No

No. 03 February 18, 2005

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF

Budget Hearings Pick Up Steam.

The Ohio House began the long process of considering the Governor’s new biennial budget, set to take effect on July 1 of this year. The House Finance and Appropriations Committee took testimony from a number of state agencies this week, while the House Ways and Means Committee began hearings on the Governor’s ideas for tax reform.

The House Finance Committee will probably take testimony on the Local Government Fund and other municipal issues around the second week of March.

While the committee hearings on department budgets went relatively smoothly, the reception to the Governor’s tax changes received a more mixed reaction in the House Ways and Means Committee. Committee members raised a number of questions from concerns about the structure of the proposed “commercial activities tax,” to the length of the five-year phase-in of a break on state income taxes to the necessity and wisdom of a higher tax on cigarettes.

HB 56 Would Ban Red Light Cameras.

In an effort to begin running all the police departments in the state, HB 56 (Raussen et al) was introduced in the House. The bill simply bans the use of all photo-monitoring devices (red light cameras) by all law enforcement agencies in the state if such devices are used to “determine compliance with, or to detect a violation of, a municipal ordinance or any provision of the Revised Code that governs or regulates the operation of motor vehicles.” The bill makes an exception for situations where a police officer is present to write a ticket near the red light camera.

While a number of funny lines come to mind, we will restrain ourselves. The League is opposed to HB 56.

OML Board of Trustees Letter on Administration Budget on Our Website.

This week, the Board of Trustees of the League sent the Governor a letter outlining their concerns with the Governor’s biennial budget proposal. A copy of the letter is being sent to all members of the Ohio General Assembly and is posted on the League’s website (www.omunileague.org).

In the letter, the Board outlined their concerns about the cuts in local government funds, local estate tax revenue and the proposed increase of $2.75 a ton on municipal and other solid waste.

The League staff continues to meet with individual members of the House and Senate. Staff also testified before the House Local and Municipal Government and Urban Revitalization Committee this week in favor of placing the renewal of State Issue 2, the local infrastructure bond issue, on the ballot this November.

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 22, 2005.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Senate Insurance, Commerce & Labor, (Chr. Hottinger, 466-5838), North Hearing Rm., 9 a.m.

SB 7 WORKERS' COMPENSATION (Cates) To direct the General Assembly in its deliberations regarding the enactment of reforms of the state's workers' compensation law. (2nd Hearing - Sponsor)

House Finance & Appropriations, (Chr. Calvert, 466-8140), Rm. 313, 1 p.m.

HB 68 ODOT BUDGET (Patton. T.) To make appropriations for programs related to transportation and public safety for the biennium beginning July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2007, and to provide authorization and conditions for the operation of those programs. (2nd Hearing - Proponent/Opponent/Interested party/Possible vote)

Senate Ways & Means & Economic Development, (Chr. Amstutz, 466-7505), South Hearing Rm., 4 p.m.

SB 1 TAX LAWS (Amstutz) To formally state the General Assembly's intentions in its upcoming deliberations on reforming Ohio's tax laws. (2nd Hearing-Substitute bill)

This meeting is tentative pending action on the bills at the previous day's meeting.

HB 68 ODOT BUDGET (Patton. T.) To make appropriations for programs related to transportation and public safety for the biennium beginning July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2007, and to provide authorization and conditions for the operation of those programs. (3rd Hearing - Proponent/Opponent/Interested party/Possible vote)

Senate Judiciary-Criminal Justice, (Chr. Jordan, 466-7584), North Hearing Rm., 9 a.m.

SB 9 OHIO TERRORISM LAW (Jacobson) To require law enforcement officers to comply with certain federal mandates regarding homeland security; to create the offenses of criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon, criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon, illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of a chemical weapon or biological weapon, money laundering in support of terrorism, and unlawful possession of a powerful laser; to require applicants for certain specified licenses to disclose any material assistance they have provided to an organization on the United States Department of State Terrorist Exclusion List; to prohibit the state or a political subdivision of the state from conducting business with any person, company, or others that provide material assistance to any organization on the United States Department of State Terrorist Exclusion List; to require a person in a public place to provide the person's name to a law enforcement officer when the law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion that either the person is or has been engaged in criminal activity or the person has witnessed a felony offense of violence; to expand the homeland security duties of the Department of Public Safety; and to include animal and ecological terrorism in the definition of corrupt activity. (4th Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party)

HB 23 ADULT ENTERTAINMENT REGULATION (Reidelbach) To generally regulate adult entertainment establishments; to permit townships to regulate the location and operation of those establishments; to create an expedited appeal from orders, adjudications, or decisions denying an application for, or suspending or revoking, a license or permit to locate or operate such an establishment; to create an expedited appeal in any case in which a court determines there is a threat of restraint of protected expression; and to create the offense of permitting unlawful operation of viewing booths depicting sexual conduct. (3rd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party .)

House Ways & Means, (Chr. Kilbane, 466-0961), McKinley Rm. (formerly 121), 6 p.m.

HB 1 TAX LAWS (Kilbane) To formally state the General Assembly's intentions in its upcoming deliberations on reforming Ohio's tax laws. (2nd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party - Substitute bill)

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

HB 1 TAX LAWS (Kilbane) To formally state the General Assembly's intentions in its upcoming deliberations on reforming Ohio's tax laws. (3rd Hearing-Proponent, opponent & interested party)

Senate Highways & Transportation, (Chr. Armbruster, 644-7613), North Hearing Rm., 2:30 p.m. or after session

Senate Highways & Transportation, (Chr. Armbruster, 644-7613), Location to be announced, 2:30 p.m. or after session

Senate Highways & Transportation, (Chr. Armbruster, 644-7613), North Hearing Rm., 2:30 p.m. or after session

Senate Highways & Transportation, (Chr. Armbruster, 644-7613), Location to be announced, 2:30 p.m. or after session