reliance on local property taxes to fund Ohio's 611 school districts. More Hearings on Annexation Legislation. Both the Senate and the House have scheduled an additional hearing for next week on SB 289 and its mirror image, HB 98. At a recent hearing in the House the text of SB 289 was substituted in HB 98, rendering both bills the same. The Senate, following an opponent hearing this week on SB 289, including opponent testimony from the League, will hold a proponent hearing this week. That hearing will be at 4:30 p.m. in the Senate's South Hearing Room on Wednesday in the Senate State and Local Government and Veteran's Affairs Committee. At virtually the same time, the House Local Government and Townships Committee will hear opponent testimony to HB 98/ SB 289. That hearing will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday in House Hearing Room 121. This would be a good time for municipal officials interested in this issue to come to Columbus to either give testimony in the House or to listen to proponents of this bill in the Senate. House Local Government & Townships Committee Representatives Anti-Residency Bill Off Hearing Schedule. It should be noted that HB 249 (Tiberi) is not scheduled for a hearing in the Ohio House this coming week. HB 249 would ban the imposition of employee residency requirements in Ohio. Cable TV Compromise Reached. A compromise has been struck among the parties on bills (SB 67/ HB 188) that would have imposed severe restrictions on municipally-owned cable TV systems. With that compromise, primarily between the Ohio Municipal Electric Association and the Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association, and supported by the League, the bill is now moving forward as SB 67. SB 67 was passed on the Senate floor this week and is expected to be heard and voted out of the House Public Utilities Committee this coming week. While the new version of the bill does place some requirements on municipally-owned systems when they are in competition with a private cable system, the bill is a far-cry from its original version and does not impact those systems of fiber optics which do not enter the cable arena. While this version does require separate accounting, separate funds and an annual report on the cost of a cable system for cable operations, much like other utility funds, the bill does not serve up those reports as fodder for a new tort to be used by private cable to sue the municipality. The bill relieves a private operator from franchise requirements if those same requirements are not adhered to by the municipal operator. The bill does, however, recognize that such requirements, such as bonds and insurance, do not always have to be identical or that such requirements sometimes make sense for the private sector and not make sense for the public sector. The bill also places a restriction on municipalities that would only allow it to sell 50% as much cable service outside the municipality as the city or village sells inside the municipality, a restriction that applies to other municipal utilities. The bill does not require municipalities to pay for studies that would find out whether the community can afford to provide cable TV prior to paying for a study of whether the community can afford to provide cable TV or to have hearings prior to having hearings on actions related to cable, as required in the first version of the bill. The bill does require that the municipality give 45 days notice to their potential competitor prior to passing ordinances that would begin the process of getting the municipality into the cable business. COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF MAY 15, 2000 TUESDAY, MAY 16 SENATE INSURANCE, COMMERCE & LABOR, 10
a.m., North Hearing Rm., Chr. Nein, Phone: 466-8072. WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 SENATE AGRICULTURE, 9 a.m., South
Hearing Rm., Chr. White, Phone: 466-8082. SENATE JUDICIARY, 9 a.m., North
Hearing Rm., Chr. Latta, Phone: 466-8060. HOUSE HEALTH, RETIREMENT & AGING,
10 a.m., Rm. 017, Chr. Van Vyven, Phone: 466-8120. 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. (6th Hearing - Amendments - Possible vote) HOUSE WAYS & MEANS, After
session, Rm. 121, Chr. Mottley, Phone: 644-6008. HB 672 MANUFACTURED HOUSING (Peterson) Specifies the application date of certain provisions of Am. Sub. SB 142 of the 122nd General Assembly and makes other clarifications regarding the taxation of manufactured and mobile homes. (2nd Hearing) HOUSE PUBLIC UTILITIES, 3 p.m. or
after session, Rm. 313, Chr. Olman, , Phone: 466-1731. HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TOWNSHIPS,
4 p.m., Rm. 121, Chr. Schuler, Phone: 644-6023. HB 98 ANNEXATION LAW (Terwilleger) Revises the laws governing municipal annexation. (3rd Hearing) SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVT. &
VETERAN'S AFFAIRS, 4:30 p.m., South Hearing Rm., Chr. Schafrath, Phone: 466-8086. 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 local government before they can take effect. (3rd Hearing - opponent) |
