The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New committee begins nuclear bill Background
Bipartisan Ohio Senators seeking House Bill 6 repeal meet for first committee hearing
The first hearing has been held for a bipartisan Ohio Senate bill seeking to repeal the nuclear bailout legislation at the heart of an alleged bribery scandal involving former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder.
Repeal bill sponsors Sens. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta and Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, testified Sept. 1 before the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Commission. O’Brien said
“As public servants, it is our constitutional charge to always act in the best interest of all Ohioans,” O’Brien said. “This includes not taking bribes to further the interests of individual corporations or other entities, and not passing legislation that will put a significant financial burden on taxpayers just for power’s sake and to line the pockets of oneself and a few select cronies.
“The evidence laid out by federal authorities against Speaker Householder and his associates related to the passage of (House Bill 6) was overwhelming, and this legislation cannot be allowed to stand.”
House Bill 6 was signed into law in July 2019, a little more than three months after it was introduced. The bill, among other things, gives North Perry’s Perry Nuclear Power Plant and Ottawa County’s DavisBesse Nuclear Power Plant $150 million annually between 2021 and 2027. The funds are raised through charges paid by residential, commercial and industrial electric customers.
FirstEnergy Solutions, the owner of Ohio’s two nuclear plants, filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 and had plans to shut down both plants by 2021 if it did not receive subsidies. FirstEnergy Solutions officials emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Feb. 27 as Energy Harbor.
Householder, R-Glendford, and four others were arrested July 21 for allegedly violating the “racketeering statute through honest services wire fraud, receipt of millions of dollars in bribes and money laundering.”
The $60 million case was called “likely the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated against the state of Ohio,” by U.S. Attorney David DeVillers. Householder has since been removed as House Speaker, but remains in the Ohio House as a Representative.
Federal investigators allege that Generation Now was incorporated in February 2017 as a “social welfare entity purporting to promote energy independence and economic development,” but was secretly controlled by Householder.
Millions of dollars from the electric company known in the complaint as “Company A” were allegedly used to support Householder’s bid to become speaker, to support House candidates believed to back Householder for the position and for personal benefit.
Kunze said “a repeal of House Bill 6 will help to restore the faith of the public in the legislative process.”
“Not only were the scales weighted in favor of House Bill 6 from the backroom dealings made by those currently under investigation by the FBI, but the public effort to bring House Bill 6 up for a referendum was sabotaged by those behind the creation of House Bill 6,” Kunze said.
During the hearing, committee member Sen. John Eklund R-Munson Township, asked the pair if the guilt or innocence of the alleged crimes are important to them in determining “whether and to what extent it is a good idea to repeal House Bill 6.”
Trial
O’Brien said it is likely to take a long time before the cases against Householder and the other defendants are brought to trial. Householder told reporters Sept. 1 he plans to plead not guilty.
By the time the cases are finished, it is likely that House Bill 6 is already in full effect. He said in his opinion what was laid out by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office warrants a repeal.
The Perry Nuclear Power Plant is located in Eklund’s Senate district and employs about 700 people. Prior to House Bill 6, in 2017, Eklund introduced legislation to subsidize Ohio’s two nuclear plants. That legislation never made it out of committee, however.
Committee focus
Senate Energy and Public Utilities Commission Chairman Sen. Steve Wilson. RMaineville, told O’Brien and Kunze they were there “with the best of intentions.” Wilson said the committee is going to give a repeal “every possible consideration as we go forward the next few weeks.
Wilson said the committee should be proud of the work it did regarding House Bill 6 last year.
“...we were a necessary check and balance, which is built into the governmental system to the House of Representatives, that even with that type of money that we didn’t know about being thrown around, even with all that went on, we were able to stay above that and be that check and balance and produced good policy that was signed by the governor and would become law,” Wilson said.
Wilson added that with that being said and having the repeal bill before them, it is “appropriate that we take a look at this because of what happened.
“It’s very appropriate, but we are going to take a fair and balanced look at that, just like we did when we took at House Bill 6.”
Wilson said they will have proponent and opponent hearing and are going to “take the time to do this right.”
“We’re not here as senators to have knee-jerk reactions to what happened outside the State House or over at the House,” Wilson said. “We are here on any bill to take a look at the substance of that bill and what it means to the citizens of Ohio.”’
In the aftermath of Householder’s arrest, Gov. Mike DeWine initially said House Bill 6 should not be repealed. He quickly reversed course, stating state lawmakers should repeal and replace the bill “through an open process that the public can have confidence in.”
In the Ohio House, new Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, on Aug. 31 announced the creation of a committee to review House Bill 6 repeal and replacement legislation.
The committee will be called the House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight. Cupp said in a statement that Householder’s federal indictment “raised serious questions about House Bill 6 and the process by which it became law, casting a dark cloud over Ohio’s energy policy.”
The announcement of the committee was criticized by a pair of House Democrats who wanted House Bill 6 to be repealed this week.
“This new committee was announced with no timeline, no membership and no purpose,” Reps. Michael J. Skindell, D-Lakewood, and Michael J. O’Brien, D-Warren, said in a statement.
Local leaders
County Commissioners in Lake and Ottawa counties have asked state lawmakers not to repeal without a thoroughly vetted and workable replacement.
“Simply throwing the policy out with the political bathwater due to some bad actors, putting it politely, seems short-sighted, at best, and potentially catastrophic, at worst, to Ohio’s energy portfolio and costs moving forward,” Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said Aug.19.