House can erase veto of weaker standards

The Ohio House is likely to pass a bill weakening Ohio’s clean-energy standards next week with a veto-proof majority, Speaker Cliff Rosenberger said Wednesday.

“I think it’s sending a clear message … that this is something that we are very intent that needs to happen as state policy,” said the Republican from Clarksville. “This is something we’re serious on.”

House Bill 114, which makes Ohio’s renewableenergy mandates optional and reduces state energyefficiency standards, has 55 co-sponsors. It’s not much of a stretch to get to the 60 votes needed in the House to override a veto by the governor, given that Republicans hold a 66-33 majority.

The bigger question is what happens in the Senate.

In December, Gov. John

Kasich vetoed an energy-standards bill backed by Republican legislators. This new version appears to go even further in revising a 2008 law that set requirements that electricity utilities must follow.

The 2016 bill didn’t have veto-proof majorities in either chamber: It received 56 votes in the House (nine members didn’t vote) and 18 in the 33-member Senate, where five Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure.

The Senate would need 20 votes to override a veto, but the five Republicans who voted no last year still hold seats. If those five remain opposed, that would leave only 19 “yes” votes — and that’s only if none of those 19 other Republicans join the five opponents.

“I wouldn’t expect many people’s positions would have changed,” said Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, who offered no timeline on when or if the Senate would act on the bill if the House approves it.

“This current bill goes further than” last year’s bill, Obhof said.

Rosenberger said he is willing to pursue a compromise with Kasich, who said last year that the 2016 bill “amounts to self-inflicted damage to both our state’s near- and long-term economic competitiveness.”

“I think the bill we passed last General Assembly was a really good compromise working with him, but clearly the administration didn’t think that,” Rosenberger said.

Under House Bill 114, utilities would no longer face penalties for failing to meet annual benchmarks for buying renewable energy. In addition, energy-saving rules would be reduced, and businesses would be allowed to opt out of electricity-bill charges that pay for cleanenergy programs.