Reps. McNally, Rader Announce Two New Bills Concerning Public Utilities
COLUMBUS – State Reps. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) and Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood) Monday introduced two new bills concerning public utilities. One bill is to designate Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) vehicles as emergency vehicles in certain emergency situations. The other is to protect public utility customers from political expenditures.
The emergency vehicle legislation is a response to the train derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, 2023. The train was carrying hazardous materials including hydrogen chloride, phosgene, and other chemicals that were released into the air. Residents were evacuated from the area. Clean up of this disaster included removing 167K tons of contaminated soil and more than 39M gallons of tainted water from the derailment site.
“From every disaster we can learn something new and how we can better respond. The East Palestine train derailment showed us that some emergency situations require specific public safety vehicles and personnel immediately,” said Rep. McNally.
“Following the incident in East Palestine, nearly 70 emergency agencies from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania mobilized after the derailment, showing the magnitude of response needed when addressing serious environmental and chemical threats,” said Rep. Rader.
Therefore, the new legislation would classify OEPA and PUCO vehicles as public safety vehicles, exempting them from certain traffic laws so they can operate more effectively in emergency situations. This would apply when responding to hazardous material emergencies or other pollution incidents that affect human health or the environment.
The second piece of legislation will prevent public utilities from engaging in politics with ratepayer money. It consists of three basic parts:
1. Rules: Ban utilities from using ratepayer money to lobby, make political expenditures, or fund public relations campaigns.
2. Disclosure: Require utilities to disclose an itemized list of their political expenditures.
3. Enforcement: Levy fines against utilities if they engage in politics with ratepayer funds.
“Ratepayers should not have higher bills to fund their utility company’s political expenditures. HB 6 highlighted that utilities’ political spending goes unchecked. Public utilities must disclose their political expenses so that this does not happen again. Public utilities should only use ratepayer funding to provide utilities to their ratepayers,” said Rep. McNally
“Through our work in the Energy Committee, we passed HB 15 and repealed OVEC fees that would’ve cost Ohioans roughly $1B in surcharges,” said Rep. Rader. “We’ve turned a page since those days in the Statehouse but there still haven’t been the legislative changes needed to prevent it from happening again.”
In addition, substantial penalties will serve as a deterrent for public utilities to ensure that they do not violate the provisions of this legislation. These penalties and fines will be used to help people pay past due utility bills. While this legislation does not prohibit utilities from engaging in politics, it prohibits utilities from engaging in politics with ratepayer money.
Both pieces of legislation are initiatives to help public utilities better serve Ohioans, whether that is through disaster relief or political actions. Both of these bills are awaiting a bill number and committee assignment.