Residency Bill Vote Once Again Delayed By The Ohio House
Once Again this week, the Ohio House State Government Committee had planned to vote out OCA’s anti-residency bill, Senate Bill 152. Once again, House leadership decided to attempt to add a controversial anti-PLA amendment to the bill in committee.
Once again, the Republicans didn’t have the votes to pass the bill on the floor with the PLA amendment, so they didn’t pass it out of committee. Once again, Ohio’s contractors and their employees are losing contracts and jobs because of the delay. Keep in mind - we have the necessary votes (and we would even get a few Democratic votes) to pass the residency bill. The delay is due only to efforts to add the PLA amendment to it. The PLA amendment is heavily opposed by every Democrat and many labor groups.
We are told that once again, the House will attempt to add the PLA amendment to the residency bill in the next week or two. It remains to be seen if they will be able to come up with the fifty votes needed to pass the bill on the House floor if the controversial PLA amendment has been added in committee. Should the House actually be able to come up with the necessary fifty votes to add the amendment to the residency bill and send it back to the Senate for approval, the Senate clearly does not have the votes to keep it in the bill. Keep in mind that last year, we went through this same exercise when the same anti-PLA amendment was added to the state’s general revenue budget bill by the House, only to be removed by the Senate.
We have reason to believe that if the House doesn’t pass the bill in the next week or two, the Senate will take up the House version that has been sitting in a Senate Committee, pass it out of the Senate, and send it on its way to the Governor before the legislature takes the summer off to campaign. The House bill, HB180, would not need to go back to the House for concurrence because it would be the same version the House already passed. This may end up being the most expedient way to get the bill passed and signed. The bill won’t take effect until 90 days after the Governor’s signature.
Join Us In May In Washington For The Annual Fly-In
The Transportation Construction Coalition, ARTBA and AGC are once again co-hosting the annual “Fly-In” to Washington D.C. to let members of Congress know that while we appreciate the passage of the FAST Act in late 2015, they still have more to do in order to create a long-term fix for the country’s highway funding program.
While the FAST Act temporarily stabilized highway funding, the problem of the Highway Trust Fund’s structural deficit remains and must be addressed. This is your chance to discuss our industry’s needs with your members of Congress.
The Fly-In is on May 10th and 11th. Chris Runyan and Angela Van Fossen will be attending, along with the heads of several OCA member companies and the staff of other associations. There will be a formal briefing on the afternoon of May 10th with handouts distributed to share with your legislators. We will be doing meetings in groups with the Congressional members all day on Wednesday, May 11th.
For more information and registration information, please click here.
If you have questions, please contact Angela at [email protected].
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