State Rep. Michael J. O’Brien, who co-sponsors legislation to overturn House Bill 6 that bailed out two nuclear power plants resulting in corruption charges against a former House speaker, said he’s “frustrated” with a decision to have a new committee work on repealing and replacing the law.

“It’s obvious (House Republicans) are not in any hurry to repeal House Bill 6,” said O’Brien, D-Warren. “This is another layer of bureaucracy. The public has been protesting that this bill should be repealed and repealed now, and the Republican majority is dragging its feet.”

Former House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and four associates — including former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges — were arrested July 21 on federal racketeering charges in a $60 million bribery case related to the taxpayer-funded bailout of two nuclear power plants through HB 6. The House voted July 30 to remove Householder as speaker.

Householder was a driving force behind the rescue as he pushed through a plan to subsidize the plants and eliminate renewable energy incentives.

The bill provided a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout last year of the plants owned by former subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp.

Eight days after the arrests, O’Brien and state Rep. Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, introduced legislation to repeal HB 6. It was among three bills seeking to overturn the law.

The O’Brien-Skindell bill hasn’t been given a committee assignment and the two are seeking to use a discharge petition, which O’Brien said is “rarely used,” to bypass committee hearings and bring it to the House for a vote. At least 50 of the House’s 99 members have to sign the petition for it to be considered for a vote.

A petition is permitted under House rules if a bill hasn’t been assigned to a committee at least 30 days after it was introduced.

The two were asking for electronic signatures from House members because of the COVID-19 pandemic and had “a few dozen” before the House clerk informed them electronic signatures “are invalid,” O’Brien said.

“We’ve been using electronic signatures for the last two months and now the clerk claims we can’t,” O’Brien said. “We’re creating bridges over every roadblock we’ve found.”

The two Democratic legislators plan to have the petition to the clerk’s office hours before today’s session to put on each member’s desk for signature, O’Brien said.

But with Democrats in the minority with 37 members to 52 Republicans, it’s not likely to meet with success even though several Republicans, including those who voted for HB 6, support a repeal.

That’s because new House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, announced Monday that he was creating the House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight to “focus on energy issues and be tasked with crafting legislation to repeal and replace House Bill 6.”

The decision comes on the House’s first day of legislative action since Cupp became speaker.

He said Householder’s indictment “has raised serious questions about House Bill 6 and the process by which it became law, casting a dark cloud over Ohio’s energy policy.”

Cupp, who voted in favor of HB 6, said: “Our goal is to have an open and thorough process for repealing House Bill 6 and replacing it with thoughtful legislation Ohioans can have confidence in.”

The House Rules and Reference Committee, which Cupp serves as chairman, referred the three HB 6 repeal bills to the new committee.

O’Brien said he wasn’t happy with the decision.

“To delay the repeal of House Bill 6 any longer is ridiculous,” he said. “This needs to be repealed now and immediately.”

Also, O’Brien points out that the new committee doesn’t have a timeline, Cupp hasn’t named its members, and Republicans will serve as its chairman and vice chairman as well as have a majority.

A bipartisan bill in the Ohio Senate — co-sponsored by state Sens. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta, and Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard — is expected to be referred to a committee with sponsor testimony this week.

O’Brien said Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, wants a vote by election time.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com