Legislature completes work; begins summer recess
Before recessing for the summer, the General Assembly finished work on several pieces of legislation, including the capital appropriations/budget corrections bill, House Bill (HB) 562. All of the following bills have been passed by both chambers and have either received the governor’s signature or are awaiting it.
House and Senate agree on capital appropriations bill
HB 562, the capital appropriations bill, sponsored by Rep. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark), was passed by the House and Senate after a conference committee met to resolve differences between the two chambers.
One of the issues in dispute was the Senate’s removal of provisions creating a study commission on local government reform and restructuring in Ohio. The final conference committee report would create the Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration to develop recommendations on reforming and restructuring local government in Ohio, and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of local government operations (including school districts). The commission would be made up 15 individuals, and OSBA would have one representative on the panel.
The following are other provisions in HB 562 that affect schools:
- Clarifies the interaction of the loss of the tangible personal property (TPP) tax with the public utility reimbursements that were being made pursuant to the original electric deregulation bill in the late 1990s. The new calculation keeps the loss of the TPP tax from affecting districts’ eligibility.
- Lengthens the maximum permissible term of an emergency levy from five years to 10 years. The change applies only to newly imposed or newly revised levies, not to existing levies currently being imposed.
- Authorizes a school district, with voter approval, to “subsitute” a levy for one or more existing emergency property tax levies for up to 10 years or for a continuing period of time; revenue from the substitute levy increases with addition of new construction.
- Allows school districts under the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Classroom Facilities Assistance Program to segment projects with support from OSFC.
- Expands eligibility for the OSFC Exceptional Needs School Facilities Assistance Program to all school districts (currently districts are eligible only if they are ranked in the 75th percentile or lower on the equity list or have a territory of more than 300 square miles).
- Allows an ESC to sponsor a conversion community school.
- Permits a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school to contract with an ESC for services.
- Directs the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to submit a plan to the federal government creating a school-based Medicaid program.
HB 562 also recomputes the SF-3 offset and direct replacement payments for the loss of TPP taxes for school districts. Projected data used in computing these amounts in earlier calculations for some districts were substantially different than similar fiscal year (FY) 2008 actual data. The Ohio Department of Education has created a simulation spreadsheet identifying the total adjustments that would be made to district payments in FY 2009 based on the recalculation that would be required by the proposed legislation. A copy of the spreadsheet is available here. The official recalculation would be made in August, according to the bill.
It appears that 116 districts will receive back payments totaling $15.9 million and 188 will have reductions due to overpayments totaling $6.4 million. Districts not affected total 309. All adjustments are scheduled for FY 2009. Ohio schools would benefit from a net increase in revenue of just over $9.5 million.
Now that the legislature has passed the bill, the next step is the governor’s signature. Since HB 562 is an appropriations bill, the governor has the ability to line-item veto provisions he doesn’t
support.
High school seniors serving as precinct officers
HB 350, sponsored by Rep. Larry Wolpert (R-Hilliard), permits up to two high school seniors to serve as precinct officers at a polling place with six or more precinct officers.
Current law permits a board of elections, in conjunction with a board of education, to establish a program permitting certain high school students to serve as precinct officers at an election. To be eligible to participate in the program, a student must be a United States citizen, a resident of the county, at least 17 years old and a high school senior. Students who are appointed as precinct officers cannot serve as presiding judges and are excused from school on the day of the election.
Current law also prohibits more than one precinct officer in any given precinct from being under 18 years of age. HB 350 would change this by allowing up to two students who are under 18 and participating in the program to serve as precinct officers if the precinct has six or more precinct officers.
HB 350 is awaiting the governor’s signature; it becomes effective 90 days after he signs it.
Joint purchasing authority and public notice legislation
Senate Bill (SB) 268, sponsored by Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), primarily deals with county contracting authority. However, it includes two important provisions for school districts involving joint purchasing authority and public notice of bids.
The legislation extends to all political subdivisions the same joint purchasing authority as counties and townships, and clarifies that participating political subdivisions are exempt from competitive bidding. SB 268 also eliminates the second week’s notice of advertisement of bids by newspaper publication if a school board posts the notice on its Internet Web site in lieu of newspaper npublication, and the first notice complies with the following specified requirements:
- it is published at least two weeks before the opening of bids,
- it includes a statement that the notice is posted on the board of education’s Internet Web site,
- it includes the Internet address of the board’s Web site,
- it includes instructions describing how the notice may be accessed on the board’s Web site.
SB 268 was signed by the governor on June 12 and will become effective in September.
Missing children legislation
HB 181, sponsored by Rep. Arlene Setzer (R-Vandalia), requires public and nonpublic schools to mark the records of students identified as missing children and to notify law enforcement of requests for those records. The legislation does the following:
- Allows (but does not require) a law enforcement agency that takes ma missing child report to notify the public or nonpublic school in which the missing child is or was most recently enrolled that the child is the subject of a missing child report and that the child’s school records are to be marked.
- Requires the person in charge of admissions at the school to mark the missing student’s records so that if the records are requested, any school official responding to the request is alerted that the records are those of a missing child. If the records are requested, the school must report the request to the law enforcement agency that notified the school that the student is a missing child.
- When forwarding a copy of the missing student’s record, the bill requires the mark to be removed so that the receiving district or school would be unable to tell that the records were ever marked. However, the person in charge of nadmissions must retain the mark in the records until notified that the student is no longer a missing child.
- Requires the law enforcement agency to promptly inform any school that was notified under the bill’s provisions that the minor is no longer a missing child when they receive notice that the student has been returned, released or notherwise located.
HB 181 was signed by the governor on June 12 and will become effective in 90 days.
Prostitution in school safety zone
SB 220, sponsored by Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-Canton), increases the penalties for promoting prostitution in proximity of a school.
The legislation authorizes a court that is sentencing an offender convicted of certain prostitutionrelated offenses to impose an additional prison or jail term if the offense was committed in a school safety zone or within 500 feet of a school building or within the boundaries of school premises. Depending on whether the prostitution-related offense is a misdemeanor or a felony, and the offender’s criminal history, the additional prison or jail term can range from one to 12 months.
SB 220 will become effective 90 days after the governor signs it.
Correction — concealed-carry legislation in school safety zones
The June 9 issue of the Briefcase included an item in the “Legislative Report” that mischaracterized a provision of SB 184, legislation that makes changes to Ohio’s concealed-carry gun laws. The article incorrectly stated that “the handgun must be unloaded and the ammunition must be stored separately.” Instead, the final version of the bill would enable an individual with a valid concealedcarry license or temporary emergency license who is the driver or passenger in a motor vehicle and who is dropping off or picking up a child in a school safety zone to have a loaded handgun if one of the following applies:
- The loaded handgun is in a holster on the person’s person;
- The loaded handgun is in a closed case, bag, box or other container that is in plain sight and that has a lid, cover or closing mechanism with a zipper, snap or buckle, which lid, cover or closing mechanism must be opened for a person to gain access to the handgun;
- The loaded handgun is securely encased by being stored in a closed glove compartment or vehicle console or in a case that is locked.
The bill was signed by the governor on June 10 and will become effective in September.
To view a complete copy of the letter, visit www.osba-ohio.org/advocacy.htm.
For the latest legislative updates, please contact the OSBA legislative division at (614) 540-4000; or (800) 589-OSBA.
Editor's Note: All information in this article was current as of June 13, 2008. The legislature is now in recess.
The “Legislative Report” will return when the legislature resumes in November after the general election.
