WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007

CONFEREES NAMED

HB 119  BUDGET BILL  (Dolan)  To make operating appropriations for the biennium beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 30, 2009, and to provide authorization and conditions for the operation of state programs.   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

Reps. Dolan, Flowers & Skindell

COMMITTEE HEARING

INFRASTRUCTURE, HOMELAND SECURITY & VETERANS AFFAIRS

HB 30 TRAFFIC CAMERA SIGNS   (McGregor, R.)   To require any local authority that enforces any traffic law by means of traffic law photo-monitoring devices to erect signs on every highway or freeway that is part of the state highway system and that enters that local authority to inform inbound traffic that the local authority utilizes traffic law photo-monitoring devices to enforce laws.   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

The amendment specified that interstate highways would be excluded, that signs be posted as closely as possible to a municipal boundary if not within 300 feet of it, and requiring traffic monitoring devices comply with the Ohio Department Transportation's manual.

HB 176 MOTORCYCLE INSTRUCTION   (Combs)   To permit public entities to offer motorcycle operator instruction without any tuition fee restriction.   Full Text

CONTINUED (No testimony)

HB 252 ROAD NAMINGS   (Hughes)   To require the Director of Transportation to designate portions of state highways, county or township roads, or streets or highways located within municipal corporations as memorial highways in honor of each State Highway Patrol trooper, county sheriff, deputy sheriff, township constable, or police officer of a township police department or district or law enforcement agency of a municipal corporation who is or has been killed in the line of duty.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Rep. Hughes, citing the case of Trooper Wendy Everett who had not been honored after 20 years, said the transportation director could make memorial highway designations at the request of the Ohio Highway Patrol or a local sheriff's department and a deceased officer's family to preclude the time-consuming process of having legislation enacted for each designation.

HB 159 LICENSE PLATE   (Bubp)   To create "Support Our Troops" license plates.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Martin Boire of Daytona Beach, Fla., national chairman of Support Our Troops, outlined the organization's goal of helping military families with living expenses with proceeds from the sale of license tags in all states within two more years, and through the sale of other items featuring the SOT logo. The organization is operated almost entirely with volunteers and distributes funds through existing groups, Mr. Boire said. The charitable organization spends about 13 percent of its proceeds for operations, including start-up expenses that are greater than regular operating expenses. It has been organized to continue in perpetuity since military personnel are "out doing inherently dangerous things," regardless whether there's a war or conflict.

HB 68 HIGHWAY NAMING   (Wolpert)   To designate a portion of Interstate Route 270 within Franklin County as the "Trooper Wendy G. Everett Memorial Highway" and to designate a portion of United States Route 62 in southwestern Franklin County as the "Patrolman Jerry R. Neff Memorial Highway."   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

Amendments would name a segment of I-270 in Franklin County in honor of Trooper Jody S. Dye, a North Fork Creek bridge in Slate Mills in Ross County to honor Deputy Lawrence E. Barnes and a Scioto River Bridge in Chillicothe to honor Don E. Carnes.

WAYS & MEANS

HB 224 MUNICIPAL TAXES   (Schindel)   To specify that the municipal income tax annual return filing date for individuals shall not be earlier than the federal income tax filing date, to allow return preparers to use facsimile signatures on returns, and to permit taxpayers to authorize return preparers to communicate directly with municipal tax administrators.   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

The amendment was described by it's sponsor, Rep. Schindel as technical. She explained the amendment clarifies application only to an individual tax return. Although there was no testimony offered per se, Dan Navin offered the support for the bill from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. The committee also was in receipt of a letter of support from the Ohio Society of CPAs.

HB 261 PROPERTY SALES   (Bolon)   To revise the procedures governing the sale of tax certificates on lands that have delinquent property tax charges.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Rep. Bolon, a former county treasurer, and Rep. Peterson, a former county auditor, co-presented the bill saying it expands to all 88 Ohio counties the ability to collect delinquent property taxes by selling tax certificates on delinquent properties by public auction or through a negotiated sale. Current law limits the ability to counties treasurers in counties having a population of at least 200,000.

Rep. Bolon, presenting her first sponsor testimony, said currently the only option available to county treasurers in counties under 200,000 population is to institute foreclosure proceedings against a property in the local court, which creates an additional burden on the prosecutor's office and the court system. The treasurer would be responsible for selecting parcels and compile a list of each parcel with a description of the property and the amount of the delinquency charged against the property. The measure lays out a specific notification process and after a tax certificate is sold, the county treasurer must inform the owner that the tax certificate was sold, described the owner's option to redeem the parcel, including entering into a redemption payment plan, and name the certificate holder.

Noting the process is aimed at the habitual property owner who never pays their property taxes until late in the process, Rep. Bolon noted the legislation was introduced at the request of the County Treasurer's Association. Besides county treasurers supporting the bill, the representative noted the bill has the support of former Franklin County and now State Treasurer Richard Cordray.

HB 185 NURSING   (Beatty)   Regarding tuition reimbursement, tax credits, and mandatory overtime for nurses and nurse aides.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Testifying on behalf of the Ohio Nurses Association, Karen Ahijevych, a member of the faculty at the Ohio State University School of Nursing, said the tax credit to nursing faculty would provide a strong, positive incentive to recruit and retain faculty as an element of the needed initiatives to address the complex issue that impact health care in the state. Citing statistics showing a current and future decline of nursing faculty, said the tax credit would be part of a continued strategy to encourage inquisitive, intelligent nurses to continue to masters and doctoral education needed to address vacancies created by the increasing numbers of faculty retiring in the next 10 years. She added the proposed credit would provide a financial incentive for nurses to pursue graduate nursing education to fill these critical academic positions.

Ms. Ahijevych, who is a registered nurse and holds a doctoral degree, reported on the disparity between average faculty salaries with average salaries of nurses in hospitals and other health care settings. She noted in a Columbus hospital, the average beginning salary of a bachelors-degree prepared nurse is nearly $45,000, while an experienced top level bachelors-degree prepared nurse's salary is greater than $90,000, including shift differentials. She further added that nursing faculty are typically more educated with a masters or doctoral degree

Ms. Ahijevych said quality education of nursing students is paramount and adequate faculty to student ratios are essential to ensure quality nursing education and skilled graduates. Strategies to recruit and retain faculty are critical to educate current and future nurses, she concluded.

HEALTH

HB 164 HEALTH CENTERS   (McGregor, R.)   To require the Ohio Department of Health to promote the establishment of federal health centers, to include federally qualified health center look-alikes in the medical malpractice premium assistance program, to create a pilot program to place federally qualified health centers in two hospital emergency departments, and to make an appropriation.   Full Text

REPORTED (No testimony)

SB 144 SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME   (Stivers)   To require the Director of Health to establish the Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Program and to require the Department of Job and Family Services to record in the statewide automated child welfare information system whether a reported case of child abuse involved shaken baby syndrome.   Full Text

CONTINUED

In presenting the bill, Sen. Stivers said education is the key as shaken baby syndrome is 100% preventable. And, he said the prevalence of the problem is underestimated as there is no adequate tracking of cases and many cases are misdiagnosed. Designed to raise awareness and help prevent the life threatening condition, Sen. Stivers explained the bill would establish an education program to provide information to expectant parents and others about shaken baby syndrome. The director of the Department of Health would be required to establish an education program within one year of the effective date of the bill with information posted on the department's website and materials also being made available to parents through hospitals, child birth educators, pediatricians and obstetricians and children care workers.

Materials would be developed through a group working with the health department director. Members would include representatives from child abuse advocacy programs, the "Help me Grow" program, an expert in child calming infant care, a maternity unit director, a parenting skills educator and a childcare facility. The sponsor was receptive to suggestions of adding other designated groups to the work group including first aid educators as suggested by Rep. Raussen and the American Red Cross training educators as suggested by Rep. Fende.

To provide a better tracking system, the bill requires that all child abuse cases that involve shaken baby syndrome to be flagged through the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System. SACWIS is required to report child abuse cases to ODJFS that, in turn, would report those cases to the Department of Health.

PUBLIC UTILITIES

HB 250 NATURAL GAS   (Jones)   Relative to revenue decoupling for natural gas utilities and energy conservation.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Changing the natural gas rate-making structure so companies are paid based on their fixed costs of owning and operating a distribution system rather than the amount of gas consumed would give utilities an incentive to promote energy conservation, Rep. Jones explained. In written testimony, she theorized that promoting conservation would lower consumption and in turn reduce the cost of gas. She noted that six other states have made the change from rate structures based on consumption.

HB 76 RENEWABLE ENERGY   (Hagan, R.)   To establish an annual renewable energy requirement for electric utilities and electric services companies that provide retail electric generation service in Ohio and to authorize the Public Utilities Commission to establish a system of renewable energy credits.   Full Text

SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD

HB 77 MERCURY EMISSIONS   (Hagan, R.)   To require electric generating facilities to comply with certain requirements regarding mercury emissions.   Full Text

SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENT

HB 47 CONSERVANCY DISTRICTS   (Gibbs)   To revise the membership of the board of directors of a conservancy district that includes all or parts of more than sixteen counties, to require the board of directors of such a district rather than the conservancy court to perform certain functions under the Conservancy Districts Law, to prohibit the levying of an assessment by such a conservancy district on real property that is not directly benefited from the assessment, and to make other changes concerning the levying of an assessment by such a conservancy district.   Full Text

CONTINUED-SUBSTITUTE

The panel accepted a substitute version that an LSC representative said would:

--Expand the board of directors to nine members.

--Create a new process for districts to expand.

--Require the conservancy court's approval to transfer funds within the district.

--Allow parties to chose either the court of common pleas or the district court to appeal decisions.

--Require county officials develop procedures for accepting applications for board members.

--Allow for filing of mandamus action.

--Return certain authority from the board to the conservancy court.

Chairman Collier said another provision would exempt only church-owned properties from assessments.

Prior to accepting the new version, several members questioned the provision relating to district expansion. Chairman Collier said current law already provides a process for districts to expand and the bill would "create another option."

John Hoopingarner, executive director of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, said he believed districts would exercise caution in expanding their boundaries. "Actual use of that power will absolutely have to be carefully considered because it would certainly be politically controversial."

When the law was originally written, technology that could accurately measure watershed boundaries to align them with district borders didn't exist, he said in explaining the need for the provision.

In response to a question from Rep. Heard about the measure's fiscal impact, Mr. Hoopingarner said the sub bill would result in about $300,000 less revenue for the district. The original measure would have decreased revenue by about $1.3 million.

HB 235 SEWAGE DISCHARGES   (Oelslager)   To establish notification requirements for the discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage onto land or into the waters of the state.   Full Text

CONTINUED

The panel heard proponent testimony from Dennis Malone, an engineer and fisherman from Hamilton.

Far more stringent measures are necessary to address the problem of sewage overflows, he said. "Public notification is an after event bandage on a huge festering sore, but will serve as the best first-aid currently available."

Brandon Smith, vice president of the Web site Ohio Game Fishing LLC, called the bill "a good way to help educate Ohioans about the problem of sewage pollution."

"As an avid fisherman who frequents many of Ohio's waterways, its extremely concerning to me that I have fished in waterways that are regularly polluted with untreated human waste," he said. The bill would help Ohioans access information about when fishing, boating or swimming could put their health at risk.

The Ohio EPA used to require wastewater treatment plants report sewage discharges, but the agency suspended the requirement for many years, according to Amy Gomberg, environmental advocate for Environment Ohio.

Although OEPA has begun to require some limited notification again, "This lack of reporting ties the hands of agency officials whose job it is to enforce the Clean Water Act by holding polluters accountable," she said. "Without reporting, there is no enforcement and disregard by wastewater treatment plant owners and operators to track or notify the public of sewage discharges."

Rep. John Hagan asked how effective OEPA's efforts to separate combined sewers in certain communities has been.

The agency is doing "great work," with the long-term control plans they require of communities with combined sewer overflow problems, she said. "But that's 10, 20, 30 years down the line for these communities to eliminate" or reduce sewage discharges.

"It's not going away, at least for another few decades, and the public has the right to know what's going on with their waterways."

JUVENILE & FAMILY LAW

HB 247 PROTECTION ORDERS   (Brown)   To allow a court to issue a civil protection order to a child who has had or has a dating relationship with the respondent if certain offenses are alleged and to include foster parents under the scope of the domestic violence laws.   Full Text

CONTINUED

The mothers of two teenage murder victims presented emotional testimony on behalf of their daughters in support of the bill allowing juveniles to obtain protection orders against persons with whom they are attempting to end a dating relationship.

Cheryl Rucker, whose daughter Shynerra was murdered two years ago by a person she had, at one time, considered a boyfriend, said passage of the bill will allow Ohio children to be issued orders of protection against those who threaten them while in and after ending romantic relationships. "Just as we create laws to protect young drivers, it only makes sense to protect young men and women from the violent situations that can sometimes arise during their relationships," she said adding that the bill simply gives young people the means to protect themselves when relationships started with good intentions go wrong.

Elizabeth Deal said the murder of her daughter, Christina Mae, by her 16-year-old boyfriend shows what's not working in making young people accountable for their actions within society. "We have minimized our young peoples' behaviors resulting in a rise in teen violence - teen domestic violence in particular," she told the panel. Mrs. Deal, whose husband Gary is a corrections officer, said counseling is needed for young people, but counseling alone is not the answer. She added there is a need for viable consequences that will deter youth from these and other types of violence that hurts, maims and kills. "Minimizing what our youth do is not helping them, nor is it helping the community we live in," she added.

Mrs. Deal further said that by making the legislation age specific, it can help children who are seeing the consequences of older siblings and/or young people so that they don't follow in their footsteps. Also she said another name for domestic violence is felonious assault and there is an immediate need to stop minimizing some of the laws on the books in order to properly prosecute perpetrators.

HB 111 CHILD NEGLECT   (Collier)   To expand the definition of neglected child to include a child whose parent, guardian, or custodian knowingly allows a sexually oriented offender or juvenile delinquent who committed a sexually oriented offense to reside in the same residence as that child.   Full Text

CONTINUED-SUBSTITUTE (No testimony)

The committee adopted a substitute with Chairman Hughes postponing a committee vote to allow committee members time to digest the changes.

The substitute narrows the range of perpetrators covered under the bill to include a person who is habitual sex offender, sexual predator, habitual child-victim offender or child-victim predator. Also included is a person, who is not a juvenile, convicted of or has plead guilty to an aggravated sexually oriented offense or convicted of or plead guilty to a sexually oriented or child-victim offense, who is not a juvenile, but is subject to a jail or prison term, a community sanction, a period of post-release control, a community control sanction imposed after a judicial release or parole or another type of early release from confinement.

HB 214 FOSTER CARE   (Wagner)   Relative to training for foster caregivers, the public record status of identifying information of current and prospective foster caregivers, department of job and family services authority to begin the child placement level of care pilot program and petition Congress for expanded usage of Title IV-E funding, and the coordination of the provision of services for foster children with mental retardation or developmental disabilities, and to amend the version of section 149.43 of the Revised Code that is scheduled to take effect September 29, 2007, to maintain the provisions of this act on and after that effective date.   Full Text

CONTINUED-SUBSTITUTE (No testimony)

Likewise, the committee adopted a substitute with the final committee vote delayed to allow members ample time to review the changes.

The substitute, with which Rep. Gerberry questioned the process of massive changes included in the "new bill" without any open committee deliberation, makes numerous changes following stakeholder negotiations. Among other things, the substitute removes a requirement that the lump sum payment to reimburse for foster caregiver training is to be paid when the child is placed in the foster home and instead requires ODJFS to adopt rules regarding the release of the lump sum reimbursement for the stipend rate. Further it expands the provision for services provided by county boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to also apply to a foster child in need of assessment for eligible services, not just children already receiving services. Also the substitute clarifies that communication between the sending and receiving county MR/DD boards must be to determine how services for the child must be provided in accordance with each board's plan and priorities as required under current law.

The original bill required ODJFS to develop, implement and oversee the use of a Child Placement Level of Care Tool as a pilot project in participating counties, however the substitute removes that requirement for state department development and specifies that the implementation of the "tool" is contingent upon the availability of funding. Also the substitute language further specifies that any developed "tool" must try and assess when a child cannot be placed with a relative or kin who are not certified as foster caregivers. Additionally, the required independent evaluation of the rate of the program's success of the pilot project must be done through competitive bidding.

The public records issue apparently remains volatile even though the substitute included specific language shielding most records from public scrutiny. The public records provision would have, under the new language, applied only to a foster caregiver who has had a foster care certificate revoked along with any non-identifying foster care statistics that are aggregated per county including, but not limited to, the number of foster caregivers, removals of children from foster care and foster care certificate revocations. Chairman Hughes announced that although the narrowing public records language was in the substitute, the bill's prime sponsor Rep. Wagner and representatives of the Ohio Newspaper Association have reached an agreement and the public records language would be removed from the substitute by amendment.

HB 239 JUVENILES   (Latta)   To clarify the definition of "harmful to juveniles."   Full Text

CONTINUED (No testimony)

A scheduled witness did not arrive in time to present testimony before the committee.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Thomas Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, offered testimony on behalf of the state's independent oil and gas producers.

Mr. Stewart told the panel that independent producers, which employ more than 4,600 Ohioans, derive virtually all their revenue from the sale of product produced at the wellhead site. He further noted that producers do not set the prices for their product, and only receive the prices created by market forces.

The witness noted that while demand for oil and gas has increased, commodity prices and operational costs have also risen. "It's important to understand that higher commodity prices do not necessarily translate to higher profits, particularly as producers turn to more marginal and unconventional prospects," he said.

Mr. Stewart indicated that Ohio and the Appalachian region have a significant potential for natural gas production, but said access to all of those reserves is limited. He said access to resources is the top issue facing the domestic production industry.

As such, Mr. Stewart urged lawmakers to expand access to lease and develop oil and gas resources on state-owned properties. He noted that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources owns and manages nearly 600,000 acres, some of which are rich in reserves. Most notable in that category, are parts of Salt Fork State Park in eastern Ohio.

Additionally, he said that local supply is an important part of diversifying fuel sources, suggesting that Ohio-based production provides an alternative to traditional energy resources.

AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES

SB 77 COMMERCIAL FISHING   (Grendell)   To increase the license fees for commercial fishing, to revise the penalties for violations of certain commercial fishing statutes, and to make other changes to the law governing commercial fishing.   Full Text

CONTINUED

ODNR Director Sean Logan appeared to respond to prior testimony from opponents and concerns raised in committee. He fielded questions and extensive commentary from some skeptical panelists who were nevertheless told by Chairman Aslanides of his intent to move the bill in time for enactment prior to summer recess.

Changes in the works include the grandfathering of fishermen with prior offenses and the codification of some of the "three strikes" language, he said. Following an exchange between the director and Rep. Ujvagi in regards to further negotiations between the industry and ODNR on rulemaking, Chairman Aslanides said, "The more I look at this...the only way to resolve this is to pass a bill."

Director Logan had just told Rep. Ujvagi that it was "up to the industry" to offer up an acceptable compromise, however the commercial fishermen continue to push for language in regards to quotas under which the agency can't properly manage the Lake Erie resource. He deemed their objections as a "delay tactic" aimed at squeezing out another fishing season under current regulations that ODNR believes are inadequate.

In questioning how negotiations would proceed, Mr. Ujvagi reiterated his concerns that the panel should be more prescriptive in regards to rules or at least use the pending legislation as "leverage" to get the parties to come closer to an agreement on various issues.

Among the sticking points is ODNR's plan to scrap a "five-year rolling average" that the director described as "one of our most ineffective rules" at regulating the industry.

Rep. Huffman noted in expressing concerns that the agency was pushing policy based on allegations rather than convictions that even news reports provided by proponents detailed that in many cases fishermen faced many more charges than those that ultimately led to convictions. "I don't think that's the way government should be dealing with an industry in the state," he said.

Director Logan said he was "at a loss for words" why a regulatory agency would be criticized for enforcing the law. He had noted earlier that 42% of the industry had pleaded guilty to crimes related to their commercial fishing activity.

HB 238 ANIMAL RESTITUTION   (Latta)   To revise provisions governing the restitution value of a wild animal that is unlawfully held, taken, bought, sold, or possessed.   Full Text

REPORTED

Prior to the report, representatives of the League of Ohio Sportsmen, National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited spoke in support of the bill.

"We want people to enjoy hunting and we want people to do it legally," Sportsmen league President Larry Mitchell said in opining that Ohio has a "great resource" in its deer population that has been targeted by poachers who in effect steal from Ohioans. Because the penalties for poaching haven't been update for so long, they are considered to be the cost of doing business for the criminals, he said.

Turkey federation regional Director Troy Conley agreed, "The issue has not been addressed in many years and it's way past time to do that." Too often, poachers only receive a "slap on the wrist" for offenses and "the punishment never fits the crime, he said.

The witness said in response to Rep. Reinhard that he would be in support of an amendment to increase penalties on hunters who trespass on private property.

Aaron Dynes, regional director for Ducks Unlimited said "it's absolutely important to us" that hunting be conducted "in an ethical and legal way."

Dean Koch of Sandusky spoke in opposition to the bill, saying it provided too much discretion to regulators. However, it was noted that the measure includes fairly specific guidance in terms of how restitution is determined.

HB 223 DOG BREEDING   (Hughes)   To establish licensing requirements and standards of care for certain dog breeding kennels and dog intermediaries.   Full Text

RE-REFERRED TO RULES & REFERENCE

HB 71 DOG FIGHTING   (White)   To apply certain impoundment provisions in the companion animal statutes to the confiscation of dogs under the statute prohibiting dog fighting.   Full Text

REPORTED-SUBSTITUTE

Sponsor Rep. White's legislative aide, Stephanie Krider, outlined the extensive changes in the substitute. The new approach, crafted with input from various interested parties, stems from issues that arose with the original proposal's aim to base the new regulations on animal cruelty statutes, she explained.

Among other changes, the substitute measure alters provisions related to persons and entities authorized to seize and impound animals, hearing procedures and the destruction of animals. (LSC Comparative Analysis)

CIVIL & COMMERCIAL LAW

SB 134 TRUST LAW   (Faber)   To provide that memoranda of trust be executed and acknowledged only by the trustee of the trust instead of both the settlor and trustee.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Sen. Faber said the bill is intended to encourage use of a current law that allows for filing memoranda of trusts, rather than an entire trust instrument, with a county recorder's office. He said most real estate lawyers and title examiners favor a memorandum, but have not used that approach because of a requirement that the document disclose the name of and be signed by the person creating the trust in addition to the trustee. "This requirement, which adds no important information regarding the trust from a real estate title standpoint, provides a significant disincentive to the use of a memorandum of trust," Sen. Faber said. He said many people create trusts to hold property for the purpose of shielding their ownership interest.

HB 248 NON-RECOURSE CONTRACTS   (Blessing)   To set forth requirements governing non-recourse civil litigation advance contracts.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Rep. Blessing said in sponsor testimony the bill would allow the comparatively new legal finance industry to operate in Ohio and provide for its regulation. Such companies advance money to plaintiffs, typically in personal injury lawsuits, who may need help while their cases are pending. "These advances to plaintiffs are not really loans," Rep. Blessing said. If a plaintiff who receives an advance does not collect an award through a settlement or verdict, the legal finance company is out the money. If the plaintiff is successful, the company recoups the advance - and more - through the amounts awarded. "Because of this risk factor, and because the cost of obtaining operating capital for these companies is relatively high, the return on advances where the plaintiff is successful is also relatively high," the sponsor said.

Rep. Blessing said the bill is necessary because the Ohio Supreme Court has held such activity illegal under doctrines that generally prohibit a third party from having a financial interest in the outcome of a lawsuit. He said regulations proposed in the bill are based on a settlement agreement legal finance companies reached with former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Rep. Blessing said the proposed financial product would not break new ground in Ohio. "It is similar in nature to other non-traditional financial services that we have authorized in past years, including viatical settlements, structured settlements, and lottery prize transfers," he said.

HB 125 HEALTH INSURANCE   (Huffman)   To establish certain uniform contract provisions between health care providers and third-party payers, to establish standardized credentialing, and to require third-party payers to provide to health care providers specified information concerning enrollees.   Full Text

CONTINUED

The Ohio Hospital Association and the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati endorsed the Healthcare Simplification Act. Michelle Napier, alliance vice president of payor relations, said the bill would "provide much-needed relief to physician practices and individual physicians who must navigate an increasingly complex and bureaucratic maze as they seek credentialing or to negotiate managed care contracts."

Ms. Napier asked the committee to amend the legislation to allow hospitals to benefit from a provision that prohibits health insurers from using "most favored nation" clauses. Dominant health plans use such clauses to prohibit physicians from negotiating lower reimbursement arrangements with other insurers. "As currently written, (the bill) explicitly excludes hospitals. MFN clauses, however, are just as patently unfair, highly discriminatory and anti-competitive to hospitals as they are to physicians and physician practices," Ms. Napier said.

Chairman Oelslager said there would be no voting on the bill until September. Another hearing will be scheduled next week, and talks among stakeholders continue. Rep. Oelslager said he believes progress is being made, but that "we still have some issues" to resolve.

OHIO RETIREMENT STUDY COUNCIL

HB 151 RETIREMENT SYSTEM INVESTMENTS   (Mandel)   To specify procedures for divesting investments a public investor holds in directly held publicly traded companies conducting specified types of business in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of the Sudan and to prohibit public investors from investing in such a company and to authorize the Ohio public deferred compensation board, the alternative retirement program, and the Ohio college savings program to offer a terror-free investment option.   Full Text

CONTINUED (See separate story)

THE HOUSE ADJOURNED UNTIL 11 AM, THURSDAY, JUNE 21 (SKELETON SESSION)

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007

Alan Miller, President  |  Scott Miller, Vice President  |  Kent Cahlander, Editor  |  John Chalfant, Marcus Roth, Staff Writers

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