The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Committee to look back, then ahead
First hearing to mull House Bill 6 repeal
A newly formed Ohio House committee will have its first meeting Sept. 10 on efforts to repeal and replace House Bill 6.
HB 6 is the bill at the center of an alleged bribery scandal involving now-former Speaker of the House Larry Householder, RGlenford. Householder 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.”
New Speaker of the House Bob Cupp, R-Lima, announced the creation of the House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight on Aug. 31 and announced its committee members on
Sept. 2. The committee will be led by State Rep. Jim Hoops, R-Napoleon, who voted for House Bill 6 last year.
According to the agenda, the Sept. 10 House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight meeting will be the first hearing for House Bill 746. That legislation — from Reps. Laura Lanese, R-Grove City, and Mark Romanchuk, R-Ontario — seeks to repeal House Bill 6 and revive the law it replaced.
Lanese said at a July 23 news conference announcing the legislation a repeal of House Bill 6 is needed “not only because it was bad policy from the start, but because we need to reassure Ohioans that their representatives, be they Democrat or Republican, are truly working in their interest.”
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 of this year as Energy Harbor.
Lanese also said at the news conference that a full repeal is needed due to the allegations against Householder.
“From the beginning, to the middle, to the end, this bill was tainted,” she said. “While these allegations may eventually prove to be false, that does not remove the taint. That’s why we need to start afresh with any kind of energy policy going forward.”
Householder was arraigned on charges in federal court Sept. 3. He pleaded not guilty.
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.
The Ohio House in late July unanimously voted to remove Householder from the position of speaker, though he remains a member of the House. Cupp was selected as the new Speaker of the House in a 55-38 vote as all House Democrats and a few House Republicans voted ‘no.’ “
Joining Hoops in the House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight are eight House Republicans and six House Democrats.
Including Hoops, five of the Republicans on the committee voted for House Bill 6’s passage last year. All six Democrats voted against it.
Among the Democratic members of the committee is Rep. Mike O’Brien of Warren, who is one of the sponsors of another House Bill looking to repeal House Bill 6. O’Brien and fellow sponsor Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, were critical of Cupp Aug. 31 for the creation of the committee, calling it an “unnecessary level of bureaucracy.” The pair wanted a repeal of House Bill 6 passed last week.
In addition to subsidizing the state’s two nuclear power plants, the bill also allows utilities to charge ratepayers up to $1.50 per month to subsidize two coal-powered electric plants run by Ohio Valley Energy Corp. One of those plants is in southern Ohio, and the other is based in Indiana.
By the end of 2020, House Bill 6 eliminates state electric mandates for energy efficiency, peak demand and the solar renewable portfolio standard carve-out. A solar carve-out is the part of a state’s renewable portfolio standard that sets a specific level of electricity to be generated from solar panels.
Additionally, the renewable portfolio standard will be reduced and, by the end of 2026, eliminated. The renewable portfolio standard is a requirement that a specified percentage of the electricity that utilities sell comes from renewable resources.
“From the beginning, to the middle, to the end, this bill was tainted. While these allegations may eventually prove to be false, that does not remove the taint. That’s why we need to start afresh with any kind of energy policy going forward.” — Rep. Laura Lanese, R-Grove City