RACHEL MASSOUD HIRED AS NEW LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATE

The Ohio Municipal League announces with great pleasure the hiring of Rachel Massoud as Legislative Advocate.

Rachel was born and raised in Cincinnati. She attended DePauw University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, and Phi Beta Kappa honors. Prior to joining the Ohio Municipal League, Rachel gained experience at the municipal, county, and state levels of government, most recently serving as the Senior Legislative Aide for Senator Bill Coley. During her time at the Ohio Senate, Rachel was responsible for Senator Coley's policy portfolio and managed the Senate Government Oversight and Reform committee. She is eager to use her knowledge to work on municipal policy and foster productive relationships between the Ohio's state and municipal governments.

"Our staff is back up to full strength and Rachel has hit the ground running," said Kent Scarrett, Executive Director of the Ohio Municipal League. "We are happy to have Rachel join us from the Senate and we are confident we have hired the very best."

 

PIPING MATERIALS PREEMPTION BILL'S AMENDMENT LANGUAGE MAKES BILL WORSE

The House State and Local Government Committee was packed on Wednesday morning with those eager to testify on HB 121. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Edwards (R - Nelsonville), is a costly preemption of local government decision making. As written, the bill would require a public authority to consider all piping materials that meet the engineering specifications for a state-funded water or waste water project.

In the original draft of the bill the language mandated that a municipality "shall consider all piping materials for the construction, development, maintenance, rebuilding, improvement, repair, or operation of a water or waste water project." As OML lobbyist Brian Barger pointed out in his opponent testimony, which you can read HERE, the bill assumes that, A) material suppliers know what is best for a local community; B) local officials are ignorant as to the materials available to them; C) those local officials do not care if a project is more expensive; and D) local officials have to be forced to consider alternatives.

"This bill," said Barger, "will provide a solution to a problem that does not exist at the cost of increased litigation and liability exposure."

During its fifth hearing, Rep. Edwards offered an amendment that reads, "No public authority shall prohibit the use of reasonable piping materials, based on sound engineering principles, in the construction, development, maintenance, rebuilding, or improvement of a water waste water projects that is funded whole or in part with state funds." The amendment was adopted 9 to 6.

Barger pointed out that nearly every word in this amendment is a "money word" for lawyers. Particularly phrases like "reasonable piping materials" and "sound engineering principles" have little to no real meaning when codified, exposing municipalities across Ohio to time-consuming and costly litigation for no reason.

Many opponents spoke in opposition to the bill, which was not voted on during that committee hearing. We will continue to track the progress of this bill (and its companion in the Senate, SB 95) and we urge you to call your legislators to inform them of the unnecessary damage this bill would have on public entities across the state.

 

OML ATTENDS REGION 4 MIDWEST MUNICIPAL LEAGUE CONFERENCE

Last week, OML's legislative and legal staff were in Indianapolis, IN, attending a conference for the NLC's Region 4 Midwest Municipal Leagues. OML joined municipal leagues from Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and Missouri for workshops and round-table discussions Wednesday through Friday. The leagues heard presentations on common legislative issues, discussed best practices, and networked while sharing with one another what works and what doesn't for their state for municipal league reference.

The days spent at the conference were productive ones and OML returned to Ohio with ideas and borrowed best practices from the discussions. We appreciate Accelerate Indiana Municipalities for hosting the conference and we are excited to begin implementing new measures to better work with the legislature and serve our cities and villages.

 

OML HOLDS ANNUAL CONFERENCE THIS WEEK

This past week, OML held our annual conference at the Columbus Renaissance Hotel.  Members from across the state gathered to meet and talk with vendors, participate in workshops and hear from featured speakers as part of our general sessions. Attendees to the Women in Government breakfast heard from Rep. Teresa Fedor (D - Toledo), who spoke on the importance of public servant-hood and leaving a better Ohio for our children, and those who attended our luncheon heard from Cal Thomas, a renown syndicated op-ed columnist who contextualized current events from a Washington perspective.

We are grateful to those who presented on topics like the municipal net profit centralized collection law, telecom regulation, infrastructure and the opioid addiction. We hope our members left feeling more equipped to do their jobs after workshops about cyber security, economic development and risk reduction in employment policies.

OML thanks everyone who came to the conference. We look forward to seeing you next year!

 

MUNICIPAL BILLS IN COMMITTEE HEARINGS:  RECAP

Here are the bills affecting municipalities that received committee hearings this week:

 

HB 323 - GARBAGE COLLECTION FEES. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Patterson (D - Jefferson), would authorize all municipal corporations that charge a garbage collection fee to certify unpaid amounts to the county auditor, who must enter the fees on the property tax list to be collected in the same manner as real property taxes. Rep. Patterson spoke to the bill's correction of an oversight in Ohio law, as we have previously reported on in the bulletin.

HB 312 - CREDIT CARDS. Sponsored by Rep. Schuring (R - Canton) and Rep. Greenspan (R - Westlake), the bill would regulate the use of credit cards and debit cards by political subdivisions. The bill was amended during its 5 ^th hearing in the House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee to, among other things, change compliance officer responsibilities and modify reporting requirements. The bill was then voted out of committee.

HB 351 - NOAA & PHS TAX EXEMPTION. This bill, which would require municipal corporations to exempt from taxation the military pay of members of the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Public Health Service, is sponsored by Rep. Perales (R - Beavercreek) and Rep. Butler (R - Oakwood). The legislation heard sponsor testimony during its first hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee, during which Rep. Perales explained the minimal impact on municipalities do to the fact that the bill would only apply to approximately 70 Ohio taxpayers.

HB 343 - PROPERTY VALUES. This bill would require local governments that contest property values to formally pass an authorizing resolution for each contest and to notify property owners and is sponsored by Rep. Merrin (R - Monclova Township). During its second testimony in the House Ways and Means Committee, proponents from apartment, housing and real estate associations, spoke to the inconveniences complaints cause to their businesses operations. During questioning, a proponent noted not all municipalities across Ohio handle property tax complaints in the manner the bill addresses and that their issue lies with the few cities that do.

HB 371 - PROPERTY TAX. This bill, also sponsored by Rep. Merrin. (R - Monclova Township) would exempt from property taxation the increased value of land subdivided for residential development until construction commences or the land is sold. During its second hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee, proponents from the Home Builder's Association decried the decline in housing starts in Ohio.

HB 263 - OUTDOOR DINING - DOGS. Sponsored by Rep. Lanese (R - Grove City). The bill would generally allow an owner, keeper, or harborer of a dog to take the dog in an outdoor dining area of a retail food establishment or food service operation. During its fourth hearing in the House Economic Development Committee, Rep. Lanese told the committee a substitute bill was being prepared for consideration next week that would place a host of restrictions in the bill, including clarifying the language does not affect service dogs, requiring dogs on patios to remain on non-retractable leashes, and allowing patrons to ask that those with unruly dogs leave.

HB 221 - HOME INSPECTOR BOARD. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Hughes (R - Upper Arlington), would require the licensure of home inspectors and to create the Ohio Home Inspector Board to regulate the licensure and performance of home inspectors. During its fourth hearing in the House Economic Development, Commerce and Labor Committee, a substitute bill was accepted that changed the education requirements, allowed inspectors to be grandfathered in and limited realtor liability.

HB 361 - LOCAL ELECTIONS. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Merrin (R - Monclova Township), permit local tax-related proposals to appear only on general and primary election ballots and not on an August special election ballot and to modify the information conveyed in election notices and ballot language for property tax levies. During its second hearing, the bill heard proponent testimony in the House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee. The bill would prevent municipalities from using a vital option in balancing their budgets and could force them to instead raise credits, while eliminating a key opportunity to adequately educate voters on a tax levy.

HB 291 - EMPLOYEE DISHONESTY INSURANCE. Sponsored by Rep. Wiggam (R - Wooster), this bill would authorize counties, townships, and municipal corporations to purchase an employee dishonesty and faithful performance of duty insurance policy, instead of a bond, for protection from loss due to the fraudulent or dishonest actions of, and the failure to perform a duty prescribed by law by, an officer, official, employee, or appointee for which a bond is required by law. During its third hearing in the House State and Local Government Committee, the bill was amended to extend the option to insure to joint self-insurance pools while expanding the list of government positions that are insurable. The OML has submitted testimony in support of this bill, which you can read HERE.

 

INTRODUCED: NEW MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION

Here are the bills introduced this week that would have an impact on Ohio municipalities:

SB 225 - BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT GRANTS. Sponsored by Sen. Schiavoni (D - Boardman) and Sen. Eklund (R - Munson Township), this bill would create the Ohio Broadband Development Grant Program with an appropriation of $50 million to the Development Services Agency.

HB 393 - OIL AND GAS BRINE SALES. This bill, sponsored by Rep. DeVitis (R - Green) and Rep. O'Brien (D - Warren) would authorize a person to sell brine derived from an oil and gas operation that is processed as a commodity for use in surface application in deicing, dust suppression, and other applications.