COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio lawmakers are poised to repeal the remaining portions of a law that landed the state’s former speaker of the house in federal prison.
In 2019, House Bill 6 passed and was signed into law, but the process to get there was not clean, and it was ultimately discovered that the bill passed thanks to $60 million in bribes from FirstEnergy to former House Speaker Larry Householder. Since the scandal unfolded, the parts of the law most closely tied to the scandal have been repealed, but other portions are still in state law and costing ratepayers.
New Albany church leaders’ son charged with rape pleads not guilty“I think ultimately the question is, ‘Why should these things continue?’ and I think there's been a lot of debate, especially after the last four years,” Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
What do the remaining portions of HB 6 do? They subsidize two Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) coal plants on the backs of Ohio ratepayers. One of the plants is in Ohio, the other in Indiana.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel estimates that the amount Ohioans have paid since January 2020 is more than $464 million to date. Ohio Republican leaders have been at odds since the scandal unfolded about the remaining portions of the law.
Now, Huffman said he is confident it can get done on or around April 30.
“Because now I can get the votes in both Houses to get it passed,” he said.
Ohio college presidents among signatories against Trump administration ‘overreach’If this bill does pass and is signed into law, the OVEC subsidies would stop as soon as the bill becomes effective, which is 90 days after the governor’s signature. Lawmakers considered a phase-out plan, but ultimately decided against it.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed HB 6 into law. In January, when asked about repealing the OVEC subsidies, DeWine said he is OK with that.
“That is not something that was part of the bill that I thought was necessary [at the time],” DeWine said. “I am fine if that is taken out.”
In April, when the legislature is one week away from likely sending it to his desk, DeWine had a different answer.
“I have not looked at that at all,” DeWine said. “I’ll tell you later.”
Where the Pike County massacre case stands nine years laterHuffman said the repeal would help with the bigger picture of government staying out of the free market, if it does become a reality.
“The bigger part of it is, going forward, the electric security plans,” he said. “We’re not going to do that anymore. Now the free marketeers can say if that's not going to happen, we can now invest lots of dollars in Ohio.”
The repeal is part of both House Bill 15 and Senate Bill 2, two massive, bipartisan bills to reshape Ohio’s energy structure.
“This is the most significant energy bill in the last 25 years,” Huffman said. “We truly are resetting the ground.”
“This is not Democratic energy policy, but I think that it does do some important things,” Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.
Kroger proposes new Canal Winchester grocery store, gas stationThe bills are slightly different; Huffman said there are only “a few tiny issues” between the two.
“It is important enough to us, enough that we find a swift resolution to it,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
Russo said that aside from repealing the OVEC subsidies, she thinks that while the bill could go further, it is “good forward progress.”
“It does open the door to some renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, and for the first time in almost two decades, it actually opens up the books of utility companies and allows for real rate review,” she said.
Huffman and DeWine said the crux of Ohio’s energy issues is that there simply isn’t enough of it.
“Manufacturers and other energy users came to me and said, ‘We're going to be out of energy in (20)27 or ‘28,’” Huffman said. “There was a potential data center coming to Lima, Ohio, that ended up going to Pennsylvania because [we] can't promise the energy.”
Columbus eager for new expansion of Peninsula development“Part of this challenge is caused by the fact that we've been highly successful in getting companies to come to Ohio,” DeWine said. “Some of these companies take a massive amount of energy, electricity, so yes, that is a big issue.”
Lawmakers said by doing things like diversifying energy and reshaping storage, they hope it is a step in the right direction to help Ohio become more energy independent.
Huffman said he thinks the bill could have passed sooner, but the goal is to get it to the governor’s desk by April 30. McColley agreed that he’d like to see it done at the end of April or start of May.
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