The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Pair push for repeal
Democratic House members advocate for seldom-used parliamentary maneuver to kill controversial House Bill 6
A pair of Democratic state lawmakers are pushing to have a Sept. 1 vote to repeal the nuclear subsidy bill at the heart of an alleged bribery scandal involving former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder.
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.
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.
In the wake of those arrests, state lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have pushed for a repeal of the bill. Reps. Michael J. Skindell, D-Lakewood, and Michael J. O’Brien, D-Warren, said in a statement that on Aug. 31 they plan to use a provision within the House Rules that allows the discharge of a bill from a committee after 30 days of inaction. The discharge petition needs support from a majority (50) of House members. Aug. 30 marked 30 days since the bill was sent to the House Rules and Reference Committee.
“Corruption has no place in our government, regardless of political party,” Skindell and O’Brien said in a letter to their House colleagues. “When corruption is revealed, it is important we as lawmakers act quickly to fix what has been broken. We now know that House Bill 6, whether good policy or not, was founded on and funded by a scheme to defraud taxpayers and circumvent the will of the people of our state. HB 6 should be repealed immediately and we write to you today to request your help in this endeavor.”
Skindell and O’Brien further wrote, “We believe this crisis calls for a seldomused parliamentary maneuver to fix what has been broken in the timely manner that is needed: a discharge petition.”
The pair said filing the discharge petition Aug. 31 could allow their repeal bill to be brought up in the House’s Sept. 1 session.
County Commissioners from Lake and Ottawa counties have expressed opposition to any legislative proposal to repeal House Bill 6 without a thoroughly vetted and workable replacement.
“While we detest any alleged illegal or unethical activity before, during, or after the enactment of the legislation, we certainly believed the (policy) outcomes were of great benefit not only to our counties, but also to all Ohioans,” the commissioners said in an Aug. 19 statement. “If the former house speaker or ‘dark money’ contributors were coordinating illegal behind-the-scenes activities, they should be punished in accordance with federal and state laws.”
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.
In addition to subsidizing the two nuclear plants, House Bill 6 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.