House Bill 79 eked out of the Ohio House earlier this summer, clearing the chamber by a 50-46 vote, but the bipartisan energy efficiency proposal’s backer said the Ohio Senate will at least hold hearings on it come November.
“I'm not Nostradamus, so I do not have a perfect, crystal ball view of the future,” Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) said in an interview Friday. “I will say that there are some encouraging signs.”
The longtime lawmaker, who will retire this year, likens himself instead to the Biblical prophet Jeremiah. On the energy and utilities front, at least, he said he’s regularly begging his colleagues recently to get on board with legislative solutions to a not so far off demand crisis.
It's Seitz's second time bringing forward HB 79, which would enable electric providers to create voluntary programs for their customers to cut some costs by incentivizing reduced usage.
Consumers would be automatically enrolled and charged a $1.50 monthly fee for discounts on energy-efficient appliances and electronics. Those lower energy usage when they aren't home, which can save them money.
Seitz said it’s one piece in a bigger puzzle, with threats of rolling brownouts on the horizon. Conservative on most issues, he has allies across the chamber on this one. Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) said he plans to back the proposal in the Senate.
“We're not in desperate straits yet, but one of the ways we stay out is we take some preemptive measures,” Smith said in an interview. “We’re either going to do this now and be glad we did, or we’re going to wish we did.”
A wide range of interests have backed the bill. Utility providers, environmentalists, and even the Catholic Church’s lobbying arm are all proponents. Seitz said Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) promises the bill will be considered in the Senate, but he called the narrow House vote “disturbing.”
“We had a bunch of people who were not on the committee who decided that they wanted to be Monday morning quarterbacks and vote ‘no,’” Seitz said.
It took Seitz and Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) an entire year to get HB 79 to the House floor. Although the list of opponents is shorter, Seitz said he believes Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity (AFP) had an “undue influence” on the debate.
AFP Ohio State Director Donovan O’Neil said killing it in the Senate is a high post-election priority. The organization opposes the bill for several reasons, he said, chief among them that consumers opt out rather than opt in.
“They're the ones who are going to be footing the bill for this energy efficiency mandate,” O'Neil said.
He sees the other side, he said.
“The arguments that proponents of HB 79 are making make sense. We have a lot of demand coming online in Ohio. The solutions to that we think are different,” O'Neil said.
HB 79 could fall prey to another problem. Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and Huffman are likely challenging each other for the speakership next session, which has stalled bills in both chambers.
“There’s an awful lot of really good bipartisan legislation that has cleared one chamber but not the other, because, again, we're kind of in a game of chicken,” Smith said.
Seitz is done in December—there's not a next session to bring it back.
“I haven't seen too many times over the last 24 years where the utilities and the environmentalists are on the same side and when the Republicans and the Democrats, most of us, see it the same way. Why not take advantage of that moment in time to get something done?” he said.
Statehouse News Bureau intern William O'Malley contributed to this story.
