Among them are the main mid-biennium budget corrections bill that makes changes to almost every state agency, new rules for energy companies and limits on how much water can be withdrawn from Lake Erie. The lesser-known bills establish safeguards to insurance offered through fraternal benefit societies and designate June as Ohio Wines Month.
Lawmakers will return to Columbus next week to tie up a few loose ends but the rest will have to wait until after the November election.
What passed
Gov. John Kasich proposed dozens of policy changes in the first “mid-biennium budget review” in March, and two of the biggest pieces now await his signature.
The main policy bill lacks Kasich’s planned income tax cut tied to increased oil and gas taxes but includes the bulk of his minor policy changes. Lawmakers added $30 million to reward nursing homes that go above and beyond requirements, $42 million for Clean Ohio projects, $3 million to study algae blooms and $13 million in grants to support reading instruction in early grades.
Legislators said Kasich will likely veto line items with a price tag.
The massive bill also allows teens to take all 24 classroom hours of driver’s education online and drivers sentenced to remedial driving courses to take all lessons online.
Touted as one of the best energy policies in the country, Senate Bill 315 sets new rules for drilling and hydraulic fracturing as the oil and gas industry prepares to ramp up activity in Ohio’s shale gas formations. Hydraulic fracturing, often called “fracking,” involves pumping millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the earth to release oil, gas and natural gas liquids.
Environmental advocates say the procedure causes water contamination, earthquakes and other problems not clearly known. The new law requires well operators to disclose chemicals used to drill and hydraulically fracture a well, with an exception for chemicals they consider a “trade secret.”
Well operators have to disclose all chemicals to doctors treating people injured by well construction and production and could be fined up to $20,000 daily for safety and environmental violations.
The General Assembly passed new gambling regulations just days after Ohio’s first casino opened in Cleveland and before the first “racino” opened in Columbus. The law creates rules for casinos, as well as bingo halls and “racinos” composed of video lottery terminals at horse tracks — including ones proposed for the Dayton-Warren County area.
Cities that host racinos will get $1 million each year for two years and possibly more for infrastructure and other costs.
The law puts a one-year moratorium on new Internet sweepstakes cafes, but lawmakers removed rules for charity card rooms to consider in a separate bill.
Kasich praised the General Assembly for its work on a new exotic animal law that bans new ownership and requires current owners to follow certain caretaking standards, obtain a permit by 2014 and insure their animals up to $1 million depending on the quantity owned.
Unfinished business
Sessions have been scheduled for the week of June 11, when lawmakers hope to pass the governor’s education policy bill and the Cleveland schools plan.
The education bill passed the Senate with several changes but stalled in the House due to disagreements about toughening the state’s law retaining third-graders who can’t read at grade level and provisions added by the House that include establishing charter schools for gifted students across the state.
Senators and representatives told the Dayton Daily News the differences in the two plans can be remedied before a vote is taken next week.
Disagreements between Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and teachers’ unions over a proposed panel to approve charter schools kept the Cleveland schools plan from moving forward last month. In a compromise, Jackson scaled back the panel’s power to an advisory role and other changes were made requiring bill revisions.
Lawmakers will likely pass the school reform plan so Jackson can build support for a new tax levy on the November ballot.
The Senate also didn’t have enough time to pass a bill aimed at cracking down on human trafficking. The bill would make human trafficking a first-degree felony with a 10- to 15-year prison sentence and allow victims to sue traffickers in civil court.
On the back burner
Proposals to cut funding to Planned Parenthood and to drug-test welfare recipients were inserted and later removed from the governor’s main budget bill. But both bills are alive as separate measures, and lawmakers plan to examine both proposals during the summer and review them again in the fall.
Variations of the two bills have been enacted or are being considered in other states.
Landline phone customers don’t have to worry whether their service will end next year. Lawmakers on the House Public Utilities Committee said they won’t move forward with a bill that would allow telephone companies to withdraw landline phone service in “competitive” areas.
The state’s last major overhaul of telecom law two years ago required a legislative study on the impact of increased service fees and longer time to restore service, and lawmakers said the study should be completed before making more changes.
Ohio AARP members phoned their legislators in opposition to the bill, which many feared would force seniors and people living in poverty to pay more for basic service.
Other bills sent
to the governor
Senate Bill 202: Land owners would not be liable for death and injury of trespassers except in certain situations.
Senate Bill 245: Would require used-car dealers to take six to 24 hours of training on state and consumer protection laws as part of their certification.
House Bill 207: Designates the first week of April as Ohio Coal Miners Week.
House Bill 322: Allows Ohio banking institutions to charge the same interest rates as out-of-state banks.
House Bill 326: Restricts use of public funds for campaign purposes.
House Bill 473: Sets water use limits for Lake Erie as part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Compact.
House Bill 491: Designates June as Ohio Wines Month.
