COLUMBUS — Today, the Equal Districts Coalition — a unified group of several prominent Ohio advocacy organizations engaged in the 2021 redistricting fight — announced strong opposition to Senate President Matt Huffman’s proposal to give Statehouse leaders complete power to unilaterally determine Ohio’s redistricting schedule, creating the potential to cut back on public engagement opportunities.
“Ohioans voted twice, with powerful majorities, to make our redistricting process more open, accessible, and fair. The people demanded to play a key role in drawing district lines,” said Desiree Tims, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio. “Ohio must respect the voters’ wishes and maintain a redistricting timeline that allows everyone’s voice to be heard.”
President Huffman’s proposed constitutional amendment would allow Ohio’s legislature to change redistricting deadlines anytime Census data is delayed. Because the legislature is currently dominated by a supermajority of Republican members, this would likely create scenarios where one party has unilateral control over redistricting deadlines. This stands in direct opposition to the intent of the ballot reform measures that Ohio’s voters overwhelmingly passed in 2015 and 2018.
“No matter where we’re from or what we look like, our votes should count. We cannot allow selfish politicians to take electoral power away from the people. That’s exactly the problem Ohioans were attempting to solve with these new redistricting laws,” said Prentiss Haney, Co-Executive Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. “Gerrymandering has allowed certain politicians to rig district maps and election outcomes for far too long, diluting the power of Black and brown voters. We cannot condone any proposal that would take Ohio back in that direction.”
Ohio has known for well over two months that the state will receive its redistricting data by September 30, 2021. While this presents some challenges connected to meeting Ohio’s constitutionally-mandated redistricting deadlines, it does not change the fact that voters overwhelmingly demanded these new deadlines — and the related timeline — in two recent elections.
“When a bipartisan group of legislators and advocates came to the negotiation tables in 2015 and 2018, everyone agreed about the essential nature of ensuring a fair redistricting process. Missed deadlines, even those caused in part by the global pandemic, cannot and should not be used as an excuse to resurrect the political games of the past,” said Heather Taylor-Miesle, Executive Director of the Ohio Environmental Council. “We call on Ohio lawmakers to follow through on Ohio voters’ decisive mandate to end partisan gerrymandering and to ensure a thorough and transparent redistricting process.”
The census delay is absolutely not an excuse to cut corners in terms of how transparent or how inclusive the redistricting process is. “To best mitigate the impacts of the delay, we need to preserve as much of the existent redistricting process as possible – with an emphasis on maintaining ample opportunities for public engagement. As it stands, however, Senate President Huffman’s proposal is a complete non-starter,” said Katy Shanahan, Ohio State Director of All On The Line.
The Equal Districts Coalition includes the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Environmental Council, Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Student Association, ProgressOhio, All On the Line-Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, URGE – Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, LEAD Ohio, the Ohio Women’s Alliance, and more.
Lame Duck Lawmakers Pass Government Shutdown Bill
Overview
Senate Bill 329, a little-noticed bill rushed through the recent lame duck session, could have disastrous consequences if allowed to become law. Without a veto from Governor Kasich, SB 329 would effectively allow for the dissolution of state government departments, potentially throwing thousands out of work and open the door to privatization, while threatening the effective continuation of public services and programs that provide for the state’s economic vitality and competitiveness.
How it Would Work
Under SB329, Gubernatorial Departments would be required to make an affirmative case every four years to justify their continued existence, involving a time- and resource-intensive process. Agencies would be required to review and report on the legal justification of rules and procedures, potential for privatization, conduct a multi-year analysis of cost effectiveness, and benchmark all regulations against other states.
Creates Chaos Not Reform
- The extensive reviews mandated for Departments every four years would be time and resource intensive, and duplicate reviews already performed by the Auditor of State, JCARR, and the Governor’s Common Sense Initiative Office.
- Nothing in the legislation would eliminate burdensome rules or regulations, it merely provides for the elimination of Departments currently empowered to oversee them.
- Without an affirmative act of the legislature to keep departments open, state rules, licenses, and contracts would remain in effect, raising significant questions about how the executive branch could continue to carry out its obligations under Ohio law. The bill permits, but does not require the legislature to transfer these obligations to other departments.
Dangerous
- Many programs that Ohioans rely on, including vital education, public safety, and other essential services would be put at risk, with no provisions to ensure these functions continue after closure of a cabinet department.
- By closing departments that carry out essential functions, the proposal could put Ohio into conflict with federal requirements, and may violate parts of the state Constitution, such as the obligation to establish and maintain a workers’ compensation program.
- By forcing the review of 25 cabinet agencies every four years, the legislation could consume much of the legislature’s oversight capacity and put essential services at the mercy of an already slow legislative process.
Tilts the Balance of Power to One Party, Branch of Government
- Empowers the legislative branch by eliminating a future check on its authority by the executive branch; the bill’s automated future elimination of departments by the failure of the legislature to act would provide no opportunity for the executive to exercise its veto authority.
- Empowers the majority party to appoint members of standing committees, postpone reviews, and, ultimately, to continue operation of a government department without bipartisan support.
- Protects today’s and future legislators from blame by eliminating departments automatically, without an affirmative act of lawmakers required.
Unnecessary and Ineffective
- The arguments in favor of the proposal (to review, modernize, and eliminate unnecessary regulation) are all currently served by existing functions of the general assembly;
- Meanwhile, the claim that unneeded or overly technical licensing law creates a burden is not served by the legislation which would not eliminate any rules or licenses either in SB 329 or through the expiration of statutes creating Departments.
Represents a Right-Wing Wish List
- Without eliminated government departments and staff, executive would have little option other than to employ private contractors to carry out essential health and safety functions (police, fire, etc.).
- Elimination of cabinet agencies would reduce the significance of the state as a public sector employer, weaking the power of its employee unions.
- The departmental review process emphasizes market-based solutions, such as private credentialing, wherever possible as an alternative to state regulation and licensing.
- Straight from the Conservative Playbook. Similar measures have been proposed by right-wing lawmakers in a number of states and in Congress.
Take Action
Call Governor Kasich at 614-466-3555 to ask him to veto this bill
Lame Duck Lawmakers Block Local Wage, Sick Leave Laws
Take Action Now: contact your State Representative today to oppose SB331
Today, the Ohio House is moving a bill that radically undermines the notion of local control and ties the hands of communities to set standards for the treatment of workers.
Enshrined into the constitution is a strong commitment to local control, or “home rule”:
Municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.
Ohio lawmakers appear ready to throw that notion out the window with the adoption today of a major overhaul to Substitute Senate Bill 311, which would block the authority of communities around Ohio to, among other things:
- Regulate the sale of puppies from unlicensed breeders at pet stores
- Adopt a minimum wage rate higher than the state minimum
- Adopt any ordinance that regulates worker benefits, schedules or work locations.
The bill was originally written when lobbyists for Petland sought to block ordinances adopted in Grove City and Toledo that would crack down on the sale of puppies at pet stores. The fix contains a “hobby breeder” loophole that experts say could be used by unethical breeders to sell their dogs at pet stores.
More recently, the business community jumped in with a wish list of its own, getting the following language added to the bill:
No political subdivision shall establish a minimum wage rate different from the wage rate required under this section.
The move is an attempt to undermine a measure on the ballot in Cleveland that would have asked voters whether to gradually raise that city’s minimum wage, but also blocks any other city from doing so.
And, reacting to a movement from progressive cities around the U.S., special interests saw a measure adopted that would block cities from requiring local employers to provide earned sick time, family leave or regulate practices that require workers to be on call for shifts without pay and by which employers can make last minute scheduling changes that leave workers in the lurch – especially if they need child care or want to hold down a second job. From the proposed amendment:
Except as otherwise expressly provided in state or federal law, the following matters are exclusively the result of an employer’s policy, an agreement between an employer and the employer’s employees, a contract between an employer and the employer’s employees, or a collective bargaining agreement between an employer and the employer’s employees:
(1) The number of hours an employee is required to work or be on call for work;
(2) The time when an employee is required to work or be on call for work;
(3) The location where an employee is required to work;
(4) The amount of notification an employee receives of work schedule assignments or changes to work schedule assignments, including any addition or reduction of hours, cancellation of a shift, or change in the date or time of a work shift;
(5) Minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours an employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis;
(6) Additional payment for reporting time when work is or becomes unavailable, for being on call for work, or for working a split shift;
(7) Whether an employer will provide advance notice of an employee’s initial work or shift schedule, notice of new schedules, or notice of changed schedules, including whether an employer will provide employees with predictive schedules;
(8) Whether an employer will provide additional hours of work to employees the employer currently employs before employing additional workers;
(9) Whether an employer will provide employees with fringe benefits and the type and amount of those benefits.
SB 331 was reported favorably by the House Finance committee this morning, and is expected to be voted on by the full House this afternoon.
Take Action Now: contact your State Representative today to oppose SB331
Trump’s Tax Dodge Highlights Ohio Tax Policy That Hurts Communities
If you prefer policy to the scandals and conspiracies that have taken center stage in the Presidential race, let’s briefly revisit the recent revelation that Donald Trump was able to avoid paying income tax for nearly two decades. This move was a result of Trump’s taking a $916 million deduction in 1995 for losses from his various businesses.
In yet another example of how the tax code is skewed to favor those at the top, federal tax law allows business owners to subtract what is termed a “Net Operating Loss” (or NOL) from their income when determining tax liability.
Unfortunately, this tax trick isn’t limited to federal taxes. Two years ago, Ohio lawmakers rewrote state law to force Ohio cities to allow the same type of tax break for business owners. The result is that cities, which had already been deeply impacted by state funding cuts, have less revenue to deliver essential services like road repair and public safety.
In late 2014, legislators passed a bill – House Bill 5 – that requires cities to allow individuals who report business income on their personal income taxes to allow the deduction of business losses (NOLs) for up to 5 years. This change impacts 234 cities and villages, reducing the amount of revenue they collect to pay for vital public services and creates a new tax breaks for business owners. Ohio cities must allow a deduction of business losses even if the profits they offset came from wholly separate business. Unlike federal law, salary income cannot be offset by NOLs (bad news for any in-state real estate moguls drawing a big salary from popular reality shows!)
The revenue impact to Ohio cities from the policy is expected to be large. While it is hard to predict the impact of a deduction businesses don’t currently claim, some cities offered estimates at the time of HB5’s consideration. Athens projected losing $60,000 per year; Westerville $300,000; Cleveland said it would cut $3 million. We estimated the statewide impact of the law could be as high as $82 million. Today, a legislative task force is currently working to estimate the impact of the law on cities’ bottom lines, but that didn’t stop lawmakers from enacting it into law.
Proponents of even larger NOL tax breaks are still at it. In late September, a witness argued in a bipartisan committee hearing that lawmakers should go much further and force Ohio cities to extend the favorable treatment of tax losses from 5 to 20 years. At the federal level, Speaker Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget blueprint calls for allowing the tax break to grow with inflation and taking them for an unlimited number of years, not just the 18 Trump enjoyed.
Ohio cities are coping with the elimination of the estate tax and cuts in state revenue-sharing and now are dealing with this new major hit on revenue. Further expanding the ability of businesses to shield taxable income for years after experiencing a loss means that individual rate payers have to pay more or local communities will continue to be starved of critical resources needed for public safety and other services.
As local official put it when this state law passed, “If businesses don’t pay, residents will have to.”
Accountability 101: If State Counts ECOT’s Kids, School May Close. Exactly.
If the Ohio Department of Education tries to verify that students at the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow are online 5 hours a day, ECOT Superintendent Rick Teeters told email recipients, “they would likely force us and other e-schools to close our doors.”
Exactly.
It’s called accountability.
At issue is ECOT’s whole business model — getting paid $7,127 per student (more per pupil state funding than 85 percent of Ohio’s traditional school districts) to simply offer 920 hours of curriculum to kids, not actually prove they are educating them. ECOT received $108 million last school year from the state, and has been paid nearly $1 billion since it opened in 2000.
This is nothing less than an existential fight for the nation’s largest for-profit charter school.
ODE wants to verify that the kids it’s sending taxpayer money to educate actually logged on and off enough to justify the $108 million expenditure. ECOT claims in a lawsuit filed last week that ODE doesn’t understand its technology, which is so apparently groundbreaking that it allows kids to be educated effectively without logging in.
As Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General Douglas R. Cole put it in his filing responding to ECOT’s complaints,
“Under a plain, common-sense reading of the community school (charter school) funding statutes, ECOT is required to track. and ODE to reimburse for, actual student participation. Finding otherwise would render numerous (Ohio Revised Code) provisions … meaningless, and, as a more fundamental matter, the statutory scheme would not make sense.”
How else do regulators determine student participation in online educational experiences except through logging in and out of the system? It’s sort of like saying that a student in a traditional setting is “participating” even if the student shows up to school for a few minutes every so often. ECOT is arguing, essentially, that it should be paid in full for educating kids that barely show up simply because ECOT would let them in if they ever did show up.
It’d be one thing if ECOT’s performance indicated this novel approach actually worked. However, as has been documented over and over again, ECOT’s performance is among the worst of any school in the state, and it can’t even graduate 4 out of 10 kids.
So the returns aren’t great.
According to the Dispatch article about the ECOT lawsuit, we may have a hearing as early as today to decide whether ODE can proceed with its quasi-audit of ECOT’s kids. So we may have clarity about whether this count moves forward very shortly.
But if ECOT is forced to close because ODE is simply checking to make sure the school is educating students the state has already paid to educate, that says something about how ineffective ECOT has been.
And it explains, once again, just how lacking Ohio has been on charter school oversight. For it appears that all ODE had to do to overcome ECOT’s significant political clout was to simply ask them to prove their kids actually participate in an educational program.
And you wonder why Ohio’s charter school regime has been so mocked.
Local Government Spotlight
The rising importance of cities is well-documented: over 80 percent of Americans now live in urban areas, and the growth of cities far outstrips that of the country as a whole. In Ohio, roughly 90 percent of residents currently live in one the state’s six largest metro areas. With no foreseeable end in sight, urban migration will place increasing pressure on city governments to provide effective policy solutions.
Unfortunately, city governments have not been receiving the support they need from Columbus. From 2004 to 2014, disbursements of state-sponsored funds to local government have been cut almost in half, hampering cities’ ability to provide essential services and undertake long-overdue growth projects. Just how big is the revenue hole for Ohio’s cities and townships? Local government funding over the next two years is expected to be more than $623 million less than it was in 2008-2009, according to a recent investigation by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Luckily, Ohio’s cities are also home to some of its most ambitious innovators. Perhaps the brightest example of Ohio’s leadership came this week as the City of Columbus received word that it was selected as the recipient of $50 million as part of the US Department of Transportation’s new Smart Cities grant. City leaders successfully pitched Columbus to USDOT and its private funding partners, emphasizing the ways that intelligent transportation systems can address socioeconomic barriers to employment and serve an increasingly urbanized young professional population. The Columbus team beat out five other finalists including Austin, Portland and San Francisco for funding that will fund high-tech infrastructure, create mobility options in low-income neighborhoods and reduce climate impacts.
In recent years, cities and villages across the Buckeye state have developed innovative new approaches to a number of critically important issues:
Paid Family Leave
Last year, under the leadership of mayors Nan Whaley and John Cranley, Dayton and Cincinnati passed generous paid family leave policies for city employees, joining a growing list of major cities around the country. At the rollout of Dayton’s paid family leave plan, Mayor Nan Whaley remarked that “Paid parental leave is not only the right thing to do, but it strengthens women and families, reduces gender based economic disparities, has positive impacts on local economies, and improves health outcomes.”
At a recent meeting of the Newburgh Heights city council, members voted unanimously to provide six months of paid leave to all city employees, at 100% of salary. The policy is the first of its kind in the United States, and has attracted the attention of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, who praised mayor Trevor Elkins as “a leader on an issue that keeps people up at night.”
The Newburgh Heights decision has once again shone a light on the potential for cities to serve as incubators of policy innovation.
Living Wage
In addition to its robust paid leave policy, Cincinnati has put into place a $15 minimum wage for city employees, expanded the range of triggers for prevailing wage requirements, and passed a hard-hitting wage theft ordinance that would revoke licenses from companies convicted of committing wage theft and require the reimbursement of victims. On Tuesday, Franklin county commissioners followed Cincinnati’s lead in passing a new ‘living wage’ ordinance for county employees. Building on the momentum of its southern neighbors, the Service Employees International Union is leading the charge to introduce a $15 minimum wage in the city of Cleveland.
Civil Rights
In Columbus, Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown proposed, and fellow Council members unanimously adopted the Healthcare Worker and Patient Protection Ordinance, aimed at ensuring that healthcare workers and patients can enter healthcare facilities without fear of harassment, intimidation, or stalking. The law is based on model ordinances already in place in Colorado, Massachusetts, and NYC. And Cuyahoga County was the first in Ohio to place a ban on official travel to North Carolina after the state adopted a law that eliminates legal protections for the LGBT community.
These examples, as well as countless other bold, forward-facing policies introduced by city lawmakers, serve to illustrate the tremendous wealth of leadership that we enjoy in the State of Ohio. City leaders are paving the way for a brighter, more equitable future, by making our cities attractive places to work and live. It is time that the Ohio legislature stepped behind these efforts by providing Ohio’s innovators with the resources and funds necessary to amplify and expand municipal programs.
Proposal Would Help Fix Ohio’s Aging Water Systems
Ohio is facing a looming water quality crisis, and state lawmakers have proposed a potential solution that could come before voters in the fall.
Over 11.1 million Ohioans depend on water from the taps of Ohio’s public water systems. In many communities, this infrastructure is aging and badly in need of repair. Officials in Cincinnati, just one of Ohio’s 1,218 community water systems, are maintaining a sewer system that is more than 100 years old. Overall, Ohio rates only a C- for the state of its infrastructure, as determined by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In addition to inheriting an aging infrastructure, dozens of Ohio communities are also under legal orders from the US EPA that require them to address the overflow of raw sewage into sources of drinking water and recreation. According to the Greater Ohio Policy Center, 88 cities are operating under consent orders with US EPA. These orders mandate that communities fix their outdated system designs that carry a combination of sewer and wastewater or result in overflows of raw sewage into sources of freshwater during storm events. It is estimated that repairs could cost over $14.5 billion, three-quarters of which is needed in Ohio’s mid-sized cities with 200,000 or fewer residents.
The total cost of upgrades needed by Ohio’s sewer, drinking water and wastewater systems is estimated at approximately $26.4 billion.
Most of the responsibility to build and maintain infrastructure falls on local governments. Typically, 99 percent of the cost of water system are paid for by local taxpayers. And in many Ohio communities, these rates have increased dramatically in recent years in order to support necessary repairs. The average annual bill for residential sewer service in 2014 was $626, up 3.2% from the year before and growing faster than the cost of inflation. Water service costs the typical residential customer another $573 each year, and those costs are also climbing faster than other household expenses.
Yet, despite its importance in supporting growth in both residential and business users, spending on capital infrastructure has actually declined as the economy has grown. Investment in infrastructure on a per capita basis dropped from $1.17 in 1960 to just eighty-five cents in 2007 (in 2009 dollars).
Part of the reason that communities are unable to keep up with mounting capital construction projects to deal with an aging, and in many cases, toxic water and sewer infrastructures is that local government are coping with funding declines. An IO analysis found that Ohio cities have been cut by nearly half a billion dollars annually as a result of state policy changes enacted since 2011. For many of the communities we examined, the loss of state revenue was between 10 and 25 percent of their annual budgets. Taken together with effects of the global recession on tax collections, many communities have little left after meeting basic budgetary obligations to pay debt service on bonds to finance needed infrastructure repairs.
There are a number of financial aid programs available for water and sewer projects, but each is aimed at a specific need, such as rural or Appalachian communities or low-income populations, and many have very low maximum loan or grant amounts, or require matching funds. Ohio’s Senate Minority Leader, Joe Schiavoni has proposed issuing up to $100 million in bonds annually for 10 years to provide a boost to local communities upgrading their water, wastewater and sewer systems.
The proposal from Schiavoni, Senate Joint Resolution 3 (SJR3), would provide another tool for communities trying to move projects forward. The proposal, which has sponsors from both parties, would permit the state to issue $1 billion in bonds over ten years in order to award grants to local communities for wastewater treatment systems, water supply systems, and stormwater and sanitary collection, storage, and treatment facilities.
Schiavoni proposed the legislation after sewage overflows into Youngstown’s Mill Creek Metroparks resulted in an extensive fish kill from toxic E. coli bacteria. The Senator learned the city faced $147 million in necessary system upgrades, mandated by a settlement with the US EPA to bring it into compliance with the Clean Water Act, and is working on a timeline of up to 20 years to complete the work. Youngstown is hardly alone. In addition to the other 86 systems mandated to upgrade to avoid sewer overflows, Cincinnati is obligated to spend $3.4 billion on its aging system, a mutli-decade endeavor that has already resulted in residential sewer bills climbing to nearly $1,000 per year.
In addition to moving projects forward on a faster timeline, the proposal could also give the state a needed jobs boost. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts determined that 19,769 total jobs are created for every $1 billion in public spending on water infrastructure. The US Conference of Mayors commissioned a study that found investments in water and sewer infrastructure often have greater returns than spending on other types of infrastructure because of its contribution to economic activity. In fact, spending on public infrastructure creates more jobs than tax cuts.
SJR3 is currently pending in a Senate Committee, but if passed by both chambers of the legislature, would go to voters for approval in November.
The State of the State in Marietta
As the debate over Ohio’s economic successes or shortcomings continues, a closer look at individual communities can be illuminating. The town of Marietta, the site of the Governor’s sixth State of the State Address, reflects the struggles that many communities across the state continue to face.
While Gov. Kasich’s push to expand Medicaid has helped many in Marietta access care, the median household income lags the statewide average, tax shifting policies strain lower-income residents, and local schools continue to lose valuable state finding.
Our latest analysis takes a closer look at these policies and the impacts on Ohio’s first capital City: Marietta, Ohio. Here are a few of the key points:
- The median income in Marietta remains nearly $10,000 less than the statewide average, and 25 percent of Marietta residents – and nearly 4 in 10 children – live below the poverty line.
- The workforce in Marietta has shrunk by 5 percent over the last five years, declining from 6,868 in 2010 to 6,505 today.
- The bottom 20% of income earners in Marietta have seen state taxes increase as a result of a shift to a more regressive tax code.
- Medicaid expansion has resulted in over 3,000 Washington County residents gaining access to health care.
- State funding cuts have resulted in a nearly $1 million annual revenue loss to Marietta, an 11 percent reduction from the city’s 2010 budget.
- Marietta schools have lost $1.7 million (adjusting for inflation) in state aid since 2010, while local property taxes have increased 22 percent.
Read the analysis: “Governor John Kasich’s Sixth State of the State Address: Marietta, Ohio”.
SEBRING: STUNNINGLY SLOW TO RESPOND
Multiple breakdowns in public trust have led to the village of Sebring, Ohio questioning not only local and state officials, but also the safety of their drinking water. This, after elevated levels of lead was found in their water supply. Most frustrating of all, the situation could have been mitigated if state and local officials had notified residents promptly and taken immediate remedial action. Instead, the situation dragged on for five months until residents were notified of the danger. All the while, certain citizens of Sebring were unknowingly drinking from taps known by local and state officials to have heightened levels of lead.
On August 11th, routine tests indicated high lead levels in drinking water. Five months passed during which the Ohio EPA and local water system officials discussed the results and response. During this time, Sebring missed a critical deadline — November 29th, 60 days after the end of the testing period — to notify the public. Then, nearly two months passed before the Ohio EPA took action on January 21st to issue a notice of violation, and the public was finally alerted of the possibility of unsafe drinking water in their homes.
The Mahoning County District Board of Health recently found elevated levels of lead in the blood of five children in Sebring. The possible implications of this to their long-term health are frightening. According to the Mayo Clinic, children are especially at risk when exposed to lead, with the possibility of: developmental delays, learning difficulties, hearing loss, and numerous digestive issues.
In order to ensure that no other Ohio community experiences the lack of safeguards that the village of Sebring dealt with, it is time to introduce proper checks between state and local officials in regards to water quality. The Director of the Ohio EPA, Craig Butler, has belatedly acknowledged for the current notification timelines need to be shortened. Currently, federal law dictates that an individual homeowner be notified within 30 days and the entire community notified within 60 days when a heightened level of lead is discovered in a sample. Director Butler conveyed a desire to have these periods limited to “a few days.” A recent bill introduced by Representative John Boccieri would shorten the timeline for notification and institute civil and criminal penalties on officials for the failure to properly notify a community of a heightened level of lead.
While the shortening of the timeline is a common sense change, there is much more that needs addressing. Specifically, monitoring rules should be carefully reviewed to make certain the frequency of tests — especially after changes to the water system occur — are adequate to ensure safety. As Flint and Sebring have made clear, changes to the system, including the use or discontinued use of additives can have an effect on the corrosive nature of drinking water on lead pipes. Safeguards need to be in place to verify that any changes made do not result in corrosion.
There are also changes that can be made at the federal level as well. Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced legislation that would require the U.S. EPA to notify local communities of the detection of lead in the water supply within 15 days if local and state officials fail to do so. A measure like this would prevent the lack of notification experienced by Sebring from happening to other communities in the future.
Providing safe drinking water is a bedrock aspect of Ohio’s public works. The State of Ohio’s economy ranks as the 25th largest in the world, just behind Sweden. There is no reason that all of our citizens should not be able consume drinking water that they are confident will not be harmful to themselves or their children.
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