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Lawmakers tackle “tainted” HB6

DeWine

COLUMBUS — The legislative centerpiece of the $60 million bribery and racketeering scandal is back on the Statehouse agenda. Using a phrase heard most often from Republicans on Capitol Hill in reference to Obamacare, lawmakers in Columbus want to “repeal and replace” House Bill 6.

That is the controversial legislation passed last year that provided a northeast Ohio energy company with a $1 billion bailout.

According to the FBI, the company provided then House Speaker Larry Householder with $60 million. Investigators say he used it to build his own political power base and in return he made sure the legislature passed HB6.

After Householder’s arrest, Gov. Mike DeWine called for the bill to be repealed. At the same time he said it should be replaced because he continues to support nuclear power in Ohio. In an interview with WHIO-TV, DeWine again said that lawmakers need to take action on HB6. “I think we need to repeal it. It is forever tainted. And I was for it. I signed it,” DeWine said.

DeWine worked with the new Ohio Speaker of the House, Bob Cupp, and Senate President Larry Obhof to map a plan for how to keep much of HB6′s intent but at the same time remove the cloud of controversy surrounding it. So Cupp appointed the Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight to deal with HB6. A member of that newly created committee is State Representative Phil Plummer, R- Dayton.

Plummer said he was not part of the bill’s creation last year and was not aware of any impropriety. He did vote for the bill and remains a supporter of nuclear energy but is not locked into a particular strategy on how to replace it now. “Luckily I was not in any committee hearings. I was not given any marching orders. I come in with an open mind in this process,” Plummer said.

The Select Committee is set to hold its first hearing Thursday afternoon at the Statehouse. Several bills are on the agenda that would repeal HB6. Given the complexity of the legislation and limited time left before the end of the year, questions have been raised about whether the committee has time to remove HB6 from the law books and then take action to pass another law in its place more to the liking of the legislature and the governor. “We can do this. I never want to be told we can’t do this. We want to make sure its right for Ohio citizens,” Plummer said.

Whatever lawmakers do will probably have an impact on Ohioans electric bills.  DeWine remains determined to get another law passed to replace HB6. “We have got to reverse it….start all over again. And then come up with …after we repeal it…come up with a bill that will do the job but will be a bill that will pass in open daylight that everybody knows what’s going on.”

Householder, meanwhile, has been removed from his leadership position as Speaker but for the time being remains a member of the Ohio House. Even though he is facing federal criminal charges, he may have an opportunity to vote on the bill again.

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