Members of a Girl Scout troop from Cincinnati could see, more clearly than the (now former) CEO of FirstEnergy Corp., the (now former) head of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the (now former) Speaker of the Ohio House, that nothing good has come of House Bill 6.
Troop 45239 was among those submitting testimony last week in support of repealing HB 6, the wide-ranging energy bailout legislation at the heart of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history, in which then-Speaker Larry Householder and four associates were arrested in July, accused of illegally using FirstEnergy money to help pass the bill.
"HB 6 was passed by cheating. ... That's not how democracy is supposed to work," seven troop members wrote in the letter. "Please repeal the law to restore trust in Ohio's government." They called for the Legislature to "pass a better, fairer law that supports clean energy."
Repealing the law isn't simple, but the troop members are onto something, and they displayed a keener sense of leadership than many involved in this terrible affair — and in other parts of the state, where our leaders are failing us.
Fortunately, and finally, there are some signs of progress on the HB 6 front in the Legislature's lame duck session. Lawmakers in both chambers are discussing bills that would either repeal or make significant changes to HB 6, which, as it stands now, would fund $1.6 billion in utility subsidies starting Jan. 1 through a new customer surcharge, offset by the elimination of some charges that pay for renewable energy projects and energy efficiency programs.
One piece of legislation, House Bill 798, would delay the subsidies for a year. Importantly, Cleveland.com reported, it would end a provision of the bill known as "decoupling," which "ensures a guaranteed level of income for FirstEnergy and (theoretically) other utilities." That provision, according to Cleveland.com, "allows FirstEnergy to charge ratepayers a total of $355 million more through 2024 to guarantee the company a yearly revenue of $978 million." This bill may have the juice to make it, since it was introduced by the chair of the Ohio House's special HB 6 study committee and has the support of Bob Cupp, the new House Speaker.
An alternative, Senate Bill 346, is a full-on repeal, which might be more satisfying, but at this late hour in the legislative session is considerably dicier.
We're in better-late-than-never territory now, and a delay of the subsidies would give the Legislature another chance to get things right. But it's still a pretty dispiriting statement on leadership in the state that we're cutting it so close in trying to right an obvious wrong.
And the disappointments don't stop there.
Several members of city councils in Toledo and Cincinnati have been arrested and charged with taking bribes. On a different scale, but still disturbing, was the city of Cleveland's decision to let its moratorium on water and power shutoffs end on Dec. 1. Councilman Brian Kazy, chair of Cleveland City Council's Utilities committee, subsequently issued a statement indicating council and the Jackson administration are working "to ensure that no resident loses electricity or water during the pandemic or during winter months," but it never should have gotten to this point.
These are, at the very least, breakdowns in citizens' trust in their leaders at a time the public most needs to know government can help. More than ever, our leaders need to step up and offer a clear vision of ethical, thoughtful government focused on meeting the needs of all its citizens. We're not getting that in 2020. Newly elected leaders should take note for 2021.
Northeast Ohio lost three last week with the deaths of A. Malachi Mixon III, the former CEO of Invacare Corp.; Pat McCartan, former managing partner of Jones Day; and Thomas Sullivan, former CEO of RPM International.
Their resumes and accomplishments in full would more than fill this page. All were all-in on Northeast Ohio and offered the kind of civic commitment for corporate leaders to emulate.
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December 06, 2020 at 04:00PM
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