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At the end of each biennium, the session of the Ohio General Assembly ends. Thus, the 126th Session of the General Assembly is completed and the 127th Session has begun. All bills introduced in the 126th Session not acted upon must now be reintroduced and undergo full consideration by both Houses of the General Assembly, if they are to receive any further consideration. Though some at the beginning of each new session always vow to “hit the ground running,” it never happens. There first must be the election of leaders, orientation of new members, the wrangle over committee proportions for each party, the announcement of committee assignments and, in the case of this year, the inaugurals for all new statewide elected officials before much of anything happens in the General Assembly. The new Governor is also given an extra three weeks to introduce his first budget. Thus, that event this year is not required until the middle of March. Bill introductions, the fuel that feeds the scheduling of committees, won’t really get started until about February 1 or later. The Senate and House have only scheduled January 17 and 18 for session this month. During that week committee assignments are expected to be announced. In February, session is scheduled for February 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, though such early dates are always a bit iffy. Thus, for the first two or three months of 2007, you can expect that our Legislative Bulletins will not be reporting full committee schedules and will not occur on the weekly basis that would normal during full session periods. However, with two parties in power rather than one, we think you should expect a bit more volume of information from us this year. It’s very simple. More newsmakers with divergent views and the power to effect those views, more news. Sometimes that news will appear in the usual paper Legislative Bulletin. What does not fit into our usual time-frame for the paper Bulletin, you can still receive that information via the e-Bulletin to which hundreds of municipal officials subscribe. There we are not tied down by either space or time, except in metaphysical ways not involving paper or the U.S. Postal Service. Should you choose it, the e-Bulletin, especially this year, will provide you with more information than the paper Bulletin. You can opt for the e-Bulletin by simply e-mailing jmahoney@omunileague.org and give us your municipality’s name, your e-mail address and whether you should be taken off our Bulletin mailing list. Besides, the e-Bulletin gets you more information faster and saves us postage. The e-Bulletin also will make you feel more 21st century and, with the simple use of the “Reply” button, give you the power to immediately ask for more information on an issue or throw a Molotov at some of the grammatical errors that sometimes show up in our copy early Friday morning. And now a recap of some of the final actions of the 126th General Assembly. RED LIGHT CAMERA BILL VETOED As you probably know, in one of final actions of his administration, Governor Taft vetoed HB 56, a bill that would have effectively blocked the use of photo-technology to increase public safety around busy intersections, school zones and high speed areas. This support for Home Rule by the Governor is greatly appreciated. We do not expect discussions over the use of this technology to dissipate in the 127th Session of the General Assembly. We, in fact, look forward to that discussion. We vowed from the early days of consideration of that bill to work with supporters to fashion a bill that ensured the fair usage of those devices, as long as such a bill showed respect for local law enforcement, public safety and Home Rule. Unfortunately, HB 56, as drafted in its many veils by the General Assembly this session, attempted to practically bar the use of such cameras. Should the General Assembly attempt in the 127th to create more uniform fairness than already exists, we will look forward to that effort and hope that such an effort is more successful at being constitutional and more straightforward than this last attempt. Or we will, once again, oppose the bill. Once again, we appreciate Governor Taft’s decisive action on this matter. TAFT WALKS AWAY FROM SB 117; STRICKLAND VETOES IT Governor Taft would have let a bill that would bar municipalities from suing manufacturers on a nuisance basis for the damage caused by their products. The bill also contained provisions to change the Consumer Sales Practices Act to limit potential awards to consumers for non-economic damages. It is this latter provision to which the Governor had concerns. No problem. Governor Taft’s taking no action, evidently, left open the door for newly-elected Governor Strickland to veto the bill within the ten day window allowed for such action. With the General Assembly’s 126th Session over, the veto by Governor Strickland cannot be overridden. Since the House is no longer veto-proof with 53 Republican seats, as opposed to 60 such seats, and the changes in the CSPA and opposition to lead paint-municipal suits dividing on partisan lines, both issues will have a hard time rearing their heads in the 127th General Assembly. We will have to see if there is some legal challenge to this action. In the recent past, the switch between governors has led to some anomalies. Governors have simply left office without picking up or receiving bills from the General Assembly at the end of a term. Without that reception, the “ten day clock” never started running and therefore such bills just died. During the “Six-Day War” following the 1974 elections, bills desired by Democrats could not be sent to the Governor, because a Lt. Governor, still President of the Senate and a Republican, refused to sign them and send them along to a Democrat Governor for signature. However, the big difference between the General Assembly and the Governor is that the General Assembly lives and dies by the parameters of a session, which must end December 31. The Governor is simply the Governor for four years, beginning at 12:01 a.m. January 8 of this year. The validity of the veto will turn on the question of when the Governor’s office received the bill and started the ten day clock ticking. HB 690, ENABLING LEGISLATION FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE, IS SIGNED Governor Taft signed the legislation that will serve as a starting point for the minimum wage increase passed by voters last November as Issue 2. It is clear that the minimum wage in Ohio is $6.85 as of Janaury1, 2007. It is also clear that the new minimum wage includes all public employers in Ohio, including municipalities. However, there is come confusion and contentiousness that will still have to play out on some of the details of this constitutional amendment. By signing HB 690, Governor Taft put in place a law that allows some exemptions from the wage (primarily home-health care workers and some recreation workers, the latter of which may affect some municipalities) and record-keeping, that supporters of the amendment say the people of Ohio did not vote for. This may lead to legal action by the supporters of the amendment. Additionally, since the amendment takes effect January 1 and HB 690, without an emergency clause, takes effect around April 1, Ohio employers, both public and private, will be a bit in the dark as to the exact details of the amendment for the next three months. As to employees who are not subject to the overtime rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act, HB 690 relaxes some of the record-keeping requirements not completely spelled out in the amendment. We do not expect these provisions to be the key concerns of the amendment’s sponsors. The provisions related to exemptions seem more the focus of their concerns. We will keep you informed on this matter as the issue becomes clearer. HB 9, THE OPEN RECORDS BILL, SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR HB 9 was signed by the Governor. Under provisions of the bill all public officials or their designee’s must take a three-hour Open Records course each term of office, provided by the Attorney General or his designee. Redaction or denial of public records must include the reasons or such redactions or denials. Redactions are considered a denial of access to the records in question. Public offices may ask a records requester for their name and that their request be in written form. However, it should be made clear by the office that such information is not an obligation. All local records commissions plans for retention, disposition or destruction of public records must be submitted the Ohio Historical Society for review. After review, OHS is to submit such plans to the State Auditor for approval or disapproval. The bill allows for a mandamus action, as does current law. However, the bill provides for “statutory damages” at the rate of $100 a day, up to $1000, from the day the mandamus action is filed. Those damages are to be awarded by the court on all successful actions, unless the judge finds, essentially, that “reasonable” or “well informed” public officials would not clearly know that the records in question were meant to be open. The bill also allows journalists to still have access to information regarding concealed-carry gun licenses, but journalists are only permitted to see that information, not write down the information they see. Except for a provision changing the timetable for a study committee on public advertising methods and obligations, the provisions of HB 9 have an effective date of nine months after passage, which makes it around October 1, by our calculation. MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE LEAGUE’S LEGISLATIVE LUNCHEON The Ohio Municipal League will host a luncheon honoring all members of the 127th General Assembly on Tuesday, March 20th in the Statehouse Atrium. The luncheon will be held from 12 noon - 1:30 p.m. Please mark your calendar for this important event. Additional information for the event will be forthcoming. There will be no increase in cost of registration . |
