This report reflects the latest happenings in government relations, in and around the Ohio statehouse. You’ll notice that it’s broad in nature and on an array of topics, from A-Z. This will be updated on a weekly basis.
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ABORTION
Lawyers for abortion providers and the attorney general's office argued in court Friday, Aug. 16 over whether Ohio law requiring doctors to present certain information to abortion patients and those patients to wait 24 hours before going through with the procedure should be enjoined under new reproductive rights protections installed in the Ohio Constitution via statewide vote last year. Judge David Young of Franklin County Common Pleas Court heard arguments on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. He did not ask any questions of either the plaintiffs or the state and gave no indication of which way he'd rule before leaving the bench at hearing's end.
ADDICTION/SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Gov. Mike DeWine announced he has reappointed Thomas Gregoire and appointed James F. White III and Jonathan Lee as new members of the OneOhio Recovery Foundation Board.
ARTS, SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
The Cleveland Browns have met with Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Office of Budget and Management (OBM) Director Kimberly Murnieks regarding how the state may help pay for a new football stadium, DeWine administration officials told Hannah News on Thursday. DeWine spokesperson Dan Tierney and OBM spokesperson Pete LuPiba both said their bosses have recently met with Browns representatives on the topic, but emphasized there is no specific legislative funding proposal on the table yet. Senate Finance Committee Chair Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) told Hannah News that he has met with the Browns, and has another meeting with the NFL team scheduled in early September. Dolan said the Browns are generally asking the state to provide $600 million in bond funding for the stadium.
BALLOT ISSUES
The Ohio Ballot Board approved language Friday, Aug. 16 for the proposed redistricting amendment now known as Issue 1. The language largely reflected a draft circulated by Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office and drew strong opposition from board Democrats and the campaign group behind the amendment, Citizens Not Politicians. The only change made from the draft was one suggested by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), who moved a change to the description of the proposed redistricting commission stating it would “gerrymander” boundaries rather than “manipulate” them. Citizens Not Politicians immediately vowed to sue and followed through Monday with a challenge in the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing the board approved the "most biased, inaccurate, deceptive and unconstitutional ballot language ever adopted.”
CORONAVIRUS/MONKEYPOX
Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday morning, according to an announcement by his administration, and has begun taking the anti-retroviral therapy Paxlovid as advised by his doctor. This comes after he began experiencing "mild, cold-like symptoms" Monday that worsened during the night, but DeWine is working remotely and expects to do so for the rest of the week. The administration also noted the Omicron variant KP.3.1.1 is now the predominant strain nationally and has been on the rise since June. In Ohio, COVID-19 cases and wastewater detections have been rising since late June as well. Hospitalizations, which are a "good indicator of disease severity," have increased modestly in much of the U.S. but are not currently rising in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reported increasing numbers for all current trend categories in its update on Aug. 15.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
He once crunched the numbers for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium but, on a tangible note of irony, was sentenced Monday to three years behind bars for a $2.3 million theft conspiracy involving his son and three other executives. Former CFO Greg Bell will pay nearly $600,000 in criminal restitution to the zoo in addition to previously ordered civil restitution. He is the first to be sentenced among former CEO Tom Stalf, former Marketing Director Pete Fingerhut, former Purchasing Agent Tracy Murnane and former Purchasing Assistant Grant Bell. All have taken plea deals.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/URBAN REVITALIZATION
The DeWine administration announced Monday that Dayton will be the site of Ohio's second innovation hub, a similar program to the innovation districts in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. The state will provide $35 million for development of the onMain Innovation Hub along with a local match of at least $23 million and up to $37 million from the private sector. The project will involve government, academia and industry partners working to make Dayton a global leader in research and development of digital transformation technologies, the administration said. The state share will primarily go toward construction of the Digital Transformation Center (DTC) on the former Montgomery County fairgrounds site in the greater downtown area. The technology involved is meant to further advances in aviation and national defense, with a top priority being to support the U.S. Air Force "to revolutionize how it designs and manufactures everything from airplanes and missiles to sensors, hardware, software and more," according to the administration.
The state of Ohio is spending $94.5 million to provide high-speed Internet access to more than 35,000 households, Gov. Mike DeWine's office announced Wednesday. The money, which is part of the second round of funding through the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant (ORBEG), is going to two Internet service providers to complete six projects in 23 counties, according to a news release from the governor's office.
ECONOMY
Ohio's unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in July, up from 4.4 percent in June, as the state added 2,200 jobs over the month, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). ODJFS said Ohio's nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased from a revised 5,667,500 in June to 5,669,700 in July. The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in July was 264,000, up from 254,000 in June. The number of unemployed has increased by 67,000 in the past 12 months from 197,000. The July unemployment rate for Ohio has increased 1.1 percentage points from 3.4 percent in July 2023.
EDUCATION
A State Board of Education (SBOE) request for emergency funding to stabilize the Teacher Certification and Licensure Fund was granted and then some by the Controlling Board on Monday. Following a heated debate on the funds, the Controlling Board approved over $4.66 million to support SBOE operations, more than 250 percent of the board's original request. House Democrats applauded the decision, saying it would "ensure that Ohio's educators are not subjected to an excessive and burdensome increase in license fees in the near future." SBOE had submitted a request for $1.85 million to the Controlling Board before Monday for emergency funding to shore up a deficit the board had projected for FY25. SBOE Superintendent Paul Craft called that request the Office of Budget and Management (OBM)'s attempt to ask for the smallest amount they possibly could after helping SBOE assemble its budget.
The coalition of Ohio school districts challenging the constitutionality of EdChoice no longer seek to question Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) about his meetings and communications on state budget voucher expansion. Their bid to depose or otherwise question him spawned a separate legal battle now in the hands of the Ohio Supreme Court. Bill Phillis, a key figure behind both this litigation and the landmark DeRolph school funding case, told Hannah News the coalition's attorneys decided anything learned from Huffman at this point would not have much bearing on the case.
While lawmakers granted the State Board of Education substantially more bridge funding than requested Monday, Superintendent Paul Craft said Tuesday he's not ready to relax. The Monday decision of the Controlling Board, in which members boosted a $1.8 million funding request to $4.6 million, "doesn't really change anything" about how he'll work to manage the agency budget, Craft told Hannah News in a phone interview. "We're not going to bring back any of those [staff] positions. We're going to continue with the commitments we made in the last couple meetings in terms of travel restrictions. We're operating under emergency purposes funds, so we're going to continue to run in that way," he said.
Greg Johnson, principal of West Liberty-Salem High School, was recently elected to the board of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the association announced.
As they work toward a November trial date, litigants in the fight over Ohio's EdChoice program are exchanging a flurry of motions on whether and to what degree the judge should consider expert research on school finance and other matters. A coalition of school districts is suing the state over EdChoice, arguing it violates the constitutional requirement to provide a "common" school system and the prohibition on giving control of education funding to religious sects. The state is defending the law, and a group of families whose children attend school using EdChoice vouchers convinced the Franklin County Common Pleas Court to make them parties to the case so they could defend the program as well. Both sides recently filed motions for summary judgement. The trial is scheduled for November. The plaintiff districts are challenging the state's and intervening families' reliance on experts Stephane Lavertu, Lee Strang, Benjamin Scafidi and Patrick Wolf. They recently filed motions asking Judge Jaiza Page to strike from the record affidavits and reports from the four and exclude some of them as expert witnesses.
ELECTIONS
Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Wednesday that he referred 597 voter registrations, including 138 where the individual allegedly cast a ballot, to the attorney general's office for further review of whether the individuals are citizens. LaRose said his office referred evidence that the registrations violate Ohio's Constitution, which bars non-citizens from registering to vote.
ELECTIONS 2024
The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) has endorsed all Republican state legislative candidates on the November ballot except House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill). ORP Executive Director Cameron Sagester told Hannah News that the ORP State Central Committee considered endorsement recommendations from both the Ohio Republican Senate Campaign Committee (RSCC) and Ohio House Republican Alliance (OHRA). Sagester said ORP recognizes Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) as the leader of OHRA, although the battle over the House GOP campaign fund is ongoing in court. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott handed control of the fund to Plummer in June, but the 10th District Court of Appeals stayed that ruling in July. Sagester said Plummer's suggested list included all House Republicans except Stephens, and the committee ultimately decided to approve that slate. A motion to include Stephens on the slate was voted down, Sagester said. "It was clear based on the voice vote that the list that Rep. Plummer had presented had the support," Sagester said.
Ohioans will have four more presidential/vice presidential choices on the November ballot after certification by Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday. According to LaRose, the four presidential and vice presidential candidates that met the required signature requirements to appear on the November ballot are Richard Duncan and running mate Mitch Bupp; Robert Kennedy Jr. and running mate Nicole Shanahan; Peter Sonoski and running mate Lauren Onak; and Jill Stein and Anita Rios. Two campaigns that filed, Shiva Ayyadurai and running mate Crysal Ellis, and Claudia De la Cruz for president and running mate Karina Garcia, did not qualify for the ballot. Ayyadurai had previously been announced by LaRose as not qualifying due to an insufficient number of signatures filed with his petition.
U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) took the stage Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, using the speech to attack U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), her Ohio delegation colleague and the GOP vice presidential nominee. "I was born in the Buckeye State, and I've never left. Now JD Vance likes to talk about how he's from Ohio, but as soon as he could, he ran away to Yale and Silicon Valley - cozying up with billionaires while trashing our communities," she said.
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Bernie Moreno's campaign announced this week that it has launched a new ad as part of a larger, $25 million statewide broadcast, cable, streaming, digital and mail buy. The new 30-second ad criticizes incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on border policy and benefits for illegal immigrants.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered on their promise to fix the Brent Spence Bridge, unlike former President Donald Trump, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said during his Democratic National Convention (DNC) speech Wednesday night. "As a Tibetan refugee, my mom believed deeply in the promise of America, and when I was growing up, she and my dad -- who is from India -- taught me that when you make a promise, you keep it," Pureval said.
The following endorsements were made over the week:
The re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn and Lucas County Sheriff Michael Navarre joined Brown at an event in Toledo on Wednesday to endorse his campaign.
ENERGY/UTILITIES
"Read carefully! By signing this lease, you are giving up important legal rights!" The state's largest electric utility says private lease agreements between landlords and tenants should include this warning in extra-large font when power is mediated by Columbus-based Nationwide Energy Partners (NEP) or other utility resellers, i.e. "submeterers." More specifically, leases should disclose that submetered tenants will "lose the legal rights of a public utility customer," says American Electric Power (AEP) of Ohio, which caps the proposed lease notice requested by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) with the following advisory: "Do not sign this lease unless you are willing to give up these important rights." NEP and capital-area apartment owner Champion Companies, which partners with NEP in submetered multi-family dwellings, say such lease disclosures would be "abusive and inappropriate" and "egregious and inflammatory," respectively.
ENVIRONMENT
A wetland restoration near Lake Erie is the latest project to be completed as part of Gov. Mike DeWine's H2Ohio initiative to improve water quality for communities statewide and improve local ecosystems. The latest project replaced subsurface field tile drainage at the Little Portage Wildlife Area in Ottawa County to redirect water from more than 400 acres of farmland to the wildlife area wetlands for filtration before flowing into the Little Portage River, which then flows into Lake Erie.
GAMING/GAMBLING
Ohio's sportsbooks raked in significantly more revenue in June 2024 than they did in June 2023, according to the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC). Total taxable revenue from sports betting in June 2024 was $51.3 million, up from $32.8 million in June 2023.
Ohio Lottery ticket sales and video lottery terminal (VLT) revenues at the state's seven racinos were down in July 2024, according to data provided by the Ohio Lottery Commission (OLC). Total traditional Ohio Lottery ticket sales for July 2024 were $351.1 million, down from $408.9 million in July 2023. Draw-based game sales were $156.4 million in July 2024, down from $214.3 million in July 2023. Net scratch-off ticket sales totaled $194.7 million in July 2024, up from $194.6 million in July 2023. The VLTs at Ohio's seven racinos pulled in $115.4 million in July 2024, down from $117.5 million in July 2023.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission did not take any official actions on its agenda Tuesday due to lack of a quorum. A spokeswoman for the commission said the agenda items, which include consideration of a casino gaming license for Central Ohio Gaming Ventures, a fantasy contest operator license for Yahoo Fantasy Sports LLC, and sports gaming suppliers Sports IG Analytics and Oddin.gg US, will be delayed until the September meeting, currently scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept 18.
GUNS
Attorney General Dave Yost and Columbus and Dayton officials on Monday resolved their four-year legal battle over Ohio's "broken" and "dangerously deficient" criminal background check system, as the state auditor and DeWine administration have described it, by urging the General Assembly to pass legislation providing mandatory reporting by law enforcement and clerks of court -- along with necessary funding.
The state took another step this week toward comprehensive crime gun reporting with Wednesday's draft introduction of federally compliant law enforcement standards for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and eTrace system housed at the U.S. Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board held a lightly attended meeting at the Ohio Department of Public Safety (DPS) to review revised language for Standard 9.01 under "Property and Evidence Management" in this year's Accreditation and Standards Manual, 1st ed., which Gov. Mike DeWine is asking Ohio's 900-plus law enforcement agencies to adopt along with state-level certification under the DPS's Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS). Apparently due to light attendance, OCJS Director Nicole Dehner, who led the meeting, tabled the draft standard for further consideration at the advisory board's November meeting.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
A newly formed coalition of state and local advocacy, research, workforce development, business and health and human service organizations and funders will seek to address disincentives to work known as benefits cliffs. The Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio (EMAO) said that as a collaborative, it will raise awareness and advocate for "positive solutions that mitigate and ultimately eliminate benefit cliffs, reduce disincentives to work, and create a more seamless pathway to economic stability and security for all Ohioans."
The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) recently released its FY24 annual report, detailing what the agency has done in the past year to support Ohioans with developmental disabilities. DODD reports that the FY24-25 operating budget, HB33 (Edwards), addressed the development disability system's "most pressing issue" - a workforce shortage. The budget invested "a historic" $1.3 billion into provider rates to allow direct support professionals (DSPs) to be paid more. DSPs wages were an average of $11.12 in 2019 but are now an average of $18 per hour, according to the report.
Panelists and speakers at the Health Policy Institute of Ohio's (HPIO) Wednesday forum described glaring inequities and disparities in access to care and health outcomes for rural Ohioans. Premature deaths, meaning deaths among those under the age of 75, have increased statewide over the last decade, but more so in rural areas and particularly in Appalachian regions. The speakers at Wednesday's virtual forum pointed to a slew of public health factors creating the disparities in rural and Appalachian communities, including financial headwinds at many rural hospitals and social determinants of health like higher rates of poverty.
Molina Healthcare of Ohio, one of Ohio's Medicaid managed care plans, announced a $125,000 grant Wednesday meant to address the shortage of nurses in home care and hospice settings and help Ohioans managing serious illnesses at home. Molina awarded the grant to the Centers for Community Based Care (CBBC), the nonprofit foundation association with the Ohio Council for Home Care and Hospice (OCHCH) to support two initiatives:
CBBC will work with Ohio nursing schools to develop home-based clinical rotation experiences for nursing students, providing hands-on learning opportunities that expose students to providing care in these settings.
The Clinical Advocate Resource Exchange (CARE), a phone-based program with patient advocates who provide care navigation assistance to connect people to services, resources, transportation, home care agencies, hospice providers and more.
Two hospitals and several satellite health care facilities in Trumbull County are set to close within 30 days following an announcement late Wednesday by Texas-based parent company Steward Health Care Systems. The last day of operations for both Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital is slated for Thursday, Sept. 19 after Steward has been unsuccessful so far in finding a buyer for the facilities after declaring bankruptcy in May of this year. Steward had previously closed Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown after acquiring facilities in Ohio in 2018. In a joint statement Wednesday night, Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff wrote, "The corporate leadership of Steward Health Care must be held accountable to ensure they are actively working to support their local doctors while they work with patients and their families to find the best possible care alternative. While they have committed to do so, we will actively work with the local health care community to ensure they properly follow through on that pledge."
The state of Ohio will receive over $700,000 for lead testing and remediation in schools and child care facilities following the announcement Thursday of over $26 million in grant funding to 55 U.S. states and territories from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
HIGHER EDUCATION
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) and the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) have established a partnership to provide evidence-based civil discourse training to all OWU students, faculty and staff, the university announced Thursday. "Ohio Wesleyan is CDI's most comprehensive liberal arts partner, creating a collaboration that is groundbreaking in higher education," OWU President Matt vandenBerg said in a news release. "Our entire campus is all-in on this effort. The current state of our world required bold action, and we took it. We look forward to working with the Constructive Dialogue Institute to spearhead meaningful change in civil discourse."
HOUSING/HOMELESSNESS
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) Board has approved financing to support 12 housing developments, the agency announced Wednesday.
JUDICIAL
The Ohio Supreme Court has adopted the Board of Professional Conduct's recommended public reprimand of Hamilton County Probate Judge Ralph Edward Winkler for hasty Facebook posts on the guardianship and conservatorship of an elderly woman diagnosed with dementia. Winkler inherited a family dispute over Mary Francis McCulloch's care from his predecessor that had prompted sibling's "threatening and harassing" letters to the probate court magistrate handling the case. The judge stepped in without complete information and posted social media comments blaming the son, John Robert McCulloch, for her "deplorable" living conditions and citing them as a reason to "intercede." On Wednesday, the 4-0 Court upheld the public reprimand of Winkler based on violations of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct affirmed by the board.
Justices split the proverbial baby Thursday and handed former Campbell Law Director Brian John Macala a fully stayed, six-month suspension from the Ohio bar for a half dozen forged signatures on estate documents. Only three members and one visiting judge backed the ruling over the public reprimand favored by Justices R. Patrick DeWine and Joe Deters or the fully stayed one-year suspension favored by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and the Mahoning County Bar Association, which, in the Court's own words, had pressed the "seriousness of Macala's dishonesty."
MARIJUANA/HEMP
There are now 75 local governments with active ordinances prohibiting or limiting the operation of adult-use cannabis facilities, according to the Ohio State University (OSU) Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (DEPC). Researchers at DEPC reported that 58 moratoriums were in effect in July, and 56 were in effect in June. The 75 jurisdictions with active moratoriums represent nearly 13 percent of Ohio's population, DEPC said. The average population of these localities is about 20,000 residents.
NATURAL RESOURCES
New peace officers from Ohio and beyond were sworn in last week at Deer Creek State Park Lodge and Conference Center as the newest class of Ohio's natural resource officers (NROs). "We're excited this class of natural resources officers have completed this segment of their training," said Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Director Mary Mertz. "Each officer brings a genuine passion for conservation and a strong commitment to law enforcement. Their dedication to public service will be instrumental in protecting our state's parks, forests, nature preserves, and waterways."
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is hosting open houses throughout Ohio for the public to attend to discuss the Annual Work Plan for State Forests. The work plan is published by the ODNR Division of Forestry (DOF) and describes activities that are proposed to implement the goals and objectives of DOF's 10-year (2021-2031) forest management plan. The 2023-2024 Annual Work Plan can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/2s45vced. DOF's 2024 Open House events will include the following:
Southeastern District (Athens Headquarters): 360 E. State St., Athens; Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. For more information, call 740-272-8519.
Southern District (Chillicothe Headquarters): 345 Allen Ave., Chillicothe; Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, 4:30-6:30 p.m. For more information, call 740-774-1596.
Northern District (Findlay Headquarters): 952 Lima Ave., Findlay; Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, 4:30-6:30 p.m. For more information, call 419-424-5004.
OHIO HISTORY
The Ohio Supreme Court will join the Ohio History Connection's annual "Open Doors" program with evening tours of the Ohio Judicial Center scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, Sept. 10 and 12. The art-deco and beaux-arts edifice at 65 South Front St., Columbus, has served as a state government building for seven decades and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The "museum quality" structure now features artwork and design elements in the Grand Concourse and courtroom. The tours will accommodate 70 visitors per night. Advance registration is available at http://tinyurl.com/2vvf2rm9. All Ohio Open Doors events are free and listed at www.ohiohistory.org/opendoors.
Officials from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) Thursday toured the newly minted Ohio History Connection (OHC) Collections Care Center, which opened in June. In addition, OFCC members heard updates on the MARCS-in-Schools and the Appalachian Community Innovation Centers Grant Programs. The construction of the new Collections Care Center, located on the northeast part of the Ohio's History Center's Columbus campus, has been in the works since at least 2018. Construction began in October 2022, and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held earlier this year in June.
PENSIONS
The State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) of Ohio Board on Friday, Aug. 16 appointed Michael Harkness to fill the remainder of Steven Foreman's term on the board. Foreman resigned after the June board meeting, citing his retirement as an active teacher. Harkness and former STRS Board member Arthur Lard were both considered for the seat, with Harkness receiving six votes and Lard getting one. The board also voted on Friday to extend the paid administrative leave of STRS Executive Director William Neville.
PUBLIC SAFETY
As the need for volunteer firefighters grows throughout Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine was flanked by State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon and other state officials on Friday in sending out a call for mutual aid via a new set of public service announcements to recruit Ohioans to volunteer for their local departments. From the Ohio Fire Academy in Reynoldsburg, Reardon asked the audience to imagine what would happen if no one responded to an emergency call about a fire in their own communities. Reardon clarified that such a situation is completely hypothetical, but "the possibility is becoming more real by the day." Starting Friday, two public service announcements will air statewide on television and run digitally to encourage Ohioans to join their local departments to serve their communities. The separate PSAs can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/mpcjtp5f and https://tinyurl.com/bdf3r46v. The PSAs will also appear on computers and mobile devices, but not radio, and they will run in media markets throughout the state for the next eight weeks.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced its 2024 EMS Medical Director Conference, scheduled for Thursday Nov. 7 at Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) offices in Columbus. Sponsored by DPS's Ohio Division of EMS, State Board of Emergency Medical, Fire and Transportation Service, and Ohio Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the conference will include "fast-moving" sessions for urban, rural and volunteer EMS. Registration has a deadline of Sunday, Nov. 3 and must be completed online at tinyurl.com/57ykf6ry prior to the conference.
TAXATION
In a politically mixed decision, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled Tuesday that counties' right to appeal Ohio Department of Taxation's (ODT) determinations under R.C. 5717.02(A) to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA), and ultimately to the courts, does not apply to arms-length settlement agreements between the tax commissioner and public utility owners of capitalized infrastructure -- a sector in which intervenors appeal settlements between state regulators and utilities all the time.
TRANSPORTATION/INFRASTRUCTURE
Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission Executive Director Ferzan Ahmed Monday acknowledged customer service issues the turnpike has faced since launching its new toll collection system earlier this year, telling members of the commission that there are a "very large number of customers" who are dissatisfied with long wait times in order to address their questions and concerns over billing. Ahmed said that the new open tolling system plazas are designed to accommodate E-ZPass customers as well as customers who prefer to use cash or credit. E-ZPass customers are able to drive through the plazas at normal highway speeds, where sensors read and bill their transponders, while non-E-ZPass customers are directed to exit the main line to the right and go through toll booths. If a customer goes through the E-ZPass lanes without a transponder, or if there is an issue reading an E-ZPass transponder, the customer may receive an invoice demanding payment for a maximum fare, especially if it can't be determined where the customer entered the turnpike, Ahmed said. At that point, the customer has to reach out to the turnpike either through the phone or an online process.
[Story originally published in The Hannah Report. Copyright 2023 Hannah News Service, Inc.]
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