Ohio General Assembly begins new session with old issues

(The Center Square) – The new Ohio General Assembly began dealing with the same issue the previous legislature failed to tackle – House Bill 6.

The bill, which calls for ratepayer increases to fund an annual $170 million bailout for the state’s nuclear and solar industries and was part of what the federal authorities called a $60 million bribery and racketeering scandal, led to the arrest of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.

Lawmakers spent the final months of the legislative session, along with a lame-duck session, attempting to repeal, replace or alter the legislation. Little movement of consequence happened by the time the session ended in late December.

In response, Democratic State Rep. David Leland, D-Columbus, immediately introduced legislation this week that he believes will break the logjam.

“We have to repeal House Bill 6 – the product of what the FBI calls the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history,” Leland said. “This is an innovative approach that will save consumers billions of dollars. It repeals the costly corporate bailouts, it saves consumers money on energy usage without resorting to mandates and it breathes new life into Ohio’s green energy economy.”

Aside from repealing the subsidies from House Bill 6, Leland’s proposal also creates energy waste reduction programs that allows businesses to become EWR businesses and compete for customers and gives consumers the option of being part of the program.

“This legislation represents a consumer choice- and free market-drive approach to addressing House Bill 6,” Leland said. “The Energy Waste Reduction program isn’t picking winners and losers in the Ohio economy – its goal is to reduce energy consumption however that energy is generated. Environmentally, the cleanest Kilowatt of energy is the one that isn’t used.”

In late December, Franklin County Judge Chris Brown ruled in favor of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, along with the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati, and blocked subsidies. Later, the Ohio Supreme Court agreed with the lower court and issued a temporary stay to stop the fees.

Also, last week, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio vacated it’s August 2020 action that established the Clean Air Rider as directed by a Franklin County Court. That August action created fees on every electric consumer in the state and established how customers types would be billed to collected $170 million annually for the Clean Air Fund.

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