WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007

PASSED

SB 25  LICENSE PLATES  (Carey)  To create the "Gold Star Family" license plates.   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

33-0

SB 35  ROAD NAMING  (Goodman)  To designate Interstate Routes 70 and 71 as the "Purple Heart Trail."   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

33-0

SB 82  LICENSE PLATES  (Stivers)  To create "Ohio National Guard Retired" license plates.   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

33-0

SB 155  CHAMPAIGN COURTS  (Faber)  To create a Domestic Relations-Juvenile-Probate Division of the Champaign County Court of Common Pleas, to designate the Champaign County Probate and Juvenile Judge as a judge of that division, and to add a judge to that division to be elected in 2008.   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

33-0

SB 160  SALES TAXES  (Amstutz)  To require vendors using origin-based situsing rules to determine the appropriate sales tax jurisdiction in which a sale is taxable to continue to do so, to authorize vendors using destination-based sourcing to convert to origin-based situsing at their convenience, to repeal Ohio's multiple points of use provisions for services and computer-related sales, and to authorize the Tax Commissioner to develop a plan for in-state and out-of-state vendors to elect to collect and remit Ohio use taxes at a uniform rate.   Full Text   Gongwer Coverage

33-0 (Earlier REPORTED-AMENDED)

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

Sens. Carey, Niehaus & D. Miller

ADOPTED

SR89. Honorary resolution

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE

Agriculture:

HB 217  GRAIN MARKETING  (Reinhard)  To establish a grain marketing program.   Full Text

HB 233  AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS  (Reinhard)  To create the Ohio Agriculture to Chemicals, Polymers, and Advanced Materials Task Force.   Full Text

Education:

SB 187  SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION  (Cates)  To require school districts to provide transportation to the school of attendance for each resident student under sixteen years of age whose parent requests transportation.   Full Text

Energy & Public Utilities:

SCR 13  GAS PRICES  (Roberts)  To express support for the efforts of the Congress of the United States to enact legislation prohibiting gasoline price gouging against consumers and to urge Congress to enact additional legislation that addresses price gouging by companies that produce crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, and all petroleum distillates.   Full Text

Environment & Natural Resources:

SCR 12  BALLAST WATER  (Grendell)  To urge Congress to enact legislation to protect the Great Lakes from ballast water discharges of invasive species.   Full Text

Highways & Transportation:

HB 87  BRIDGE NAMING  (Wachtmann)  To designate a bridge on State Route 108 over the Maumee River as the "Henry County Veterans Bridge."   Full Text

SB 188  ROAD NAMING  (Wilson)  To designate a portion of United States Route 36 as the "Cy Young Memorial Highway."   Full Text

Judiciary-Criminal Justice:

HB 8  RETIREMENT BENEFITS  (Hagan, R.)  To provide that a member of a state retirement system, on conviction of a felony committed in the course of official duties, will forfeit the portion of any state retirement benefit that is based on employer contributions.   Full Text

HB 195  PRESCRIPTION OFFENSES  (Core)  To provide that the prescription-related exemption from the drug possession offenses applies only when the controlled substance is obtained pursuant to a lawful prescription and to modify the penalty for "deception to obtain a dangerous drug" under specified circumstances.   Full Text

COMMITTEE HEARING

HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES & AGING

SB 175 FETAL DEATH   (Coughlin)   To enact the Grieving Parents Act, regarding fetal death certificates for, and burials of, the product of human conception that suffers a fetal death.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Representing the Ohio Association of Cemetery Superintendents & Officials, Timothy Long said the group had some concerns with the bill. One "unresolved issue" was whether families would have to go through probate court years later when the parent dies to disinter a fetal casket in order to bury the parent.

In addition to legal issues, he said cemetery officials have also raised logistical concerns related to burying fetuses.

Chairman Coughlin, the bill's sponsor, said he planned to introduce a substitute measure next week to address concerns the group had raised.

SB 164 FOSTER CARE   (Cates)   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

REPORTED-SUBSTITUTE (No testimony)

Before favorably reporting the bill, the panel adopted a substitute measure that Chairman Coughlin said removed the public records provisions of the proposal.

In response to a question from Sen. Cafaro, the sponsor's staff confirmed foster care givers' information would be subject to public records law under the sub bill.

Chairman Coughlin said the new version would also:

--Clarify reimbursement payments for foster care training.

--Make changes to language regarding services provided by county boards of MR/DD and extend the time boards are allowed to reach an agreement.

--Specify ODMR/DD must decide how services must be provided for the foster child.

--Remove the requirement that ODJFS develop the child placement level of care tool, making its implementation contingent on the availability of funding.

--Require competitive bidding for an independent evaluation of the tool pilot program.

SB 120 HOSPITAL REQUIREMENTS   (Goodman)   To require hospitals to operate emergency departments and maintain Medicaid and Medicare provider agreements, to provide exemptions to these requirements, and to permit the Director of Health to seek an injunction for violation of these requirements.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Jim Pancoast, CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, spoke in favor of the proposal, saying it would "level the economic playing field" between traditional community hospitals and specialty hospitals.

Specialty hospitals don't have emergency departments because they are expensive to operate and attract Medicaid patients and indigents that can't afford to pay for services, he said. "To me it's a fairness issue about how we go about competing."

Referring to federal regulations requiring hospitals have certain services, Sen. Buehrer asked why the bill is necessary. "While the playing field may not be level, it's not as unbalanced as some witnesses have suggested."

Mr. Pancoast said federal regulations were enacted merely to ensure that certain emergency services were available in specialty hospitals in case something goes wrong with inpatients. He referred to incidents where staff has had to call 911 when something goes wrong.

LaMar Wyse, CEO of Galion Community Hospital, testified in support of the measure, which would ensure the financial burden of indigent care is shared by all facilities, he said.

While rural hospitals aren't impacted by competition from specialty hospitals to the same extent as urban hospitals, "they have a destabilizing effect that trickles down to the whole industry," he said.

"And as you destabilize the hospital, you destabilize the community."

Separately, the panel confirmed the governor's appointment of Sandra Stephenson, director of the Department of Mental Health.

In other business, the committee heard a presentation on healthcare access from William Hayes, president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.

ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES

SB 170 CONSERVANCY DISTRICTS   (Amstutz)   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 under specified circumstances and to make other changes concerning the levying of an assessment by such a conservancy district.   Full Text

CONTINUED-SUBSTITUTE

The committee accepted a substitute bill that contains the same language in a companion bill (HB 47) that a House panel adopted Wednesday, Sen. Amstutz said in sponsor testimony. (See House Economic Development & Environment)

He said the measure would "make some incremental updates to a chapter of the code that could probably benefit from a comprehensive rewrite."

Sen. Amstutz requested committee members consider adding an amendment that would state it is the intent of the General Assembly to "maintain properly and expeditiously the dams and reservoirs used to mitigate future floods" within the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.

WAYS & MEANS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

SB 160 SALES TAXES   (Amstutz)   To require vendors using origin-based situsing rules to determine the appropriate sales tax jurisdiction in which a sale is taxable to continue to do so, to authorize vendors using destination-based sourcing to convert to origin-based situsing at their convenience, to repeal Ohio's multiple points of use provisions for services and computer-related sales, and to authorize the Tax Commissioner to develop a plan for in-state and out-of-state vendors to elect to collect and remit Ohio use taxes at a uniform rate.   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

With the bill headed for the full Senate, the committee added an amendment that is designed to show a good faith effort to other states to help small businesses deal with destination sourcing, Sen. Amstutz said. The lawmaker will be joining Department of Taxation officials in Detroit this week to review Ohio's proposal regarding an effort to reach a more unified sales tax system.

SB 162 SENIOR TAX EXEMPTION   (Stivers)   To exempt from the personal income tax any unearned income of an individual who is age sixty-five or older.   Full Text

CONTINUED

In an effort to compete with Florida and Arizona that attract many Ohio retirees through lenient taxation, Sen. Stivers said he proposes to give similar tax breaks to Ohioans. Keeping them in the state would bolster planned giving and generate more sales tax revenues from their spending in the state, he said.

In answer to Sen. Miller, Sen. Stivers said granting the estimated $148 million to $165 million in tax breaks would go to those most likely to leave the state upon retirement while those older than 65 who must still work are not likely to leave.

SB 19 MILITARY RETIREMENT PAY   (Cates)   To exempt military retirement pay from the personal income tax.   Full Text

CONTINUED

Representatives of three veterans organizations and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce supported the bill, citing the economic benefits of keeping retirees in the state and taking their expertise to jobs with private employers.

Chris Kershner of the chamber, said Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, said the bill would help the base become the Air Force's aerospace medicine hub, helping to bring hundreds of jobs from Texas and Arizona. Along with that is the potential of attracting defense contractors, many of which have many military retirees as employees. A tax break could help persuade them to relocate. He noted that Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky have some form of military pension tax exemption.

Others who testified were John W. McCance of the Air Force Association, State of Ohio; Donald R. Lanthorn of the Ohio American Legion, and George Ondick of the Amvets Department of Ohio.

Sen. Roberts said he had been asked why not exempt all pensions, such as those of General Motors retirees. Sen. Cates said he introduced the bill to include only regular military retirees and did not intend to include civilian employees. Basically, he proposed the tax break, which would cost an estimated $13 million, as a way to show appreciation to military forces, particularly in this era of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Ondick had told Sen. Roberts that military personnel are "not protected by OSHA" and are not paid overtime as autoworkers are.

JUDICIARY-CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SB 73 COCAINE   (Miller, R.)   To eliminate the distinction between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine in the Drug Abuse Law and to amend the version of section 2925.03 of the Revised Code that takes effect on July 1, 2007, to maintain the provisions of this act on and after that date.   Full Text

REPORTED (No testimony)

The committee unanimously recommended the bill.

SB 145 FLEEING   (Stivers)   To prohibit a person from fleeing from a law enforcement officer who gives a lawful order to stop.   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

The bill cleared the committee without opposition after adoption of an amendment offered on behalf of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. The amendment deleted the phrase "who is not operating a motor vehicle" from a section of the bill. John Murphy, association executive director, said the original legislation would have required prosecutors to prove a negative: that a defendant was not operating a vehicle at the time the fleeing offense occurred.

Stephen Loomis, president of the nearly 1,500-member Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said suspects who choose to lead police on a foot pursuit through a maze of obstacles and hidden dangers put responding officers at risk. "I have seen career ending injuries result from foot pursuits," Detective Loomis said. "And I can tell you from personal experience that you haven't quite lived until you run into the back yard owned by a 130 pound German Shepard named 'Princess' that was just woken up by a bad guy only 10 seconds prior to your arrival."

Thomas Ross, recording secretary of the CPPA, said hundreds of officers are injured annually as a result of foot pursuits and subsequent hand-to-hand encounters with suspects. The injuries lead to significant workers' compensation claims and permanent, disabling injuries. "(We) are here today to tell you that more must be done to deter these scofflaws from disregarding our laws and our community standards," Mr. Ross said.

Jay McDonald, secretary of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said it currently is not a crime to flee or elude an officer unless the suspect is in an automobile. "This legislative proposal would make it a crime for a suspect to knowingly flee from an officer while not in an automobile," Mr. McDonald said. The bill would make fleeing a second-degree misdemeanor. In the event the suspect had committed a felony, the charge would become a fourth degree felony. The penalty would be enhanced to a third-degree felony if the offender caused serious harm to persons or property. "The law enforcement community believes this legislation would greatly assist in investigations and the apprehension of those individuals suspected of committing crimes," Mr. McDonald said.

HB 120 CRIMINAL FORFEITURE   (Latta)   To eliminate unnecessary and inconsistent language mistakenly retained by Sub. H.B. 241 of the 126th General Assembly and to declare an emergency.   Full Text

REPORTED-AMENDED

"This might be the quickest testimony you hear today," Rep. Latta told the committee. The bill eliminates language mistakenly retained in passage last session of a measure updating criminal forfeiture law. Rep. Latta's proposal contains an emergency clause that is necessary because the earlier legislation is due to take effect July 1.

The committee reported the bill unanimously after adopting, without objection, an amendment to reinstate language regarding the Department of Taxation enforcement fund that was omitted from the forfeiture law update.

AGRICULTURE

SB 150 LIQUOR SALES   (Roberts)   To authorize liquor permit holders to accept military identification cards that contain a picture and age data as proof of a purchaser's age in order to qualify for a specified affirmative defense, and to require the Division of Liquor Control to provide retail permit holders with a notice of the permissible forms of identification for purposes of qualifying for that affirmative defense.   Full Text

REPORTED (No testimony)

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 SENATE 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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