Thu 9/3 @ 2:30PM & 7PM
Last year, a bill called HB6 was rammed through the Ohio state legislature. While one part of it — intended to protect the communities of Perry (Lake County) and Carroll Township (Ottawa County) whose economies are heavily dependent on nuclear energy plants — could have launched a reasonable discussion, the bill itself was a massive giveaway to the plant owners, FirstEnergy. It billed taxpayers for the cost of keeping open the unprofitable plants and paid for it by abolishing Ohio’s green energy standards — you know, the FUTURE of energy. Even worse it propped up an even more obsolete form of energy: coal. It bailed out two failing coal plants, including one in Indiana — at Ohio taxpayers’ expense. An attempt to repeal the bill at the ballot was sabotaged by a very aggressive campaign.
Those of you who follow state news know what comes next: now former House Speaker Larry Householder and three of his associates were indicted in late July on charges of skullduggery relating to the bill’s passage and the anti-ballot issue campaign, and the massive amount of dark money they received. There’s a cry to repeal the entire bill and start over, and even many Republicans gave lip service to the idea. But so far, nothing’s happened.
Why not? That’s the topic of a virtual briefing sponsored by good government group, Ohio Citizen Action. Rachel Belz will host two sessions talking about why the bill should be repeated immediately, and why the foot-dragging, asking “Are Ohio’s legislators still for sale?”
“The entire Ohio General Assembly is on summer recess — completely evading the responsibility of addressing this huge corruption scandal,” they say. “We need to demand immediate action from the newly-appointed House Speaker, Bob Cupp, and urge him to call the House back into session to repeal HB 6 before the election.”
Go here to register.
ohiocitizen.org/take_action_on_hb6