06/01/2007
At the Statehouse
Ohio Senate passes landmark eminent domain legislation
The Ohio Senate this week sided with small business and property owners in the ongoing fight with big developers and greedy cities over eminent domain abuse. Senate Bill 7 (Sen. Grendell) passed easily and with bi-partisan support by a 29-3 margin. Only Sens. Teresa Fedor (Toledo), Dale Miller (Cleveland) and Tom Sawyer (Akron) voted against the measure.
Senate Bill 7 contains necessary provisions designed to restore fairness and balance to the powerful tool of eminent domain. Furthermore, the legislation coupled with SJR 1 will ensure that Ohioans can rely on a single, fair process as defined in law and applied evenly across the state. NFIB believes SB 7 balances private property rights while preserving the power of eminent domain in three key areas. They are:
- Definition of Blight: SB 7 is a marked improvement over the recommendations of the Eminent Domain Task Force. SB 7 requires three clear and unambiguous blight factors to be met, and appropriately eliminates the antiquated, ambiguous urban renewal blight factors of old such as obsolescence, excessive dwelling unit density, inadequate street layout and multiple ownership contained in the recommendations. Moreover, SB 7 contains a right to cure provision allowing for the owner to address deficiencies on code violations.
- Compensation: Allowing for a property owner to collect attorney fees and appraisal costs in cases where the final award exceeds 125 percent provides minimal protection for property owners against "low balling" tactics.
- Public Purpose: NFIB supports a more traditional standard of public use such as for roads, bridges and sewers, combined with the blight definition contained in the bill to limit the possibility for abuse. SB 7 reverses the burden of proof to the taking authority providing the necessary protections against abuse.
In order to ensure uniformity statewide, and to prevent home-rule authority cities from ignoring SB 7, the Ohio Senate also passed Senate Joint Resolution 1 (Sen. Coughlin), a constitutional amendment that, if passed by three-fifths of House members, will appear on an upcoming election ballot to be voted on by Ohio voters. Senate Joint Resolution 1 would apply the new standards found in SB 7 uniformly across the state. Absent the constitutional amendment, Ohio's cities would be able to ignore the provisions of SB 7 and continue engaging in abusive eminent domain practices.
The entire Senate Republican Caucus voted in support of SJR 1, which passed the Senate 21-11. NFIB member Sen. Jason Wilson (St. Clairsville) broke ranks with the Democrat caucus in casting his vote in support of the measure.
NFIB will be working to support both SB 7 and SJR 1 as they move to the Ohio House to make sure the tough standards included in SB 7 are not watered down during the House process. In the meantime, please contact your state representatives to ask for his/her support on this issue.
NFIB/Ohio continues to seek support for death-tax cut: Your help needed
Though the Ohio House of Representatives declined its first opportunity to take up priority legislation to cut or eliminate Ohio's death tax, NFIB/Ohio staff has been hard at work raising awareness and discussing the issue with members of the Ohio Senate Finance Committee.
NFIB is still pursuing amendments to the state biennial budget bill, House Bill 119 (Rep. Dolan), during its deliberations in the Senate. To help us score a meaningful victory on behalf of small business, your help is needed to tell the story.
Be heard and share your opinions on the Ohio death tax.
11th Ohio Small-Business Day at the Capitol highlights small-business issues
The 11th biennial Small-Business Day at the Capitol was recently held at the Hyatt on Capitol Square in conjunction with a legislative luncheon at the Statehouse Atrium. This year's event featured addresses from Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris.
Small-business owners were briefed on three key topics this year including: the death tax, eminent domain abuse, and health-care options and affordability. Attendees heard from issues experts on each topic, and were then encouraged to take their message directly to their lawmakers at the legislative luncheon.
With over 160 business owners and nearly 100 NFIB members participating, this year's Small-Business Day at the Capitol was the most successful to date.
Thank you to all of the NFIB members that participated and a big thank you to Jim Buchy, NFIB member and president of Buchy Foods, for serving as the day's master of ceremonies.
Over NFIB objections, Congress passes federal minimum-wage increase as part of war funding bill
What was hidden in the bill passed Thursday to continue funding armed forces fighting in Iraq? The minimum wage hike that labor supporters in Congress have pushed all spring.
President Bush signed the Iraq supplemental funding bill, and the minimum wage will rise from its current $5.15 to $7.25 over the next two years.
Thanks to NFIB, business supporters in Congress were able to include some offsetting tax breaks for small business, though NFIB had hoped for a larger package than the $4.8 billion included in the Iraq bill.
Get more information about the new minimum wage.
Your NFIB/Ohio staff
- Executive Director Roger Geiger
- Legislative Director Ty Pine
- Assistant State Director Kyle Jackson
- Member Support Manager Andy Patterson
- Member Benefits Chris Ferruso
- Communications Mandy Minick
- Executive Asst. Wanda Holycross
- Administrative Assistant Amanda Paisley
