DEAR EDITOR:

It’s time to do a clean repeal of House Bill 6, the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio. A repeal would make things right with Ohioans who were asked to bail out the energy company. The bill was tied to bribing GOP lawmakers. HB 6 dates back to July 2019, when Ohio legislators were pressured into passing it and opened the way for House Speaker Larry Householder allegedly to rake in $61 million in a corrupt process that Democratic legislators never anticipated. Householder and four others are accused of colluding to get the bill passed.

Now Republican legislators refuse to repeal HB 6 claiming that they want to preserve some provisions for renewable energy that are also contained within that bill, and they’ve proposed HB 798 as a mulligan. The opening paragraphs of 798 list the sections of the Ohio Revised Code that will be amended, and it then grants broad-sweeping confidentialities for those companies that gain access to applicable subsidies in Section 3706.431.

HB 798 also states that customers of utility companies affected will pay the tax to provide $20 million for the renewable generation fund, plus another $150 million of the nuclear generation fund. The concerning issue is that the bill allows industry leaders extremely broad latitude in determining what should be considered a legitimate expense.

Ohio’s Democratic legislators, notably Reps. Michael O’Brien, D-Warren and Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, have called for a clean repeal of HB 6 via HB 738, which was introduced in committee on Aug. 31, where it still sits. State Sen. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta, co-sponsored SB 346.

LINDA COCCUZZI RICHTER

Niles