From The Statehouse 2005 No. 17
by Jennifer Garrison
Jun. 7, 2005
From the Statehouse Article 17
Tuesday, May 31, 2005, the House voted out House Bill 100. This legislation gives Ohio’s Solid Waste Management Districts (SWMD) the option to exempt shredder residue from the district’s generation fee on solid waste. Six automotive shredder facilities are located in Solid Waste Management District’s that assess generation fees. These Districts are Franklin, Summit, Cuyahoga, Montgomery, Richland, and Lucas counties. The purpose of this bill is to exempt recyclable shredder residue from the solid waste generation fee. This eliminates an additional financial hurdle in this essential recycling process. This bill is permissive, not mandatory on the SWMD’s. I voted “yes”.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 brought much examination of Amended Substitute House Bill 218. This bill authorizes the PUCO to allow alternative regulation of basic local exchange telephone service by larger companies. This bill is at a minimum a loosening of regulation bill and at the most a deregulation bill. If the PUCO finds there is competition in an area for basic exchange service they can grant alternative regulation, which is loosened regulation. The PUCO under this bill can modify the alternative regulation order for up to 5 years.
My problem with House Bill 218 is best stated in the testimony of PUCO Commissioner Rhonda Hartman Fergus, “if the PUCO grants alternative regulation, and after 5 years, something changed in the telecommunications market that demanded the PUCO reconsider the alternative regulation, the PUCO would be prohibited from modifying the regulation to protect the consumers, simply by virtue of the passage of time”.
In 1999 the State of Ohio passed an electric deregulation bill. As a result, at the end of 2005, Washington County’s electric company is basically a deregulated monopoly and our rates will increase – quite possibly dramatically unless legislation is passed or an agreement is reached. I do not want to see a similar problem with basic exchange telephone service.
House Bill 218 had its first testimony in Public Utilities Committee on Tuesday, May 17, 2005. One week later proponent and opponent testimony was offered. One week later the bill came up for vote in committee and the Chair was not inclined to allow additional time for consideration. This bill is likely to be the most comprehensive piece of legislation coming out of the Public Utilities Committee in this 2 year session. I wonder why it was so important for the General Assembly to fall all over itself getting this bill passed out so quickly.
In committee the bill had more than enough votes to pass. To get amendments in the bill preserving 911 and lifeline for low to no income Ohioans, in committee, I voted “yes”.
The bottom line is this is a rate increase bill for the telephone companies on basic exchange. Rural areas will get hurt. The Ohio Consumers Counsel testified for hours on how bad this bill is for consumers and how rates will rise. I voted my district and voted “no”. The bill passed.
Finally, I voted no on House Bill 193. The bill passed.
In the next few weeks I will be voting on limiting cell phone usage to handless cell phones while driving. Please let me know how you feel about the bill.
You can reach Jennifer Garrison at her Columbus office at 614-644-8728 or in the district at 740-373-2414 or by e-mail at jennifer@jennifergarrison.com. Her website is www.jennifergarrison.com