HB 6 Corruption Indictments Should be Call to Action for Lawmakers to Weed Out Political Corruption, Protect Consumers

COLUMBUS – House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) called today’s state indictments of two former FirstEnergy executives and ex-Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) Chairman Sam Randazzo a glaring reminder that much more work remains to undo the damage done by the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio’s history.

“The announcement of these state indictments is long overdue and should be a sobering call to action for state officials to address the lingering political and consumer damage done by HB 6 and the politicians who put bribes and illegal profits over the people,” said Leader Russo. “As state legislators, we owe it to the people to make sure this scale of political corruption can never happen again and it’s beyond time for this General Assembly to take meaningful action.” 

As part of its People First agenda, House Democrats have introduced several pieces of legislation this General Assembly aimed at weeding out corruption, strengthening ethics and protecting consumers. 

• HB 112 (Reps. Miranda/Sweeney) would require dark money groups to identify their contributors and disclose their spending. 
• HB 120 (Reps. Weinstein/Brennan) would fully repeal and refund subsidies established in HB 6 during the 133rd General Assembly that are still being paid by Ohioans to bail out two Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (OVEC) coal-fired power plants—one of which is located in Indiana. 
• HB 363 (Rep. Troy) would toughen requirements to serve on the PUCO Nominating Council and to serve as a PUCO Commissioner.
• HB 393 (Rep. Baker) would require the PUCO to issue an order requiring the refund of any amounts collected by a public utility from consumers determined to be unlawful if the PUCO decision permitting that collection is reversed by the Ohio Supreme Court.