House Bill 6 repeal: more civil litigation & lame duck efforts: On October 27, Columbus and Cincinnati filed their own lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to block HB 6’s nuclear subsidies.  Named defendants in the cities’ complaint include FirstEnergy Corp., Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo and State Treasurer Robert Sprague.  The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to block end user surcharges set to begin January 1.  (All ratepayers in Ohio are required to pay up to 85 cents per bill as a means to providing up to $150 million to support the two nuclear plants located in Ohio.)

Centralized collections of municipal net profits taxes: The Ohio Supreme Court on November 5 issued its decision that the state can centralize the collection of municipal net profits taxes.  But in the same decision, the Court held the State cannot levy an administrative charge on municipalities for such tax collection. 

Specifically, the Supreme Court held to be constitutional the General Assembly’s effort to impose on municipal corporations a process of centralized tax collection.  But the Court stated the same law allowing Ohio to retain 0.5% of collected municipal net-profits taxes amounts to the imposition of a fee, and therefore exceeds the General Assembly’s constitutional authority.

House Bill 6 Repeal Effort(s), Civil Litigation & Business Groups Step Forward:  Work continued in committees – the House Select Committee on Energy Policy & Oversight and the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee – on three bills (HB 738, HB 746 & SB 346, described below) to straight-repeal HB 6’s nuclear energy subsidy program.  One issue that’s been raised in the House Select Committee hearings is HB6’s use of 2018’s peak revenue for FirstEnergy as a reference year for the company’s entitled annual revenue levels via ratepayer subsidy charges.  The nuclear subsidy charges are set to appear on ratepayer bills on January 1.

Clawback of GM Tax Credits & Awarding new LG Chem Tax Credits:  The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on September 28 approved a clawback agreement with General Motors under which the automaker will repay $28MM in incentives resulting from the idling of its Lordstown assembly plant in 2019.  The agreement also requires GM to provide another $12MM in “Ohio Community Support” in the form of scholarships or job training at Youngstown State University or schools and/or infrastructure assistance in the Mahoning Valley region.

New Round of Coronavirus Relief Fund Payments to Local Governments
A new proposed funding formula for the final $650 million tranche of Coronavirus Relief Fund payments to Ohio local governments is included in the fast-tracked Senate Bill 357 (described more fully, below).  This latest legislative vehicle to distribute federal CARES Act funds to Ohio units of local government will reflect some changes from previous Coronavirus Relief Fund distributions (e.g., HB 481’s distribution of $350 million): extending the deadlines imposed on Ohio local governments to spend their federal money; and the funds-distribution formula moves away from the 2019 Local Government Fund formula (used under HB 481) and instead uses a per capita basis.