House Bill 146 – Proponent Testimony, House Commerce and Labor Committee

Summary

Proponent testimony on House Bill 146 to the House Commerce and Labor Committee from Howard Call, Executive Director and a Past President of the Ohio Fair Managers Association (OFMA), on behalf of the Association. The testimony states that Ohio fairs are considered political subdivisions under Ohio law and must comply with prevailing wage laws like other local governments. It says complying with these requirements can make projects cost prohibitive and can act as a disincentive for fairs to make major improvements. It states that the bill would not repeal the law completely and would open up options for OFMA members when bidding out projects.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                       House Commerce and Labor Committee
                        House Bill 146 – Proponent Testimony

Chairman Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan and Members of the House
Commerce and Labor Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support
of House Bill 146 on behalf of the Ohio Fair Managers Association.

My name is Howard Call and I am a Past President of the Ohio Fair Managers Association
(OFMA) and I currently serve as the Executive Director of the Association. The OFMA is the
statewide association representing Ohio’s 95, county, independent fairs and the Ohio State Fair. I
am proud to be a board member of the Summit County Fair in Tallmadge, Ohio.

As you well know, county and independent fairs are the cornerstone event for many communities.
We are a showcase for Ohio’s agriculture and 4-H programs and we provide an opportunity for
families to have fun together. Ohio has a long tradition of supporting county fairs and our members
pride themselves on offering a great event for their communities.

As you can imagine, county fairs run their operations on very slim margins. Nobody serves on
their local fair board to get rich! We do so because we have pride in agriculture, pride in strong
family values, and a determination to offer a great event for our citizens.

We do what we can to be creative with our resources. Many of our members volunteer their time
and go above and beyond regular fair board meetings and duties to assist. However, many of
Ohio’s fairgrounds are showing their age.

Our members have long wish lists of improvements and modernizations they would like to make
to their grounds and facilities. One of the barriers to making some of these investments is
complying with Ohio’s prevailing wage law. I am sure many on this committee are surprised to
learn that Ohio fairs must comply with prevailing wage laws and thresholds. But we are considered
political subdivisions under Ohio law, therefor must comply with prevailing wage laws like other
local governments.
We have heard from many of our members that complying with these requirements can make
projects cost prohibitive. Having to comply with these laws can act as a disincentive for fairs to
make major improvements to the grounds and their buildings. This adds costs to projects and
many fair board members know that there are local companies who would do the same project for
less money. However, these are options that the board has to decline in order to stay in compliance
with the law.

Making the prevailing wage laws optional would certainly benefit county agricultural societies.
However, this bill would not repeal the law completely. It would open up options for OFMA
members when considering and bidding out projects.

Mr. Chairman, Members of the committee, thank you for considering this perspective of the
OFMA and taking into consideration our position on HB 146.

Sincerely,


Howard Call, CFE
Executive Director


File and source

File

2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_hb146proofmawritten.pdf

Size

238,060 bytes

SHA-256

256d20b7018b657f6ee652c61b3026c93101a16e500986a43cfa26524fe67755

Our copy

2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_hb146proofmawritten.pdf

Original

No public link identified.