Mirroring their Democratic colleagues, House Republicans on Thursday launched an effort to repeal a nuclear bailout law and “sanitize” legislative activity as a bribery scandal unfolds over the law’s passage.
Rep. Laura Lanese of suburban Columbus said repealing the bill and starting over is the only way to address state energy policy issues and restore trust following the arrests of Republican House speaker Larry Householder and four associates in the $60 million case. The state should be encouraging renewable energy development in Ohio as part of its overall energy plan, Lanese said.
“(The House) needs to reassure Ohioans, whether Democrat or Republican, that we are working in their honor,” she said.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder leaves the federal courthouse after an initial hearing following charges against him and four others alleging a $60 million bribery scheme Tuesday, July 21, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP PhotoJay LaPrete)
Despite the move, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who signed the original bill, opposes repealing the law, saying the policy it contains is good regardless of how it was enacted.
But Lanese and Republican Rep. Rick Carfagna believe the whole bill has been “tainted” by the criminal investigation revealed Wednesday.
The Republican lawmakers were joined at the press conference by Republican Sen. Stephanie Kunze, who came to show her support for the plan to repeal.
This Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 file photo shows Ohio State Representative Larry Householder (R), of District 72, stands at the head of a legislative session as Speaker of the House, in Columbus. FBI agents were at the farm of Householder on Tuesday morning, hours ahead of a planned announcement of a $60 million bribe investigation by federal prosecutors. (AP PhotoJohn Minchillo, File)
"From the beginning, this bill and the intention of this bill were not for Ohio but for a select group," Kunze said Thursday. “It was not about the jobs, it was really a scheme to rip off the taxpayers of Ohio.”
Democratic Reps. Michael O’Brien and Michael Skindell also announced their plans to repeal House Bill 6 on Wednesday while calling for Householder to resign.
Skindell blamed the state's one-party rule for allowing Republican politicians like Householder to “feel invincible" and beholden to special interest groups over their own constituents.
“HB 6 was the manifestation of this alleged corruption,” he said.
U.S. Attorney David DeVillers described the ploy as likely the largest bribery and money-laundering scheme that has “ever been perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”
Householder was one of the driving forces behind the nuclear plants’ financial rescue. Previous attempts to bail out the nuclear plants had stalled in the Legislature before Householder became speaker. Months after taking over, he rolled out a new plan to subsidize the plants and eliminate renewable energy incentives.
The 2019 law added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo. The bill faced fierce opposition from both clean energy groups and manufacturers.
Repealing the law quickly won't be easy, and is complicated by the support the law received in the House, both from Householder-backed Republicans and Democrats persuaded to support the measure.
Nonetheless, Lanese says that behind-the-scenes there is a movement to hold a hearing on the majority-led bill as soon as possible as “Ohioans deserve answers.”
Farnoush Amiri is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.