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No. 14 June 1, 2001 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR
COUNCIL, General Assembly Poised to Send Budget to Governor. With the acceptance of a conference report reconciling differences between the houses by both the House and the Senate, the General Assembly is now set to send the $45 billion two-year budget to Governor Taft next week. The Governor in turn is expected to sign the budget after he exercises his line item veto on provisions of the budget with which he does not agree. The budget would then essentially go to the Ohio Supreme Court where the state and education advocates will argue over the relative constitutional merits of the school funding formula which is included in the budget. Following an all night meeting of the conference committee which lasted until 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, both houses took up the conference report on Wednesday afternoon. The report passed both houses with all Republicans voting for the measure and all Democrats voting against. Republican hailed the final budget document as a responsible spending plan that tightened the belt of state spending while also adequately funding primary and secondary education. Democrats railed against the final budget as one which slashed important state programs and failed to adequately fund education. Included in the budget was an amendment, requested by the League, that makes it clear that the bid limit for municipalities is $15,000 for all departments. When raised from $10,000 to $15,000 a couple of years ago by legislation, the limit for public safety services was missed in drafting. This amendment fixes that inconsistency. Annexation Moves Through House. By a vote of 80-16, the Ohio House quickly passed SB 5 after that measure came out of the House Local Government and Townships Committee on Wednesday afternoon. The House version of the bill includes a slight reduction in the reparations schedule that municipalities must pay to township on annexations that are withdrawn from the township and some amendments which clean up the 100% owner, non-withdrawal procedure that is part of the bill. Under provisions of the House version, the special 100% owner procedure is available for annexations up to 500 acres, an increase over the Senate version, and only require 5% contiguity rather than the 10% included in the Senate version of the bill. While these changes are helpful from the League's point of view, the bill still contains an overly generous reparations schedule and the half-mile perimeter of consideration on regular annexations. Therefore the League opposes SB 5. League Supports Village and Police and Fire Legislation. This week the League testified in favor of HB
244 (Niehaus) and HB 245 (Evans). Copies of that testimony are available on the League's
web site at: HB 244 grants a partial amnesty to municipalities which have had trouble meeting deadlines for the reporting of contributions and pre-employment physicals for the Ohio Police and Fire Retirement Fund. At the $100 a day level of fines that were placed in law three years ago, some of those fines have totaled up to tens of thousands of dollars and have become entirely unaffordable for many of the small communities facing those penalties. Under HB 244, a community can reduce its fines for contributions by 50% and for preemployment physicals by 90% if the community catches up on its reporting requirements within ninety days after passage of HB 244 and the community pays its reduced fine in 2002. The Retirement Fund is also given greater flexibility in penalizing communities on these matters so the penalty can be more reflective of the offense. The bill is in the House Retirement and Aging Committee and is also supported by the Police and Fire Fund. HB 245 would allow villages to move from an elected clerk-treasurer to an appointed fiscal officer. That fiscal officer could only be appointed at the end of an elected clerk-treasurer's term or if there is a vacancy in the office. The appointed fiscal officer would have to move into the village within six months of appointment, unless this requirement is waived by council. This bill would offer a local solution to problems, voiced by many of our village members, about high turnover in the office of C/T and finding qualified people who want to run for the office within a small community. Following supporting testimony by the League in the House Local Government and Townships Committee, the bill was also supported by Jonna Rowland, the Clerk-Treasurer of New London and State Auditor Jim Petro's office. COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF JUNE 4, 2001TUESDAY, JUNE 5 SENATE INSURANCE, COMMERCE & LABOR, 10 a.m., North Hearing Rm., Chr. Nein, Phone: 466-8072. SB 114 PREVAILING WAGE LAW (Wachtmann) Modifies the Prevailing Wage Law to apply only to public improvements owned by the state and establishes a two-year statute of limitations for actions alleging violations of that law. (2nd Hearing - Interested party) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TOWNSHIPS, 10 a.m., Rm. 121, Chr. Roman, Phone: 466-1790. HB 167 TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES (Coates) Requires any telecommunications facilities for which the Department of Transportation provides a lease, easement or license to comply with local zoning regulations. (2nd Hearing - Proponent) HB 258 RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS (Flowers) Prohibits certain political subdivisions from requiring their employees, and municipal corporations from requiring police or fire officers, to reside within any specific area of this state. (1st Hearing - Sponsor) HOUSE RETIREMENT & AGING, 10:30 a.m., Rm. 122, Chr. Schuring, Phone: 752-2438. HB 244 OPFP REPORTS (Niehaus) Modifies the penalties assessed against employers who fail to submit certain reports and information to the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund and reduces the amount of certain penalties currently owed by employers. (4th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote) HB 157 PENSION BENEFITS (Schuring) Provides that the annual cost of living increase paid to retired members and beneficiaries of Ohio's state retirement systems will be three per cent. (7th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote) HB 158 PERS LAW ENFORCEMENT BENEFIT (Schuring) Permits Public Employees Retirement System members with at least 25 years of law enforcement service credit to retire with full benefits at age 48, includes transit and highway patrol police officers as law enforcement officers for PERS purposes, and increases the employee contribution rate for law enforcement service credit. (7th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote) HOUSE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT, 11 a.m., Rm. 116, Chr. Hollister, Phone: 644-8728. HB 3 ENVIRONMENTAL BONDS (Blasdel) Declares it to be the public policy of the state to establish the Clean Ohio Fund for the purpose of achieving certain goals related to the protection of the environment and preservation of the state's natural resources. (10th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Amendments) SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVT. & VETERAN'S AFFAIRS, 3 p.m., South Hearing Rm., Chr. Spada, Phone: 466-8056. SB 106 SCHOOL SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY (Hottinger) Includes as a governmental function under the Political Subdivision Sovereign Immunity Law the design, construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, maintenance, and operation of any school athletic facility, school auditorium, or gymnasium and reenacts changes made by Am.Sub.HB 350 of the 121st General Assembly to the Political Subdivision Sovereign Immunity Law as scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2002. (4th Hearing - Proponent & opponent) THURSDAY, JUNE 7 HOUSE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT, 11 a.m., Rm. 116, Chr. Hollister, Phone: 644-8728. HB 3 ENVIRONMENTAL BONDS (Blasdel) Declares it to be the public policy of the state to establish the Clean Ohio Fund for the purpose of achieving certain goals related to the protection of the environment and preservation of the state's natural resources. (11th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote) |
