The Ohio Poverty Law Center (OPLC) is excited to announce that longtime legal aid attorney Joshua Goodwin will lead the organization’s advocacy efforts on behalf of Ohio’s legal aid attorneys and the clients they serve, striving for reforms and policies that expand economic opportunity, strengthen families, and address the systems that perpetuate poverty.
 
Goodwin began his legal services career as a staff attorney in Legal Aid of Central Ohio’s (LASCO) Chillicothe office, where he also served as the managing attorney for almost seven years. In 2022, Goodwin moved to LASCO’s Columbus office to help low-income Ohioans access safety-net programs and ensure that their voices are heard and their needs clearly understood as the lead attorney on the Public Benefits team.
 
Reflecting on his experience serving clients in both rural and urban communities, Goodwin shares: “I have seen firsthand how essential it is that low-income families have strong advocates. This is a critical moment for low-income Ohioans as the cost of necessities like groceries and utilities continues to rise, while affordable housing is increasingly out of reach. I am excited to work with OPLC to help ensure that policymakers understand how their decisions affect these families.”

Ohio General Assembly Passes Senate Bill 315

On June 10, the Ohio legislature passed Senate Bill 315, which requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to transition to chip-enabled Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) electronic benefit transfer (EBT)cards. ODJFS must ensure that all new (EBT) cards are chip-enabled and that existing electronic benefit transfer cards are replaced with chip-enabled cards under the Department’s ordinary timeframe for replacing (EBT) cards.

The bill also requires the ODJFS to add a way for people who receive SNAP benefits to report suspected fraud on the website. An appropriation for this bill was included in the amended version of House Bill 479.

The bill also includes provisions from House Bill 795, accepted by the House Medicaid committee on June 8. These changes include:

• Increases penalties for Medicaid fraud.
• Requires prior authorization for all therapeutic behavioral health services prescribed within the Medicaid program and prior authorization for personal care services under home and community-based services waivers.
• Requires electronic visit verification GPS tracking for providers of home and community-based services.
• Requires the Department of Medicaid to develop a standardized onboarding structure for new Medicaid eligible providers.
• Creates a dashboard to track electronic visit verification data.
• Grants the state auditor and the attorney general subpoena powers.
• Requires an in-person inspection prior to becoming enrolled as a Medicaid provider.
• Upon the identification of credible evidence of fraud or materially inconsistent billing, requires each Medicaid managed care organization to make a report to ODM, which shall be referred to the attorney general's office.
• Specifies that the bill's requirements for prior authorization of personal care services apply when the personal care services that are requested exceed the amount or scope of services described in a written plan of care or individual service plan for an individual and requires that ODM process those requests within 48 hours.
• Adds language that would exempt live-in family caregivers from the GPS tracking requirements established in the bill.

Senate Bill 315 awaits further action by Governor DeWine.

Governor Dewine Vetoes Submetering Legislation

All three branches of state government weighed in this year on how submetering companies should be regulated, a question that will now be answered by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

The Ohio General Assembly spent considerable committee time deliberating provisions of House Bill 173, which in its final form would have provided additional protections for sub-metered utility consumers but not as many protections as regular utility customers have. Despite its flaws, many consumer and housing advocates supported HB 173 as an incremental improvement.

When the Supreme Court of Ohio decided submetering companies should be regulated the same as traditional utility companies as part of In re Complaint of Ohio Power Co. v. Nationwide Energy Partners, L.L.C., many proponents of HB 173 became opponents. During an opponent hearing Kristie Ortiz, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality’s Housing and Community Economic Development Managing Attorney, pointed out to the Senate Public Utilities Committee that, “the proposed bill would offer protections only to residents receiving sub metered electricity who live at properties with 50 or more units. This excludes state protections from residents living in smaller and rural communities.” Peggy Lee, Senior Staff Attorney with the Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, informed the Committee that under the proposed bill “submetered tenants would not have the same consumer protections and benefits as customers of PUCO-regulated utility companies, including access to HEAP assistance, alternative payment plans, assistance program notifications, and disconnection requirements.”

Unfortunately, the Committee decided to advance the bill, and it was eventually passed out of the legislature. Governor Mike Dewine must have been listening, though, as he vetoed the bill on June 25. PUCO will now begin regulating submetering companies like traditional utilities in compliance with the Supreme Court decision.

Governor Dewine Vetoes House Bill 472 Following Voter ID Amendments

House Bill 472, sponsored by Representative Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Representative Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar), would have waived fees for an identification card or a copy of a birth certificate for individuals experiencing homelessness.

During proponent testimony, Chris Kelly from the Legal Aid Society of Southeast and Central Ohio told the House Children and Human Services Committee, “ID cards are not expensive, but to many of the people I [work with], even the modest costs can be out of reach.” Additional proponent testimony was submitted by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, Huckleberry House, Community Shelter Board, and YWCA Columbus.

Unfortunately, after HB 472 was favorably voted out of the House by a margin of 91-1, the Senate General Government Committee adopted a substitute version of the legislation that included controversial voter identification provisions. On June 10, HB 472 was voted out of committee, voted out of the Senate, and sent back to the House to concur with the amendment. Then it was sent to Governor Dewine’s desk for his signature. Governor Dewine vetoed the bill to prevent passage of the voter identification provisions.