This coming week, both the House and the Senate return for full sessions and committee schedules following a spring break. This week just the Senate was in session.

Probably the liveliest public moments of this week were provided by the public hearing and hall discussions surrounding SB 255. That bill attempts to reenact provisions of SB 283, the state budget for the last biennium, that tried to hem in the power of municipalities to manage and regulate the local right-of-way. The provisions in question also attempted to bar the charging of fees or taxes for the use of the local right-of-way. Those provisions of HB 283 were struck down as unconstitutional by a Franklin County Common Pleas court as contrary to the "single subject" rule and Municipal Home Rule.

In his sponsor testimony, Senator Lou Blessing blasted many right-of-way ordinances as "un-American" and "taxation without representation." He continued to characterize right-of-way ordinances as a way for municipalities to grab dollars from utility companies to pay for services other than right-of-way management. Though we have yet to find one ordinance that charges fees that raise more than the cost of managing the right-of-way, Blessing told the Daily Reporter in Columbus that without his bill there would be a "feeding frenzy" among municipal officials to place exorbitant taxes on utility companies for use of the right-of-way.

"Pretty soon, all the cities will be enacting these types of fees just to keep up. The end result would be residential gas and electric bills of $2,500 (per) month and phone bills of $2,000 (per) month," he told the Daily Reporter. His bill would dampen the imposition of such fees by allowing utility companies to pass along such fees to residents of the community only, instead of across the company's entire rate base.

Looking for the silver lining in this flirtation with hyperbole, we can only say that such comments often lead to compromise because they often lead to folks wondering if such "outrages" really exist. Once a little more of the facts are inserted, by that inquiry, a cooler discussion occurs.

Cincinnati's right-of-way ordinance is often pointed to as an example of a "cash cow" ordinance. That ordinance yields right-of-way fees from telecommunications firms of a little over $574,000 a year, about half of what the Columbus right-of-way ordinance yields. The Columbus ordinance was blessed by HB 283 with a "grandfather" clause as okay. Cincinnati is about half the size of Columbus, so how can it be outrageous? The ordinance only applies to telecommunication firms and does not include Cincinnati Bell, pursuant to a preexisting (1892) franchise agreement. Meant to justify all the rush to pass the right-of-way provisions of HB 283 and now SB 255, Cincinnati's ordinance has been in effect since 1995.

Dayton's "ordinance," which is currently not an ordinance but a proposal, was also attacked as outrageous and was conjured up as soon as the court case declaring HB 283 unconstitutional hit the street. The proposed Dayton ordinance is not even before the City Commission yet and has been in development since 1997. The Dayton proposal contains a three-tiered fee structure and is meant to raise $350,000 a year. Dayton, with engineering department reviews, four inspectors and support systems for all this effort, has pegged their direct costs of regulating the right-of-way as $400,000 a year. Dayton is about one-quarter the size of Columbus and their proposal would raise about a quarter of the Columbus ordinance revenue. We know of the long consideration of the Dayton proposal because in the HB 283 round in 1999, Dayton's proposal was going to raise enough money to build a new city hall. Though we tried, we never could find the father of that particularly baseless rumor.

We've had another rumor this week, that there is a proposed ordinance out there that would raise, on a resident only basis, an amount equal to $100 a month or a year (depending on when you had the conversation and with whom) on each residential bill in that city. Turns out, the real amount is closer to $2 a year.

Other ordinances we have on hand can't in any way cover the cost of managing the right-of-way because their fees are so low. According to the logic of "residents only" paying, the residents of those communities, by not charging the utilities enough, are subsidizing ratepayers in other municipalities and townships and ought to get a check from those folks.

This week, HB 255 is up for a proponent hearing. More importantly, League staff and other municipal representatives will sit down with the sponsor and representatives of the utility industry and begin discussing all the issues. We are hopeful that those discussions will yield more light than smoke and we can begin the process of resolving this issue.

The State's Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Task Force met this week and will meet again next Tuesday (see schedule). During this week's meeting, the League and other local government groups made presentations about how local governments fund their street programs and the need for additional revenues in this area. John Mahoney of the League staff is a member of the panel and his testimony is posted on the website (www.omunileague.org.).

The panel is expected to hold regional hearings around the state for input on local transportation needs once the General Assembly breaks in June.

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for the Legislative Bulletin by e-mail. If you haven't done so yet, but would like to, just e-mail us your e-mail address to omunileague2@copper.net. Be sure to tell us what municipality you are from and whether you get the Bulletin by regular mail currently.

COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF APRIL 22, 2002

MOTOR FUEL TAX TASK FORCE, 10 a.m., Rm. 018, Co-Chrs. Senator Oelslager, Phone: 466-0626 & Rep. Buehrer, Phone: 644-5091.

SENATE WAYS & MEANS, After 1:30 p.m. session, South Hearing Rm., Chr. Blessing, Phone: 466-8068.

SB 255 RIGHTS-OF-WAY (Blessing) Re-enacts certain provisions of the utility and cable public right-of-way law and makes other changes. (2^nd Hearing - Proponent)

SB 247 RETIREMENT BENEFITS (Blessing) Creates in the State Teachers Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System and Public Employees Retirement System the option of receiving retirement benefits as a partial lump sum followed by a reduced monthly allowance and makes other changes to the law governing STRS. (3^rd Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Substitute bill - Possible vote)

SENATE HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION, After 1:30 p.m. session, North Hearing Rm., Chr. Armbruster, Phone: 644-7613.

SB 231 MOBILITY DEVICES (Goodman) Exempts electric personal assistive mobility devices from the definition of A vehicle@ in the traffic laws and permits their operation on sidewalks, bikeways and public streets and highways, subject to certain restrictions. (3^rd Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party)

HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 2 p.m., Rm. 114, Chr. Womer Benjamin, Phone: 466-2004.

SB 123 TRAFFIC LAWS (Oelslager) Adopts, effective January 1, 2003, the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission= s Traffic Proposals, with modifications, and related changes in the traffic laws and makes an appropriation. (1^st Hearing - Sponsor)

SB 208 FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS (Coughlin) Relative to the use, in an OMVI or OMVUAC prosecution, of the results of field sobriety tests. (2^nd Hearing - Proponent)

HOUSE STATE GOVERNMENT, 4 p.m., Rm. 122, Chr. Young, Phone: 644-6074.

HB 518 COUNTY LODGING TAX (Schmidt) Authorizes boards of county commissioners of certain counties to levy an additional excise tax on lodging. (4^th Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote)