----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Matacic" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:56 PM
Subject: [Fwd: Legislative Update]


> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: Legislative Update
> From:    "Heidi Fought" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date:    Fri, November 20, 2009 12:14 pm
> To:
> Cc:      "Michael Cochran" <[log in to unmask]>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
> GENERAL ASSEMBLY HAPPENINGS
>
> Several township related bills were heard in testimony this week.  To
> view the bills in their entirety, please visit
> <http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/> www.legislature.state.oh.us.
>
>
>
> House Aging & Disability Services
>
> HB 246  OP&F DISEASE COVERAGE (Yuko) To provide that a firefighter,
> police officer, or public emergency medical services worker who is
> disabled as a result of specified types of cancer or certain contagious
> or infectious diseases is presumed for purposes of the laws governing
> workers' compensation and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund to have
> incurred the disease while performing official duties as a firefighter,
> police officer, or public emergency medical services worker. (CONTINUED;
> 1st Hearing-Sponsor)
>
> The OTA opposes this bill as it could result In higher costs for
> townships.  See letter attached that was sent to Senate sponsor of
> companion legislation.
>
> House Commerce & Labor
> HB 271  TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPARTMENTS (Patten, Stewart, D.) To modify
> coverage of the Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Law with respect
> to township fire departments. (REPORTED-AMENDED; 2nd Hearing-All
> testimony-Possible vote)
> The committee reported the bill on a 6-4 party line vote, with
> Republicans in opposition, after hearing testimony from seven proponents
> and one opponent. Adopted without objection was an LSC technical
> amendment, and a clarifying amendment in response to a concern of the
> Ohio Township Association.
> The Ohio Township Association opposed (see attached) the legislation.
> Michael Cochran, executive director, said the bill would require
> townships with less than 5,000 in population in the unincorporated area,
> but with a full-time fire department that serves a territory with a
> population greater than 5,000, be subject to collective bargaining laws.
> He said existing law permits such townships to enter collective
> bargaining agreements, but does not require them to do so.  Mr. Cochran
> said the association was neither pro-union nor anti-union. "For us it's
> a question of local control," he said. "I would rather have the local
> officials themselves deciding whether to enter into an agreement. That's
> something we hold near and dear, local control."
> House Transportation & Infrastructure
> HB 166  TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES (Carney, McGregor) To authorize the
> creation of transportation innovation authorities (TIA) by specified
> governmental entities and to establish the powers and duties of such
> authorities.
> The OTA is an interested party on this bill.  Townships may be a party
> to the TIA if they want to but no township land can be included in the
> TIA without support of the township.
> Senate Environment & Natural Resources
> SB 196   OIL & GAS (Grendell) To revise the Oil and Gas Law. (CONTINUED;
> 1st Hearing-Sponsor)
> The OTA supports SB 196 as it restores some local control over oil & gas
> well placement that was removed five years ago.
>
> Election Reform
>
> HB 260, the House-version of election reform, passed the House along
> party lines on Wednesday.  While special elections were not eliminated,
> as originally proposed, there was a provision that was included that
> would allow county board of elections to charge political subdivisions
> even more money to conduct elections, including depreciation fees for
> all equipment necessary to prepare for or conduct elections.  This
> language is very broad and at the very least should be narrowed to
> include only the machinery upon which voters use at the election.
> Additionally, language was added that would require at least 65% of the
> costs to hold a special election be paid up front.  The OTA will work
> with interested parties on these matter as the bill now goes to the
> Senate for hearings.
>
>
>
>
>
> RECENTLY INTRODUCED LEGISLATION
> HB 344  WATER/SEWAGE FEES (Goyal, Harris, M.) To limit recovery of
> rate-case expenses for certain water-works and sewage disposal system
> companies.
>
> HB 345  PUBLIC NOTICES (Hagan) To allow political subdivisions to make
> internet website publications in lieu of newspaper of general
> circulation publication requirements if the political subdivision
> donates all funds that would otherwise be used to provide newspaper
> notices to a local food bank or food drive for charitable purposes.
>
>
> AUDITOR'S BULLETINS
> The Auditor of State has released two recent bulletins that impact
> townships.  The OTA encourages all townships to read both bulletins.
> Both are attached for your reference.
> 2009-011 - Allocating Audit Costs
> 2009-012 - New Policy - Agreed-Upon Procedures for Small Government
> Audit Clients (beginning with audit periods ending December 31, 2009)
>
>
> FEDERAL UPDATE
> The OTA has had Mr. Wendell Cox at OTA conferences to speak about the
> push at the federal level for regionalism and how his research has shown
> that smaller governments are better governments.  We have received this
> information from Mr. Cox relative to some happenings at the federal
> level.  I encourage you to read this information and contact your
> federal congressman and senators to express your concerns.  You may get
> more information from Mr. Cox's website at www.demographia.com <
> http://www.demographia.com/ <http://www.demographia.com/> > .
>
> Congress and the Administration Take Aim at Local Democracy
> Local democracy has been a mainstay of the US political system. This is
> evident from the town hall governments in New England to the small towns
> that the majority of Americans choose to live in today.  In most states
> and metropolitan areas, substantial policy issues - such as zoning and
> land use decisions - are largely under the control of those who have a
> principal interest: local voters who actually live in the nation's
> cities, towns, villages, townships and unincorporated county areas. This
> may be about to change. Two congressional initiatives - the Boxer-Kerry
> Cap and Trade Bill and the Oberstar Transportation Reauthorization Bill
> - and the Administration's "Livability Partnership" take direct aim at
> local democracy as we know it.
>
> The Boxer-Kerry Bill: The first threat is the proposed Senate version of
> the "cap and trade" bill authored by Senator Barbara Boxer-Kerry
> (D-California). This bill, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
> (S. 1733), would require metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to
> develop greenhouse gas emission reduction plans. In these plans, the
> legislation would require consideration of issues such as increasing
> transit service, improvements to intercity rail service and
> "implementation of zoning and other land use regulations and plans to
> support infill, transit-oriented development or mixed use development."
> This represents a significant step toward federal adoption of much of
> the "smart growth" or "compact development" agenda.
>
> At first glance, it may seem that merely requiring MPOs to consider such
> zoning and land use regulations seems innocent enough. However, the
> incentives that are created by this language could well spell the end of
> local control over zoning and land use decisions in the local area.
> True enough, the bill includes language to indicate that the bill does
> not intend to infringe "on the existing authority of local governments
> to plan or control land use." Experience suggests, however, that this
> would provide precious little comfort in the behind-the-scenes
> negotiations that occur when a metropolitan area runs afoul of
> Washington bureaucrats.
>
> The federal housing, transportation and environmental bureaucracies have
> also been supportive of compact development policies. As these agencies
> develop regulations to implement the legislation, they could well be
> emboldened to make it far more difficult for local voters to retain
> control over land use decisions. There could be multiple repeats of the
> heavy-handedness exercised by the EPA when it singled out Atlanta for
> punishment over air quality issues. In response, the Georgia legislature
> was, in effect, coerced into enacting planning and oversight legislation
> more consistent with the planning theology endorsed by EPA's
> bureaucrats. No federal legislation granted EPA the authority to seek
> such legislative changes, yet they were sought and obtained.
>
> There is also considerable support for the compact development agenda at
> the metropolitan area level. The proclivity of metropolitan and urban
> planners toward compact development is so strong as to require no
> encouragement by federal law. The emerging clear intent of federal
> policy to move land use development to the regional level and to densify
> existing communities could embolden MPOs to propose plans that pressure
> local governments to conform their zoning to central plans (or
> overarching "visions") developed at the regional level. Along the way,
> smaller local jurisdictions could well be influenced, if not coerced
> into actions by over-zealous MPO staff claiming that federal law and
> regulation require more than the reality. It would not be the first
> time. Further, MPOs and organizations with similar views will lobby
> state legislatures to impose compact development policies that strip
> effective control of zoning and land use decisions from local
> governments.
>
> Surface Transportation Reauthorization: The second threat is the Surface
> Transportation Authorization Act (STAA or reauthorization) draft that
> has been released by Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) of the House
> Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. This bill is riddled with
> requirements regarding consideration of land use restrictions by MPOs
> and states. Unlike the Boxer-Kerry bill, the proposed STAA includes no
> language denying any intention to interfere with local land use
> regulation authority.
>
> Like the Boxer-Kerry Bill, the Oberstar bill significantly empowers the
> Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency and
> poses similar longer term risks.  These legislative initiatives are
> reinforced by the Administration's "Livability Agenda," which is a
> partnership between the EPA, the Department of Housing and Urban
> Development and the Department of Transportation. Among other things,
> this program is principally composed of compact development strategies,
> including directing development to certain areas, which would materially
> reduce the choices available to local government. Elements such as these
> could be included in an eventual STAA bill by the Obama Administration.
>
> The Livability Agenda: Threatening Livability: Regrettably, the
> Boxer-Kerry bill, the Oberstar bill and the "Livability Agenda" will
> make virtually nothing more livable. If they are successful in
> materially densifying the nation's urban areas, communities will be
> faced with greater traffic congestion, higher congestion costs and
> greater air pollution. Despite the ideology to the contrary, higher
> densities increase traffic volumes within areas and produce more health
> hazards or more intense local air pollution. As EPA models indicate,
> slower, more congested traffic congestion produces more pollution than
> more freely flowing traffic, and the resulting higher traffic volumes
> make this intensification even greater.
>
> There are also devastating impacts on housing affordability that occur
> when "development is directed." This tends to increase land prices,
> which makes houses more expensive. This hurts all future home buyers and
> renters, particularly low income and minority households, since rent
> increases tend to follow housing prices. It is particularly injurious to
> low income households, which are disproportionately minority. The large
> gap between majority and minority home ownership rates likely widen
> further. So much for the American Dream for many who have not attained
> it already.
>
> The Marginal Returns of Compact Development Policies: These compact
> development initiatives continue to be pursued even in the face of
> research requested by Congress indicating that such policies have
> precious little potential. The congressionally mandated Driving the
> Built Environment report indicates that driving and greenhouse gas
> emissions could be higher in 2050 than in 2000 even under the maximum
> deployment of compact development strategies.
>
> Local Governments at the Table? The nation's local governments should
> "weigh in" on these issues now, while the legislation is being
> developed. If they wait, they could find themselves too late to the
> table when the EPA comes to bully them to follow not what the local
> voters want, but what the planners prefer. Local democracy will be
> largely dead, a product of a system that concentrates authority - and
> perceived wisdom - in the hands of the central governments, at the
> regional and national level.
>
> Even more, local citizens and voters need to be aware of the risk.
> Again, it will be too late when MPOs or other organizations, whether at
> their own behest or that of a federal agency, force the character of
> neighborhoods to be radically changed, as Tony Recsei pointed out is
> already occurring in Australia.
>
>
>
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