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

For email inquiries to the OML, it would be most helpful if you would include your name, position, city or village you represent. 

Also please include a phone number and/or address for instances when we need further contact with you.

Please type “OML Inquiry” in subject line so that we can identify e-mails picked up as spam.

OML E- BULLETIN
If you would like to sign up for the E-Bulletin, send an email here: info@omunileague.org
 In the e-mail, indicate that you would like to be taken off the paper Bulletin list.

Final Week of Session.

Next week’s sessions will mark the end of legislative activity for the Ohio General Assembly. On many major issues (e.g. Pension Reforms, Jobs Bill, Tort Reform), there are disagreements between the House and the Senate which may lead to a flood or trickle of legislation being passed or frozen next week. Following the week of session, the General Assembly is not expected to meet for several months, perhaps not until after the November elections.

This week, the legislature did little of significance on issues of municipal interest, though a substitute version of HB 256, which proposes changing the merger law was introduced in the House Municipal Government and Urban Revitalization Committee. The substitute bill would have merger commission members elected rather than appointed. The committee voted the substitute version out and the bill may reach the floor next week.

The repeal of two cents in gas taxes (HB 458) also got a first hearing (sponsor only) in the House Ways and Means Committee this week, but is not scheduled for another hearing next week.

Also next week, the House Homeland Security, Engineering and Architectural Design Committee, will hold an 8^th hearing and possible vote on HB 175, which among other things establishes a statewide uniform building code for residential buildings. The League will continue to oppose this bill and we hope you will contact your members of the House with your concerns about this legislation.

In other news, the Citizens for Tax Repeal, a group trying to petition the General Assembly to repeal the one-cent sales tax which is currently helping to balance the state budget, went to the Supreme Court with their problems. Though the group thinks they handed in enough valid signatures to force the Legislature to agree with them or let the group gather enough additional signatures to place the issue on the November ballot, their effort has been stymied. Through legal protests to petition signatures, opponents of the repeal have tied the repeal effort up in court and the court schedule for resolving those protests makes it impossible for the anti-tax group to get through the process in time for the November ballot.

Ironically, while decrying the efforts of opponents to use the courts to their advantage, the anti-tax group is asking the Supreme Court (which is also a court, as we recall) to short circuit the petition validation process and let the group dump this issue in the General Assembly’s lap, whether their petitions are valid or not. Municipal officials ought to think about this tactic the next time they’re a little short of signatures on an annexation petition, even though we would set the morning line on this suit at a about 20-1 against the Citizens for Tax Repeal.

House Finance & Appropriations, (Chr. Calvert, 466-8140), Rm. 313, 9:30 a.m.

SB 206 JOB DEVELOPMENT (Austria) Increases from 10 to 15 the number of years enterprise zone agreements may exempt property from taxation, subject to school board approval; creates the Job Development Initiatives Fund and transfers up to $25.8 million of unclaimed funds to it and makes appropriations. (1st Hearing-Sponsor)

House State Government, (Chr. Carmichael, 466-1474), Taft Rm. (formerly 122), 3 p.m.

HB 475 TEMPORARY ELECTED OFFICIAL REPLACEMENT (Setzer) Provides for the temporary replacement of certain elected officials called to active duty in the armed forces. (1st Hearing-Sponsor)

House Homeland Security, Engineering & Architectural Design, (Chr. Schaffer, 466-8100), B. Harrison Rm. (formerly 116), 4 p.m.

SB 179 CONTRACTOR LICENSING (Nein) Provides for the licensure of backflow contractors and prefabricated fireplace contractors; changes the name of the Ohio Construction Industry Examining Board to the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board and makes other changes related to that board. (3rd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote)

HB 175 CONTRACTOR LICENSING (Buehrer) Requires statewide licensing of residential contractors, establishes a statewide uniform building code for residential buildings, establishes a process for granting variances from the statewide uniform residential building code, and makes other changes in the laws governing residential contractors and residential construction. (8th Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party - Possible vote)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 26

House Agriculture & Natural Resources, (Chr. Aslanides, 644-6014), Rm. 313, 8:30 a.m.

SB 209 AUCTIONEERS LAW (Mumper) Revises the Auctioneers Law. (1st Hearing-Sponsor)

THURSDAY, MAY 27

House Ways & Means, (Chr. Kilbane, 466-0961), McKinley Rm. (formerly 121), 10 a.m.